Last night and this morning I spent a little time messing around on my 4003G lathe and decided to have a go at the DIY internal threading tool I've seen posted here.
My goal is to have a tool small enough to make and thread barrel thread protectors for as small as 1/2-28 threads. I didn't have any plans and just kind of winged it, in fact I didn't even go inside to get my caliper so all measurements are just eyed up. I also started with 1-1/8" O1 drill rod, so it took a long long time to remove all that extra material. I should order some more appropriate sized material for future use.
After making it look like the other pictures I've seen I used my soup can forge and heated the cutting area to red hot and quenched it in iso32 oil. It seems very sharp, although I'm unsure how it could be sharpened or touched up so I'll only use it on aluminum. I may have to grind off one end to fit inside a half inch ID.
I also found it difficult when adjusting my compound slide to cut the angle which required the compound to be off the scale, I used a small protractor as best I could, the angle seems okay. I bought a cheap combination protractor from harbor freight to see if that would help setting the compound angle.
My goal is to have a tool small enough to make and thread barrel thread protectors for as small as 1/2-28 threads. I didn't have any plans and just kind of winged it, in fact I didn't even go inside to get my caliper so all measurements are just eyed up. I also started with 1-1/8" O1 drill rod, so it took a long long time to remove all that extra material. I should order some more appropriate sized material for future use.
After making it look like the other pictures I've seen I used my soup can forge and heated the cutting area to red hot and quenched it in iso32 oil. It seems very sharp, although I'm unsure how it could be sharpened or touched up so I'll only use it on aluminum. I may have to grind off one end to fit inside a half inch ID.
I also found it difficult when adjusting my compound slide to cut the angle which required the compound to be off the scale, I used a small protractor as best I could, the angle seems okay. I bought a cheap combination protractor from harbor freight to see if that would help setting the compound angle.