Die head ?

[projectnut]

I have 4 geometric die heads down here . All are the DSM variety . I have a box of 5/16 K model chasers and have never seen a die head for them . There are tons of chasers for sale on the bay but nothing about the actual heads . Are they that elusive , outdated , unwanted or cherished by their owners ?

My guess would be unwanted. Both the used equipment dealers I visit regularly each have dozens of die heads and hundreds if not thousands of dies. I've never seen any of them even having been moved on the shelves except when they do an inventory. If you're only doing one offs or a couple it's not worth the time to set them up, or the cost to have the right head and chasers in stock.

They might be of interest for a low budget job shop, but generally they have fallen out of favor.

 

[mmcmdl]

They might be of interest for a low budget job shop, but generally they have fallen out of favor.

Looking for a 5/16 K style head if you ever come across one . I'll be calling my local guy also to see if he has any down his place . I do use the 5/16 D style in the Hardinge turret but ran across 200 or so sets of K style chasers .

 

[benmychree]

Die heads shine where long skinny workpieces that are nearly impossible to cut with single point; solid dies are not so good for this sort of job either due to the tendency to start camming on a long thread, resulting in a distorted "drunken" thread. Especially, Geometric type D die heads are very easy to set up and use, taking at most a couple of minutes to set up when changing chasers, if more than one or two threads are to be cut, it is worth it; all this is nothing to say regarding the accuracy of thread form and repetitive accuracy between parts. Also, chasers for the style D are easily available on EB and specials are available from a number of sources.