Die holder

[Larry$]

I've had a tailstock die holder for a while. Designed for split round dies. It works well but I don't have all sizes in round dies. A while back I had made a holder for small hex dies that could be either used free hand or in the tail stock holder. Today I made a larger Hex die holder for use in the tailstock set. Made the OD to fit the largest of the round die holders. Drilled & bored on the lathe then used a 1/8" end mill to make the Hex. There's where I went wrong. I didn't feel like setting up the rotary table for just one piece. So I just roughed it out in the vice figuring I'd finish file it to shape. Took way longer than I had thought. I kept thinking about those die filers I've seen people make the entire time I was filing by hand. I finally got it done and it works fine. I know hex dies are for chasing and not making new but I will use them when I don't have the correct size split round die.

 

[machPete99]

Note that hex dies are often considered re-threading only quality, sometimes just carbon steel, while round are usually better quality and HSS.
Its not necessarily guarantied to be the case, but keep in mind.

The holder does look nice!

 

[Larry$]

I know hex dies are for chasing and not making new but I will use them when I don't have the correct size split round die.

but keep in mind.

Yup!

It is much easier to get the thread started square to the work with the tailstock die holder than wobbling around free hand. Same idea as using a tap follower on the mill. But since I finally bought a decent set of spiral flute taps, power tapping has eliminated the need for the follower. No need to back up to break the chips since the "chips" come out as one long spiral for each flute. Yes, they are a bit expensive but damn they work nice.