Male Knobs!

Sean Farrell

Hi there woodworkers, I am making up a few jigs and need some 50mm M6 male threaded knobs for clamping. these will be needed for making sliding fences etc. I went online and could only find 40mm M6 knobs then went up to M8...Does anyone know where I can get the 50mm M6 male threaded knobs in Dublin. BTW when I googled my original query for male knobs I was surprised at what came up!!

jack of all

I had a look here but seems the threaded stud is short on these too...

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-star-knobs

You could buy some female knobs (wonder what google search would throe up for this!) and threaded bar and make up your own knobs with stud length to suit. Cut the bar to length, lightly file/ grind ends and put a drop of Loctite "stud and bearing fit" on the female thread, screw in the threaded stud and allow to set/ go off. I've done similar and it works well as long as you don't torque it up too much (unlikely with a jig anyway I reckon). Two-part expoxy would work also. I've made up fittings for jigs and tools with wing nuts and threaded rod, but I fluxed both threads and ran a bit of solder into the end, works great and a cheap way to make up fittings.

Sean Farrell

Thanks Jack of All...clever idea with the loctite solution,, I have a 60mm M6 coach screw here. I'll cut and file it down. lI will give it a go and get back to u with the result. When u say
"I've made up fittings for jigs and tools with wing nuts and threaded rod, but I fluxed both threads and ran a bit of solder into the end, works great and a cheap way to make up fittings." are u saying that it is way to lengthen a piece of threaded rod with two pieces?..if so how do ensure that the final length is straight..never did metalwork in school..sorry.

recipio

If its just for jigs then 'wing bolts' might work.? I've seen them in Woodies - you might be lucky.?

jack of all

[QUOTE When u say
"I've made up fittings for jigs and tools with wing nuts and threaded rod, but I fluxed both threads and ran a bit of solder into the end, works great and a cheap way to make up fittings." are u saying that it is way to lengthen a piece of threaded rod with two pieces?..if so how do ensure that the final length is straight..never did metalwork in school..sorry.[/QUOTE]

No, I just use solder to lock a wing nut onto a threaded rod/ stud of the required length. The solder provides a stronger mechanical joint than loctite if the metals are compatible with lead/ tin solder (good for regular mild steel, brass etc). But loctite is fine for smaller fittings.

Sean Farrell

Hi Recipio, Wing nuts would do it alrite...but the scallop or star shaped knobs look better and give a better quality of workmanship. i dont want to be fiddling with wing nuts when a scallop handle would do the job...what do they call that? ergonomics I think. thanks for the reply btw.

jack of all

Hi Sean
I took some pics of how I've used wing nuts etc to get me by. For the finger board I filed the bolt heads down to fit the "T" slot; I filed a small notch in the end of the bolt to help ensure correct alignment (the bolts heads will only fit in the slot one way). I lost the original locking screw for the fence of my electric planer so I used a suitable bolt, cut off the head and screwed it into a wing nut, heating it up before running a little solder in to lock it in place, works a treat. To keep chuck keys, small spanners, hex keys etc close to machines I use heat shrink tube to secure rare earth magnets to them, works well and more durable than electrical tape.

Sean Farrell

The loctite trick worked a treat jack of all. I have asked my computer repair friend to scavange me some earth magnets for me. Gettin more organised in my workshop thanks to u

jack of all

Glad it worked out for you, the rare earth magnets are very handy altogether- I've a couple from an old PC hard drive that I use for retrieving metal swarf and filings around the drill press, handy too for checking the floor sweepings for nails, screws etc. Apparently there are big ones to be got in old microwaves too but I haven't been able to check that one out yet.

Sean Farrell

Good photos Jack .I see you have a good solid router table/spindle moulder there (looking at ur featherboard). I always wanted to make my own router table, bespoke style, made to my own specs...only problem is getting the bits and pieces together. Rutlands, Rockler(American Website) do the safety guards, T-Track, featherboards, lead in pins etc...only thing is the router lifts are a bit pricey. I have a vague idea that a home made router lift can be made with a car jack but I need to look into it a bit more.

jack of all

Cheers Sean; it's a basic enough table by Record Power. It's good and solid, fine for what I need it for but wouldn't be the best for very fine/ precision work. I have a Makita 1/2" variable speed router fitted to it. I did toy with the idea of building a nice table myself years ago but the cost of the bits and pieces was prohibitive at the time and then life got in the way! I fitted an after-market collet extension and a long reach depth adjuster (both by Trend) to my router to get the most from the table; that and a couple of decent quality bits was the extent of my spend.

Sean Farrell

The gear u have sounds grand for what u do Jack. No point throwing money away in amassing expensive kit thats rarely used. Routng accessories can be a bit pricey to say the least. Was on Axminster website http://www.axminster.co.uk/media/publications/2014-07-routing.pdf
take a look at page 280..£260 for 8 bits in a box..the're spiral and solid carbide thou! .(I could be swilling lots of pints of Guinness down the local for that money)Do woodworkers really get value out of buying kit like this or are they just following an expensive hobby.I must admitI just can't resist the temptation to window shop for my dream workshop..ITS NICE TO DREAM
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woodturner

Have you tried Component Force for the knobs? They have them in various sizes male and female.