Originally posted by kcoaks
I feel like an utter fool for asking this.
I read a lot about people turning down the ends of rods themselves and tapping as well. I don' t have any tools that can do anything like this. Should I be looking into buying a set of taps before I attempt my first machine? If I can't find a machinist to turn down rod ends for me, what kind of machine should I be looking into?
On a side note, and again I apologize for the sophomoric question, but for the Z axis, obviously I'm going to need an Acme lead screw shorter than 3 feet. I'm assuming I'd have to cut one down, but I've never cut anything outside of plexi and wood. Am I assuming correctly, and what would I use to cut a rod into pieces?
Assume I have nothing outside of the basics, but I do have a compound miter and scroll saw. |
A couple of the best investments I made were a cheap Harbor Freight Tap and Die set and a set of Harbor Freight digital calipers and Harbor Freight Forstner bit set for $8. I think I paid $13 for the tap and die set and $20 for the calipers. Now I wouldn't want to run a business on the daily use of these tools, but for soft steel, aluminum and MDF the taps and dies do the job nicely. The digital calipers measure my feeler gauges accurately so they do the job to at least .002 wit .0005 resolution.
Phil