In view of the high volume, you need something faster than winding nuts on.
For a volume job like this I would use two nuts cut in half that are welded to disposable vice jaws, that way you have a fast way to clamp without damage to the threads, you would also be likely to incorporate a length stop at the same time.
Mrcheerful
Actually it's not! Why do you need to hacksaw through the tapped hole? Does the sheet remain flat? Do you put a nut on each side of the sheet, or what stops the rod rotating?
It's the same problem as shortening or drilling bolts or threaded bar in the lathe and how to hold them in a 3 jaw chuck. For a bolt with a hex head you use one loose nut of the same size as the head and grip both at the same time. For threaded bar you lock two nuts together to act as the 'head' and a third loose nut further down. You grip on the loose nut and the lower of the two locked ones. Ideally you want the two locked nuts at the cutting tool end of the bar because there will be a small amount of chatter between the bar and the loose nut.
For 400 pieces that's a lot of screwing and unscrewing nuts though. It'll take longer to put the nuts on than to cut the bar. To save time in the long run I might be tempted to take two lengths of softwood, put a V groove along both with a 90 degree chamfering tool, attach those to the vice and use them as soft jaws to clamp the threaded rod between the V's. You could also put semicircular grooves with a ball nosed milling cutter, each a couple of mm less deep than the radius of the rod so the threads can dig in a bit. Once you've done the first piece you'll have a nice thread indented into the wood and you can align the other pieces into that. The rod ain't going to go anywhere with several inches of its length indented hard into wood.
-- Dave Baker Puma Race Engines
Yes that sounds the best method yet. Except that we seldom have such a large run, and making such a device for each size and type of rod that we use, and finding them again a year later would be a problem. Whereas I can easily cut another couple of nuts. The rods need to be only 2 inches long, and it was quite quick to just slacken the vise and screw the rod along a couple of inches. Having a length stop risks jamming the bandsaw blade when the cut piece of rod falls off. I'd need to have a length stop that swings out of the way.
|Dave Fawthrop wrote: |> On 15 Oct 2006 01:55:22 -0700, "Matty F" wrote: |>
|> |What is the recommended way to hold threaded galvanised steel rod in a |> |vise so that the thread is not damaged? | |> What I was taught in the Apprentice School, long long ago. Drill a hole a |> piece of sheet which is several threads deep, tap with the appropriate |> thread. Hacksaw through the tapped hole. Put your threaded rod through |> the tapped hole, hold the sheet in the vice. |>
|> IIRC I still have the screw clamps I made there unfortunately, Whitworth or |> BFS & BA. The ones they made us make had several tapped holes in a line, |> sawn through and a large hole with 1/8 of metal round it to make the clamp |> flexible enough to allow threaded rod to be inserted. |>
|> Hope that is understandable ;-) | |Actually it's not! |Why do you need to hacksaw through the tapped hole?
So the rod/bolt is held rigidly when held in the vice.
|Does the sheet remain flat?
It has to be several threads deep the ones we made was 1/8 thick sheet
|Do you put a nut on each side of the sheet, or what stops the rod |rotating?
The vice pressure stops the rod rotating,
======================== Are you sure you're not being too meticulous on this particular job? A 5/8" galvanised thread isn't likely to be a very fine thread and if your bandsaw is properly set up it will give good square cut ends on 2" lengths which won't produce much 'chatter' when the rod is held very lightly in a 4" or 6" vice.
Try a few cuts with the rod held lightly in the vice whilst holding the projecting rod (opposite end to the cut-off end) with your gloved hands. You will probably have to put nuts on to raw ends in any case so you might as well try the quick way which has worked for me whenever I've cut threaded rod on my bandsaw.
Cic.
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making the jig for this would only take about half an hour, just chuck it when finished with.
Mrcheerful
Are you suggesting clamping the threaded rod in a steel vise without protection? When I cut using a hacksaw I use aluminium covers for the vice jaws. I wanted to hold the rod even more securely in the bandsaw, because it's not nice if it jams and breaks the blade. This is a horizontal bandsaw with an automatic feed. I usually walk away and do something else while it's cutting.
========================= This is very similar to mine although mine is an earlier version and about 20 years old:
Cic.
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Is your piece of sheet very narrow, and looking rather like a nut with a cut through one side? In which case why not just use a nut?
Ours is bigger and runs coolant on the blade and has a tray underneath to cathc the coolant. It doesn't appear to be able to tilt vertical like yours, which is a great pity, because there are some diagonal cuts that can't be done.
======================== The vertical function isn't really much use because it has a very basic table about 12" square. The flat bed vice jaws can swing through 45 degrees so it can produce most diagonals. No coolant is necessary so quite slow and safe. When a blade snaps it breaks quite safely both because of the low speed and surrounding protection.
I can understand your reluctance to get close without good clamping but I think it would be worth a try to clamp firmly without any other aids to see what damage (if any) there is to the threads. You've got a good clamping area and damage should be minimal. It really depends on what you're going to use the rods / studs for. Most of the suggested clamping methods are likely to be very tedious and time-consuming however ingenious they are.
Cic.
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We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Matty F" saying something like:
Wrap it in a rag.
But the best method may depend on the number of cuts.
Owain
|Dave Fawthrop wrote: |> On 15 Oct 2006 03:29:37 -0700, "Matty F" wrote: |>
|> |Dave Fawthrop wrote: |> |> On 15 Oct 2006 01:55:22 -0700, "Matty F" wrote: |> |>
|> |> |What is the recommended way to hold threaded galvanised steel rod in a |> |> |vise so that the thread is not damaged? |> | |> |> What I was taught in the Apprentice School, long long ago. Drill a hole a |> |> piece of sheet which is several threads deep, tap with the appropriate |> |> thread. Hacksaw through the tapped hole. Put your threaded rod through |> |> the tapped hole, hold the sheet in the vice. |> |>
|> |> IIRC I still have the screw clamps I made there unfortunately, Whitworth or |> |> BFS & BA. The ones they made us make had several tapped holes in a line, |> |> sawn through and a large hole with 1/8 of metal round it to make the clamp |> |> flexible enough to allow threaded rod to be inserted. |> |>
|> |> Hope that is understandable ;-) |> | |> |Actually it's not! |> |Why do you need to hacksaw through the tapped hole? |>
|> So the rod/bolt is held rigidly when held in the vice. |>
|> |Does the sheet remain flat? |>
|> It has to be several threads deep the ones we made was 1/8 thick sheet |>
|> |Do you put a nut on each side of the sheet, or what stops the rod |> |rotating? |>
|> The vice pressure stops the rod rotating, | |Is your piece of sheet very narrow, and looking rather like a nut with |a cut through one side?
The piece I made was about 1 inch wide by 4 inches long by 1/8 inch wide
|In which case why not just use a nut?
It worked better than a nut because flexible curve at the end allowed the threads to open and close easily. and had four taped holes. I have searched for it but failed to find it, so you will have to make do with ASCII art.
flexible metal round hole vice here \/ \/ -------------------------------------------------------------- / /-- \ | / / \ --- -- - | | | --------/ \---------/ \----------/ \--------/\------- | | --------\ /---------\ /----------\ /--------\/------- \ \ / --- -- - | \ \---/ | -------------------------------------------------------------- ^ ^ Large round hole four threaded hole different sizes
Lead clamps are very good; use two "L" shaped pieces. Or you could use aluminium clamps, made from an old number plate.
Sylvain.
The message from "Matty F" contains these words:
Personally I either use softjaws for the vice, if I can find where I last put them, or I lock a couple of nuts onto the stud and grip them.
The message from "The3rd Earl Of Derby" contains these words:
It's got to be a really thick stud before it's quicker to use the bandsaw. 10mm stud in 10secs with a hacksaw is easy.
The message from "Matty F" contains these words:
Hour and half, max.
A *very* old number plate. ;-)
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