ELECTRONIC THREAD DIAL

[instructor37]

There has been some discussion about threading dials on here. I heard somwhere that Shoptask once had an " electronic" thread dial. Anyone know what this was?

[fastlanecafe]

There has been some discussion about threading dials on here. I heard somwhere that Shoptask once had an " electronic" thread dial. Anyone know what this was?

There was one of those units on my Quadra Lift when I bought it. Its a clever but sort of off the wall design. It has a little circuit board with a counter chip in the circuitry. It uses a 12 volt power supply and an optical sensor. The sensor picks up a signal from the lathe spindle as it turns. That starts a countdown in the circuit which lights the LED's in sequence. Visualize a dragtrip " christmas tree". The lights would go on in order red-orange-yellow-green. According to the instructions, the operator would establish a sort of rhythm and would engage the gearbox whenever the green light came on. This would start the thread pass in the same rotational position of the spindle to avoid wiping out the prior cuts. I used it a few times with success, but the sensor was always getting knocked out of position when I changed belts. I had plans to re-locate the sensor, but never got around to it.

[banctecbobn]

Very hard to cut threads correctly with this setup. It takes great hand and eye timing and in the end your just plain lucky if the thread turns out correctly. Trust me on this, I have it on my Shoptask.

I once thought about using the sensor and timing circuit to trigger a solenoid to engage the feed.

[fastlanecafe]

Very hard to cut threads correctly with this setup. It takes great hand and eye timing and in the end your just plain lucky if the thread turns out correctly. Trust me on this, I have it on my Shoptask.

I once thought about using the sensor and timing circuit to trigger a solenoid to engage the feed.

Yeah- it was an idea that probably sounded good in theory and watching the lights counting down was fun, but its all about timing and rhythm and that varies greatly from one person to another. In the end its just as easy to set the carriage position, depth of cut, spindle location and turn on the motor for the next pass.

[HuFlungDung]

It is hard to beat the utility of analog devices (ie., dials) for hand/eye coordination. That's why I won't have a digital dial indicator around the shop to use for setups: I hate staring at a digital feedback system.

[flatheadford49]

I don't have the electronic thread indicator on my combo machine.
When I used to cut threads on it I just backed the tool out at the end of the thread, and stopped and reversed the spindle to a point past the start point of the thread to take up slack in the gear train. set depth of cut, then turn on spindle for next cut.
Reversing spindle was easier than cranking handle to get back to start point anyway.
Are the new machines any thread friendlier than mine.
Are there any other ways to thread on machines like ours with no half nuts.
I guess kinda like metric threading with an inch leadscrew.

Good Luck
Flathead

[sharpshooter90]

I don't have the electronic thread indicator on my combo machine.
When I used to cut threads on it I just backed the tool out at the end of the thread, and stopped and reversed the spindle to a point past the start point of the thread to take up slack in the gear train. set depth of cut, then turn on spindle for next cut.
Reversing spindle was easier than cranking handle to get back to start point anyway.
Are the new machines any thread friendlier than mine.
Are there any other ways to thread on machines like ours with no half nuts.
I guess kinda like metric threading with an inch leadscrew.

Good Luck
Flathead

It depends on whether your machine is a Shoptask or another brand. Shoptask has some upgrades that make the threading about as easy as the thread dial- The Hi-Low spindle brake assembly allows you to stop the spindle with the motor running, eliminating all that wind-down time. The Spindle indexer makes it easy to repeat that position and the DRO makes repeating the carriage position dead-on. With these features on the machine the process is like this-
1. Choose the X carriage start position and the Y axis position ( put a little drag on the carriage locks and always move in the direction of cut to take out any lash and set the DRO to zero.
2. Choose a point on the spindle indexer as your start point.
3. Move the Y axis to the depth of the first pass, engage the X axis gearbox in forward and engage the Hi-low spindle to start the cut.
4. At the end of the cut shift the X axis gearbox into neutral, back the y axis out beyond the zero point and shift the X gearbox into reverse to return past the zero point.
5. Shift the hi-lo spindle into neutral, bring the X axis carriage back to the start point, set the Y axis for the depth of the second pass, bring the chuck around to the start point on the indexer, shift the X gearbox into forward and engage the hi-low spindle for pass # 2
6. Repeat as many times as needed.
Sounds a bit complicated when written out, but once you have done it a few times it becomes second nature.