# What's The Best Steel To Use ?



## Scruffy (May 16, 2016)

While winching my 16 in shaper out of a house basement , several years ago this happened.  The down feed screw hit the top of the door way, bending it over Badley.  I tried to straighten it.
Didn't work,  so I cut the short end off and made a piece. Press fit with loc-tite. Lasted a few hours of use.
Next I chamfered both pieces and had the neighbor tig weld it.  Looked great but had to turn most of how weld off to get a flat surface on the bottom of the collar. Lasted a couple of hours.
   Tomorrow I'm going to put big deep chamfers on both pieces and have him tig it again.
  If that doesn't hold I was wondering what steel to make the new one out of?  A file easily cuts the old one.  The shaper was made around 1908 as close as I can date it.
I have a decent lathe to do the threading,  just not much know how.

Open to suggestions?

Thanks Ron here's some pics


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## Eddyde (May 16, 2016)

O1 drill rod should do the trick.


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## Andre (May 16, 2016)

Face both ends, use a threaded rod into both pieces to splice them. Depending on the part you may need to add a spacer to account for the faced off material. And maybe a bit of welding around the splice. Don't use locktite if you plan to weld. 

Sent from my XT1053 using Tapatalk


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## Ulma Doctor (May 16, 2016)

perhaps some 1018 hot rolled, would be a good candidate for consideration.


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## Chipper5783 (May 16, 2016)

Strength is not an issue.  Go for something that cuts nicely.  Is that collar integral?  If it is, then that is a pretty good sized piece of bar.  As Eddy said, O1 is a good choice, but is overkill, and can get expensive for a big piece.

Almost any plain carbon steel will be fine.  Depending how fussy you are,  threading that long a rod can present quite a challenge.  I have made 3 lead screws and I found it a challenge to manage deflection of the work piece.  It was driving me nuts, because I like cutting threads - I thought it was going to be easy.

In order to cut that long a thread, there are a few ways to approach it (depends on what you have for equipment).  It will be interesting to see what responses you get.


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## Uglydog (May 17, 2016)

I'm with Ulmadoc on the 1018.
Red Loctite and a taper pin.
Press fit if you are able. But, that might negate the Red Loctite.

Daryl
MN


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## chips&more (May 17, 2016)

For repair, I would as said, pin or Loctite. For new, I would make out of 1144 stressproof. It cuts easily and is about RC20…Good Luck, Dave.


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## Scruffy (May 17, 2016)

Thanks for the responses,  Ivan always count on you guys.
Here's a little more detail:  yes collar is intergal part of the shaft, it is 1.180 od
Shaft is total of 15 in long,  large thread is .626 od - 8 .5 in long.
Small end thread is .360 od.
  Their seems to be a shock load when the cutter first starts.  It is a shaper.                     
As far as equipment I have a 16 by 54 American pace maker but no follow rest . I could chuck it so I would be threading 8 .5 inches. It's acme thread I believe.  What's the best way to check?
Thanks ron


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## gi_984 (May 17, 2016)

http://www.greenbaymfgco.com/
These guys are a good source of replacement ACME shafting and nuts for machine repair.  They deal with this stuff all the time.  Give them a call 920-793-2411.


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## kd4gij (May 17, 2016)

First I would take the long piece and face the disc and drill a 3/8" hole to half way to the under cut. Then make the short piece with a stub to press in then pin it.


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## Chipper5783 (May 17, 2016)

I agree with comments above that a repair is probably the most expedient.  How did the second attempt at welding work out?
Using  stock shafting would work fine (if it is available - what is it you need? LH or RH, 8, 10 or someother tpi?).  How to check?  Acme thread gauge.  You could also roll it through some putty, then section the impression.  Obviously you'd still have the collar and bearing area to sort out (still quite a bit of machining).

If it were me, I'd knuckle down and make it (seems I usually take the more difficult route - but less fooling around).  You should be able to get by with out a follower rest.  I'd suggest something really easy cutting.  There are a few approaches you could take.  Complete the Acme threaded end first (that leaves the "handle" in the chuck pretty stiff).  Change to a dead center in the tailstock for the threading.   Suggest you grind your threading tool too narrow, and cut each flank seperately (make the tool *very* keen and plenty of positive top rake) - this will reduce the deflection.  Start by cutting the thread to the book values, then compare to your existing lead screw by measuring over wires (the size does not really matter, you'll just make the new one to measure the same as the old one).  If you can get the nut off, the shaper - just cut to fit.  The fit may tighten up slightly near the middle, but I doubt that will matter in your application.


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## chips&more (May 18, 2016)

You say you are going to TIG weld it? Maybe not the best idea to weld on mystery metal.


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## Rick Berk (May 26, 2016)

I have made a lot in my career out of 12L15, machines and threads easily and has a great thread finish when single point threading.


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## GLCarlson (May 26, 2016)

A leaded steel- 12L14, etc, will machine nicely and be fun to work with.


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