# Does anyone know where I could buy a single set of thread wires?



## awander (Feb 2, 2014)

I recently bought an old thread-measuring wire set, and the (3) 0.081" wires are missing.

The set is made by Flynn Manufacturing in Detroit. The individual wires are just a hair under 3" long.

Emails to Flynn have so far been unanswered.

Anyone know where I could get a set of stainless wires in the 0.081" size?


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## Philco (Feb 2, 2014)

Andy, you might try a music shop where they sell strings. They are generally packaged with the decimal size on the package, but I would still take my micrometer with me to be sure.
I hope this helps you.
Phil


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## Tony Wells (Feb 2, 2014)

Meyer Gage sells wires, but you'd need to find a distributor for them. Otherwise, to replace thread wires, I probably would just get individual gage pins in the size I need. They're not stainless, but neither are the common PeeDee wires most of us have. For that matter, a PeeDee distributor might sell individual wires. They used to guarantee against everything, including loss.


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## grant (Feb 8, 2014)

awander said:


> I recently bought an old thread-measuring wire set, and the (3) 0.081" wires are missing.
> 
> The set is made by Flynn Manufacturing in Detroit. The individual wires are just a hair under 3" long.
> 
> ...



in answer to your query , you could refer to a standards chart for sewing machine needles used  by the garment industry  they come in various diameters ,usually in thousands of an inch dia.in my metrology lectures  with my students I demonstrated the use of the three wire thread measurement to find the effective dia. of the male thread  .i still have a collection of these thread wires (3-off per set).not used these for a number of year and were used mainly for the whitworth class thread system . shall  look them out ,if you have any problems obtaining sewing needle standards charts,let me know


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## grant (Feb 8, 2014)

back again,just checked ref. books refer to british number drills ref. chart , a number 46 gauge drill is .081 inch dia . a lot less expensive than gauge wire.


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## old_dave (Feb 8, 2014)

awander said:


> I recently bought an old thread-measuring wire set, and the (3) 0.081" wires are missing.
> 
> The set is made by Flynn Manufacturing in Detroit. The individual wires are just a hair under 3" long.
> 
> ...



You might try: http://www.fishermachine.com

I don't know if they still sell single sizes of wire but there's a note in the complete set I bought from them many years ago that shows that they did then (probably circa early 1980's).
David


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## awander (Feb 8, 2014)

Thanks for the ideas, guys.

The trouble I see with using a drill blank or a piece of drill rod is that the tolerance will not be anywhere near what it should be. Thread wires should be within 0.00002" of nominal size, while drill blanks are usually around +0, -0.0003  .

I'd welcome a link to the sewing machine needle size charts; I did some searching but couldn't really find anything that gave decimal or mm equivalents. Also, don;t sewing machine needles usually have a flat side, or other deviation from true cylinder? Might make them hard to use....

Gauge pins might be an option, but the best I have been able to find are Class X with a 0.00004" tolerance, and they are about $13 each from MSC. I can buy a whole new set of the Pee Dee wires from Fisher Machine for about 2/3 of that cost......


Hmm, so after writing all that, I discovered that both the Flynn wires and the Pee Dee ones are only specified to 0.001" accuracy.

Why did I think they needed to be more accurate? Well, Machinery's Handbook says, 

"A set of three measuring wires should have the same diameter within 0.0002 inch. To measure the pitch diameter of a screw-thread gage to an accuracyof 0.0001 inch by means of wires, it is necessary to know the wire diameters to 0.00002 inch. If the diameters of the wires are known only to an accuracy of 0.0001 inch, an accuracy better than 0.0003 inch in the measurement of pitch diameter cannot be expected." 

The basic premise is that the error in the measurement works out to about 3X the error in the diameter of the wires. 

I guess the consensus is that a 0.003" measurement error is OK, based on the Pee Dee wires and the Flynn ones being spec'd only to 0.001" accuracy.


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## Tony Wells (Feb 8, 2014)

Odds are that you won't need to hit a PD within a few tenths anyway. As far as the wires needing to be within 20 millionths....how many of us can even verify a measurement to that tolerance? That is probably the acceptable limit when thread wires are used to verify thread gages in a controlled environment, but average use would not demand it.


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## John Hasler (Feb 8, 2014)

awander said:


> Thanks for the ideas, guys.
> 
> The trouble I see with using a drill blank or a piece of drill rod is that the tolerance will not be anywhere near what it should be. Thread wires should be within 0.00002" of nominal size, while drill blanks are usually around +0, -0.0003  .
> 
> ...



http://www.threadcheck.com has wires to the tolerances you want.  You won't like the prices, though.


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## awander (Feb 8, 2014)

John Hasler said:


> http://www.threadcheck.com has wires to the tolerances you want.  You won't like the prices, though.



You;re right about that, john!

Luckily, they don't have the 0.081" wires I need...hew:


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## awander (Feb 8, 2014)

Tony Wells said:


> Odds are that you won't need to hit a PD within a few tenths anyway. As far as the wires needing to be within 20 millionths....how many of us can even verify a measurement to that tolerance? That is probably the acceptable limit when thread wires are used to verify thread gages in a controlled environment, but average use would not demand it.



Right, on closer examination the quote from MH references thread gages.

I will probably never even use my set of wires, but I really want it to be complete!


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## SuPeRBaD (Jul 27, 2014)

You might try looking on MSC Direct I know they carry some individual thread wire sets.  If not you could always buy a cheap $15-20 doller set off Ecno to get the wire sizes you are missing.


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## LEEQ (Jul 27, 2014)

Flea bay set of Shars PeeDee wires set me back$10 after shipping. I got them through the ebay store, as I'm told its cheaper than from Shars. I thought that was a bargain.


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## Hotbluechips (Jul 31, 2014)

Until you need to cut or measure a 7 or 7 1/2 TPI I would not worry about it too much.


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## Optic Eyes (Apr 28, 2021)

Get thread triangles, easier to use around a lathe


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## mickri (Apr 28, 2021)

Interesting concept.  Never heard of them before.


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## T Bredehoft (Apr 29, 2021)

.081 equals 2.057 millimeters, about 1/12 of an inch.  That's a fairly large pitch. 7 to 7.5, huge.

If you never make that thread, you'll never miss the wires.


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