After rummaging through a box of "stuff", I came across a bunch of chasers for a 3/4" Geometric die head. I mean like 30 complete sets. Some have chips on the leading edge of the cutters, but most were just grimy and rusted. Brought them home and threw them in the parts washer and then cleaned them up with a wire brush. The brush was great for getting the swarf out of the thread grooves. Sizes ranged anywhere from 10-32 through 15/16, with 1/8, 1/4, and 3/8 pipe thread as well. Thinking that was a pretty good running start, I started looking through ebay for a die head. Ended up finding one for $225 that appeared to be in decent shape. It showed up on Friday, so after taking it for a swim in the parts washer, I oiled it up and put some 3/8-16 chasers in it and gave it a spin.
Took a piece of scrap 3/8" rod and skim cut a couple thousandths off to true it up.
Set up was quick (even for a me). Might take a little longer if I was trying to thread to a specific depth, but this Geometric DS model trigger three different ways so it wont be bad.
Quick set up, really quick thread cutting and the threads look really nice coming off. Didn't take much longer than using the die holder in the tail stock so I can see my using it often, especially if I am cutting threads on a quantity of parts.
Took a piece of scrap 3/8" rod and skim cut a couple thousandths off to true it up.
Set up was quick (even for a me). Might take a little longer if I was trying to thread to a specific depth, but this Geometric DS model trigger three different ways so it wont be bad.
Quick set up, really quick thread cutting and the threads look really nice coming off. Didn't take much longer than using the die holder in the tail stock so I can see my using it often, especially if I am cutting threads on a quantity of parts.
