Projects In Metal, LLC Free Metalworking Projects, Plans, Tips, and Tricks for the Amateur Machinist
Material: Steel
Units: (in)
After the Spring Center and the Soft Faced Hammer, the next lathe project I tackled was a set of Screw Jacks. Why? Well, to create my jacks I had to build on my tapping and single point threading skills, both of which needed some work.
The project took several tries because during the threading process I kept setting the cross slide at 29.5 degrees from the centerline of the part, rather than 29.5 degrees from perpendicular to the centerline of the part. My threads kept coming out looking like buttress threads. I was so frustrated!
But once I figured out what I was doing wrong, my project progressed nicely. I don’t have a set of plans available for you to build my own, but I did find a set of plans by James Appleby for making a much simpler version of the ones I made. I’ve attached the plans below. Be sure to visit the Home Metal Shop Club for this project and other great project ideas.
If you’d like a set of plans for my jacks, leave a comment. If there’s enough interest maybe I’ll create a set of plans for them.
Machinists_Screw_Jack.pdf (331.8 KiB, 6,655 downloads)
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Hey T, could you explain for us beginners just what you’re talking about
here. :) I get the 29.5º for the threads but you lost me on the other
stuff. :) Thanks.
Hi Tony, no problem. I’d be happy to explain. What part has you puzzled? For me the difficult part proved to be figuring out how to set the compound to the proper angle for cutting threads because this was my first (or maybe second) project where I used the lathe to cut threads (rather than a die). I even used the lathe to cut the internal threads (instead of a tap) so it took a bit for me to wrap my head around the process. It’s a bit difficult to explain … but if you let me know what you’re puzzled about I’ll give it a shot.