Brass tipped screws, how are they made?

[macardoso]

I've made these quick and dirty before. Turn a brass pin with a smaller diameter than the hole it will go into. Drill out the end of a screw, doesn't need to be very deep. Put the brass pin in and squish it. Can be with the TS of a lathe, or in a bench vise. Finally turn the squished brass down to look pretty. I made a little fixture to do this on the lathe that worked great.

 

[savarin]

I made mine by drilling and tapping the end and screwing in the brass tip with locktight then threading the full length of the bolt.

The Giant Binocular

This is for the azimuth brake, it screws down through the plate the altitude bearings are bolted to. The brass tip has an internal M8x1 thread lock tighted in, the external thread is M12x1.25 single pointed. Hopefully the brass tip will rub against the top of the steel disk the main bearing sits...

www.hobby-machinist.com

 

[chips&more]

If you are looking for an interference fit. Pressing brass into steel. And the brass shears off when you press it in. That totally defeats the purpose of trying to achieve an interference fit. Because you just sheared off that interference material that would have made a tight fit. You need FINESSE, proper sizing, smooth surfaces and applying hot and cold correctly.

 

[RJSakowski]

A drop of Loctite or super glue in the hole will substitute for an interference fit. I use that method to make drill extensions and have never had one fail.

 

[wachuko]

Thanks to your memory of the name , I have found the thread

Lantern Chuck

The Lantern Chuck shown is not my design. It was modeled after a Lantern Chuck from Model-Engineer in the UK which in turn may have originated from information gleaned from Tubal Cain’s Book, “Work holding in the Lathe”. There were no drawings for this tool only two photos’ showing a general...

www.hobby-machinist.com

Ohhh... that is very cool. I need to add this one as a future project. Bookmarked!

 

[jwmelvin]

Lantern Chuck

The Lantern Chuck shown is not my design. It was modeled after a Lantern Chuck from Model-Engineer in the UK which in turn may have originated from information gleaned from Tubal Cain’s Book, “Work holding in the Lathe”. There were no drawings for this tool only two photos’ showing a general...

www.hobby-machinist.com

Yes, that one is very nice. Here's another example, from an old book I have:

 

[epanzella]

If you are looking for an interference fit. Pressing brass into steel. And the brass shears off when you press it in. That totally defeats the purpose of trying to achieve an interference fit. Because you just sheared off that interference material that would have made a tight fit. You need FINESSE, proper sizing, smooth surfaces and applying hot and cold correctly.

You can make a mountain out of a mole hill if you want but press some brass into a bored hole in steel with some brass shearing off and then try to pull it out!

 

[Logan Novice]

Occasionally I have seen brass tipped screws, like for a lathe spider. I'd like to make a spider and thought brass on the ends would be nice. McMaster has imperial socket head cap screws. Haven't found them yet for metric, but maybe I am searching for the wrong thing. I did find lots of metric set screws with brass tips, but not SHCS

How are they made? Is it just drill a hole in the bottom of the screw and press in a brass piece? I'm looking for M6 screws.

I found a way to make my own. I first prepare a slug (a short piece of round stock bored and threaded for the bolt I'm working with). I turn a hex nut onto the bolt, then the slug, then a second nut. With these tightened in place the slug mounts into the chuck. I then drill a hole (about .400) into the bolt. Next step is to turn a length of brass with a short nib (that .400 length) to fit into that hole. I leave enough additional brass on the length for finishing the piece later. Then I sweat the brass nib into the hole and return the hole shebang to the chuck and turn down the finished tip before removing the hex nuts and slug.
(the image "on blue" is pretty ugly cuz it was just after it came out of the Oxpho-Blue solution)