Homemade Acme Tap?

[Verboten]

Hello!

I just "discovered" this site recently and I'm still having trouble believing that a place such as this exists. Truly outstanding!

I've been reading the older posts and searching through the threads - A few people seem to have had a lot of success with Delrin nuts made with a homemade tap.

Could someone explain to me how they made their tap?

Thanks

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[flyrc]

I did not use Acme rob,

but I think you can buy a tap,

I use 1/2 X 13 all thread,

Just placed by block in the drill press and after making "pilot" Hole
I hand turned the tap all the way through.

I found the best price on Bar Stock from

http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/INSRHI?PMSECT=1930

Shipping was high though... ( almost the same as my small piece of 1" X 1" X 12" )

well hope it helps.

[jimini]

Hi Verboten I made a tap from a short length of 1/2 x 10 acme rod., about4" long.
I installed a 1/8" wide cutting wheel in my table saw.
I ground one end of the rod into a square end.
I ground one end to a taper similar to a regular tap, then with the stop set so the cutting wheel cut the very center of the rod ( I made a wood cradle to hold the rod)and while holding the tap in a pair of vise grip pliers i fed it into the cutting wheel and turned it 90 degrees after each cut until I had cut into the rod deeper than the threads.

I made the nuts for my machine from 1" teflon rod and the homemade tap worked well for me.
Hope this helps..............Jim

[Verboten]

Flyrc,

Thanks for the reply!

I was thinking about using allthread V-shaped rod. I can get this locally at BI-Mart (- A hardware/catch-all type store. (aside) I had a friend visit from the midwest and he found the name hillarious for some reason - but he also thinks that Hy-Vee is a perfectly reasonable name for a grocery store, so what would he know )

Anyway...
I do have "normal" taps, so if I finish my machine before I order the acme rod and try to make it run. I'm sure that it will after looking at your setup.
Thanks Again!
Jason

[flyrc]

I also started to look at acme ROD,

But due to the cost/and complexity ... I figure I would give the all thread a try, at worse if I needed to I could change it later...

only cost me 7$ or so for 8 ft, at the local Home Depot...
and 20$ to machine the ends..

For the type of work I'm doing it has proven to be a great success...

All though I don’t know how long the life of the nuts and rod will be..
In the long run it may be more cost effective to go with Acme…

If I have to change them out every few months..

Only time will tell..

Luis,

[Verboten]

jimini,

Thanks for the info.
Sounds simple enough - I should be able to do that!

Thanks again,
Jason

[balsaman]

I too made an acme tap. I just ground it too a taper, and then ground in some slots deeper than the threads. Ugly, but effective. Works great for delrin. You can buy a tap, if you have $40 to $60 dollars to spare. (not me)

Eric

[ger21]

I made mine by grinding the taper on a disc sander, and grinding the flutes with a dremel. Worked fine with 1/2-10, just got some 1/2-8 2 start and will try that next. A good source for inexpensive Acme is msc industrial.

http://www.mscdirect.com

3 ft of 1/2-10 2C is only about $10. I got 6Ft of 1/2-8 2 start for only $22. And after my first order, they gave me 20% off on my second order.


Gerry

[fyffe555]

Hi,

Enco ( www.use-enco.com ) have a special on right now on Keystone ACME threaded Oil finish;
1/2-10 x 3' $3.49,
1/2-10 x 6' $6.99.
1/2-10 Nuts $0.99 per

Just bought 2x3' 2'x6' and a dozen nuts, cost $8 shipping....

Guess what I'm doing...
Thanks to all who post thier experiences here..