Thumb screws

[Mr Ed]

No, not for torturing people!

Following discussions about Garrett Hacks scratch stock recently, which I plan to replicate, I am looking for a source of nice (preferably brass) thumbscrews. Does anyone have any ideas? I think M6 is about the right size, around 30mm long.

In the past I have simply used hex headed bolts, such as in my marking gauge article in F&C 135, but they are a bit clumsy looking and can get uncomfortable with prolonged use.

The best I have found so far is these;
http://www.thesitebox.com/Category/5594 ... crews.aspx
but they are a bit crude looking and I don't really want to buy 100 of them.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Cheers, Ed.

 

[Aled Dafis]

Ed

Great minds think alike. Following the discussions about exactly the same scratch stock, I also went trawling the net for some decent thumbscrews, and unfortunately I've also failed miserably.

My plan if it really came to it was to buy some brass bar, and turn some knurled thumbscrews on the engineering lathe at school.

Hopefully someone out there can help us.

Aled

 

[Harbo]

Andy on the other forum sent this message (I think he placed it here a while ago too?)

"If any one needs any metal components made (turned or milled) just let me know i am happy producing one-offs and small production runs.
If you are interested send me a digram or sketch and we can see what we can do.
Andy
[email protected]"

There could be a big demand - let me know how you get on - I could be interested in some?

Rod

 

[houtslager]

I'd be interested in some nice brass knurled knobs too

hs in sunny and VERY HOT East Friesland

 

[Anonymous]

McMaster Carr is a great resource for hardware.
Here are some thumb screws
link

 

[dunbarhamlin]

McMaster Carr is a great resource for hardware.
Here are some thumb screws
McMaster Carr is a great resource for hardware.
Here are some thumb screws
link

Unfortunately they won't ship to new non-US customers

 

[woodbloke]

I'm going to make one of those scratch stocks as well...I'll probably be using a Derek of Oz style bolt (a hex headed bolt is encapsulated in epoxy within a brass ferule) - Rob

 

[PaulO]

I made one last night out of sonokelling rosewood. The clamp screw is just an 8mm allen cap screw, until I get around to making a knurled brass one on my lathe.

TBH I can get enough torque to grip the blade with my fingers on the cap screw, so I might never get around to the thumb screw.

Tapping into the end grain never gives a very satisfactory result, but given that it has around 30mm of length engaged, it works fine. I drilled a 6mm tapping hole ( I think 6.8mm is the recommended for 8mm in steel). A taper tap went in fine, but required backing out regularly to clear the dense rosewood chips.

The blade is from an all hard hacksaw blade, sculpted with a dremel abrasive disc.

It cuts very well, but could probably do with the tooth being a bit wider, as I currently need to take a couple of tapered shavings off my stringing to get it to fit.

Brass knurled thumb screws are readily available on the internet, or you could get plastic ones here:
http://tinyurl.com/4xfqpu

I think this could be cannibalised to make a nice thumbscrew,
http://tinyurl.com/4f289u

but it would be an expensive way of going about it. I'm sure it is the sort of thing Axminster could import from China for pennies. Perhaps if enough of us ask. They would be useful on all sorts of home made tools.

 

[Paul Chapman]

As an alternative to tapping a thread in the wooden block, you might be able to fit a metal cross dowel and screw into that. They are available from B&Q as well as Woodfit http://www.woodfit.com/product_info.php ... +14mm+long

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[PaulO]

Could do. It was a case of using what I had, which was a set of taps rather than cross dowels or nut inserts that I didn't have.

 

[bugbear]

No, not for torturing people!

Following discussions about Garrett Hacks scratch stock recently, which I plan to replicate, I am looking for a source of nice (preferably brass) thumbscrews. Does anyone have any ideas? I think M6 is about the right size, around 30mm long.

For function (not looks) I find a wingnut locked by the shallowest ordinary nut I can get (or make!) works well.

Edit: any of these help?

useful looking bolts

BugBear

 

[George_N]

I think it was Derek Cohen who posted a method for making knurled screws. It involved grinding down a knurled plumbing fitting and epoxying the ring around the bolt head. He was using them on plane lever caps IIRC.

 

[Harbo]

The problem now is finding decent brass pipe fittings with knurled heads. The only ones I have found are very crudly finished?

Rod

 

[woodbloke]

The problem now is finding decent brass pipe fittings with knurled heads. The only ones I have found are very crudly finished?

Rod

Rod - correct, this is the problem with this method, but you can get away with a plain brass ferule...not quite so much 'grip' but it seems to work well enough. I've done this on the planes that I've made and it works quite well - Rob

 

[Racers]

Hi,

I used these knobs for a while, from the skip but also from Trend http://www.trend-uk.com/en/UK/productli ... knobs.html

but they where a bit big (M6) do I made these knobs from brass bar and fitted them to all my gages.

Pete

 

[wayne]

I make all my own knurled screws. I chuck a piece of round brass stock in the lathe, drill and tap a blind hole, then solder a piece of all-thread into the treaded hole. Then I screw the unfinished "bolt" into a 1"-2" piece of drilled/tapped round brass stock and chuck up the part to do the finish work. (I screw it into the brass stock to avoid messing up the threads, and the right-hand threads keep the bolt tight as I work it to its finished shape). It generally takes me about 15 minutes to do one, but doing several at once will cut individual times. Pretty quick and simple, once you do one or two, and the variations are as endless as your imagination.

-Wayne Anderson
http://www.andersonplanes.com

 

[Philly]

Nice! Wayne, how do you do the dished area?
Philly

 

[Mr Ed]

Well that's a beautiful screw Wayne, very nicely executed.

Its just the small matter of a level of engineering skill equal to yours and owning the necessary equipment thats holding me back!

Now if Elk River was just down the road from North Derbyshire I'd be calling in for a tutorial, but somehow I can't see that happening...

Ed

 

[Mr Ed]

Well these are getting closer;

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/sear ... 4294956983

Although most of these are plastic, if you look in the 'wing' section, there are some stainless ones that look OK. I'll keep looking, but I may give some of these a try.

Cheers, Ed.

 

[frugal]

Have you looked at computer suppliers?

Quite a lot of high end PC cases have the lid held on with thumb screws. Have a look in PC World, or scan.co.uk.