Author Topic: Looking for a clever machinist (Read 20869 times)

Mike Brooks · « **on:** July 10, 2014, 04:07:51 PM »

I need a 3 1/2" long 8x32 lock bolt with a 1/2" head. Can anybody make me one?

Acer Saccharum · « **Reply #1 on:** July 10, 2014, 04:19:22 PM »

Go to Loew's and buy some threaded rod.

mattdog · « **Reply #2 on:** July 10, 2014, 04:41:59 PM »

How much money ya' got?

Can you use a 10-32 that size? I may have some of those right here.

Jack Baier · « **Reply #3 on:** July 10, 2014, 05:10:46 PM »

you could try running a die over a piece of drill rod and then tig weld the head on seperately

WKevinD · « **Reply #4 on:** July 10, 2014, 05:19:29 PM »

Mike,
I've made some before, they are fake but work well.
I cut a 3/16 wafer off a piece of 1/2" bar stock drilled and tapped an 8/32 in the center and brazed the backside. Then ground the head to final thickness (about 5/32") Slightly rounded the edges and filed the slot. It's been in service for over 15 years.
Kevin

D. Taylor Sapergia · « **Reply #5 on:** July 10, 2014, 06:14:16 PM »

I'll make you one Mike. I just sent two special order screws to elkiller. Send me your mailing address via email dtaylorsapergia@gmail.com

Bob Roller · « **Reply #6 on:** July 10, 2014, 06:52:21 PM »

What kind of head does this odd screw need? I turned one just to see if I still could.
I used a support bearing in the tailstock chuck and a piece of 12L14 left over from a lead screw
that I made for this machine I just made the screw on.

Bob Roller

Mike Brooks · « **Reply #7 on:** July 10, 2014, 08:31:59 PM »

Thanks all, I got a wacky machinist lined up to make it now.

Acer Saccharum · « **Reply #8 on:** July 10, 2014, 09:29:15 PM »

You could take a bar of 1 1/2" steel and turn it down to diameter, then weld the head on it.

What a great forum. Everyone jumps over backwards to help out.

T

Acer Saccharum · « **Reply #9 on:** July 10, 2014, 09:29:52 PM »

...and send me your mailing address....

Acer Saccharum · « **Reply #10 on:** July 10, 2014, 10:16:07 PM »

oops, you said you were looking for a wacky machinist, not a sane one.

Mike Brooks · « **Reply #11 on:** July 10, 2014, 10:58:39 PM »

Quote from: Acer Saccharum on July 10, 2014, 10:16:07 PM

oops, you said you were looking for a wacky machinist, not a sane one.

....I think you qualify...

David Rase · « **Reply #12 on:** July 11, 2014, 01:15:02 AM »

Quote from: Mike Brooks on July 10, 2014, 10:58:39 PM

Quote from: Acer Saccharum on July 10, 2014, 10:16:07 PM
oops, you said you were looking for a wacky machinist, not a sane one.
....I think you qualify...

Tom was the first name that came to my mind.

David

David R. Pennington · « **Reply #13 on:** July 11, 2014, 01:25:13 AM »

I've been making my sidenails by forge welding heads on rod and then turning the heads and filing to shape.

shortbarrel · « **Reply #14 on:** July 11, 2014, 01:25:33 AM »

Mike, what is this screw for???. I'll make it, if I know the specks, length of thread, ect. If made out of hot rolled, cold rolled or wrought iron. If made out of wrought iron, I have to charge you. Mail me of line, no charge for the other.

Mark Elliott · « **Reply #15 on:** July 11, 2014, 01:49:34 AM »

Why in the world would you weld on a head, or turn a screw from huge piece of rod? You make a lock nail just like you make a nail. You forge out a slightly tapered rod, stick it in a header (a flat steel plate with a hole a little bigger than you want your nail and screw to be) until it stops; note the position; cut your rod just above that point (almost but not all the way through); put the nail/screw blank back in the hole, break off the rod by bending, then hammer out your head. This is all done in one heat after the bulk of the nail or screw has been forged. It all takes about 30 seconds. Then you can file the blank or put it in your lathe at that point with a lot of work saved. It doesn't have to be perfect, just good enough to hold the lock in the stock. Look at some of the originals. It only has to be roughly round at the threaded part. Most of these are pretty crude, not even straight.

JCKelly · « **Reply #16 on:** July 11, 2014, 03:30:51 AM »

Not a machinist, don't have a forge

I go to hardware and buy stove bolts.

File off the square under the head, file off the zinc coating. If bolt is a bit too large in diameter, file FILE it down a bit & thread it with a die & die stock. Use a drop of cutting oil

Definitely does not match the CNC precision of contemporary rifles.

Comparable to many of the original Pennsylvania long rifles, I'd say

Old Ford2 · « **Reply #17 on:** July 11, 2014, 01:21:59 PM »

I agree with Mr. Kelly, I use stove bolts for much of my lock work.
The round head is more than large enough for most lock bolts.
And to turn the shank down to appropriate size is easy work.
Garage sales often have old un-plated bolts. I grab as many as I can, whenever I find them.
Removing the zinc plating is a bit of a challenge to get all the plating off, so that they blue well.
It is doable, but I prefer the un-plated bolts when I find them.
Fred

Bob Roller · « **Reply #18 on:** July 11, 2014, 03:09:43 PM »

"File the SQUARE off under the head"?. That is a carriage bolt. Stove bolts have a rounded head with a slot that looks like the Grand Canyon and are frequently all thread.Someone recommended 5/32 drill rod for an 8x32 screw. That is a proper diameter but it seldom threads well(not that it has to). I made some 8x32 all thread recently from 12L14 recently and it looked fine and I am assuming it worked.
I made a 4" long 8x32 yesterday and turned the first 3/8"to .139 and used a small insert with a .140 hole in the tail stock chuck as a support and the easily turned the long shank and then ran a die over it and it's ready to go. Just WHAT on a muzzle loader needs a screw that long?Sounds like a throttle link screw on an old car.

Bob Roller

Acer Saccharum · « **Reply #19 on:** July 11, 2014, 03:21:11 PM »

I have a lathe, and it's much easier for me to turn out a screw on the lathe than it is to turn on the forge, unpset a head, reduce the shank, size and thread. And I'm sure it's easier for an accomplished smith to bang out a screw, but I lack proficiency at the forge. I'm all burns and bandaids when it comes to that. So I'll stick with the my lathe.

Mike Brooks · « **Reply #20 on:** July 11, 2014, 03:55:00 PM »

Quote

Just WHAT on a muzzle loader needs a screw that long?Sounds like a throttle link screw on an old car.

Actually, once I really measured, the bolt only needed to be 2 1/2" long. It's going on a rather large Hudson Valley gun that I have been working on for 16 years.

Dr. Tim-Boone · « **Reply #21 on:** July 11, 2014, 04:42:33 PM »

Wow! It will be an antique when you finish it!!!

Acer Saccharum · « **Reply #22 on:** July 11, 2014, 07:15:31 PM »

Tim, it takes one to make one.

JCKelly · « **Reply #23 on:** July 11, 2014, 07:35:43 PM »

Yeah, yeah - CARRIAGE bolt

frequently on this site someone gives the email address for a source of un-plated screws & I ass-u-me bolts.

John Archer · « **Reply #24 on:** July 11, 2014, 09:02:18 PM »

www.blacksmithbolt.com

Carry pretty well everything unplated.

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Author Topic: Looking for a clever machinist (Read 20869 times)

mattdog