Die grinder cap

[Stuart Samuel]

Was talking to a coworker today, and noticed a nice little die grinder in the top of his toolbox. Had a closer look, and realized it’s a Dotco! Someone gave it to him for free, but… the end cap’s missing.



The male thread at the front appears to be 1 1/8”-18 UNEF. Trying to decide if I have a practical way to make a cap for it.

I have an internal threading insert holder I picked up a few years ago, maybe time to dig into Stel’s excellent presentation on threading from the Ontario meetup?



A little tricky, in that its internal, threading up to (more likely away from…) a shoulder, over a fairly short length of thread (~1/4”), and the cap can’t be too tall (less than 5/16”) or it’ll block the wrench flats for tightening the collet.

 

[Susquatch]

I have an internal threading insert holder I picked up a few years ago, maybe time to dig into Stel’s excellent presentation on threading from the Ontario meetup?

Go for it! If you are threading in reverse, you can buy some headroom by hand turning the spindle before you hit power. (Actually you can do that threading normally too, but it will be at the end instead of the start.)

Also, keep in mind that you can make a perfect profile threading tool with HSS so you can, either just plunge the thread or do a 29.5 thread. The nut will never know the difference.

If you have not done external threads, internal threads can be a bit intimidating, but it's only a nut. You can practice till you get it perfect!

Ya, I say go for it Stuart! I love threading! Fk, I even like change gears!

It's that or invite @thestelster down for Pizza!

Too far for me, but you could always come here......

 

[Stuart Samuel]

Found a piece of 1 1/4” aluminum (6061 T6), chucked it in the lathe. 3/4” through hole, bored ID to minor diameter of the thread. Tossed the threading tool in a holder, set to height, set a carriage stop to just barely clear the internal shoulder, set gearing to 18 TPI, and… turned the breaker off. Just turned the chuck by hand leaving the feed engaged, and backing the tool out before reversing. I felt like I might have too much muscle memory reaching for that power lever, safer if it doesn’t do anything.

Just cut deeper, 5 thou at a pass, until the male thread would run in. I know, the thread form is all wrong, but it works for this application. I’ll delve deeper into producing threads that actually meet a standard another time. For now, grinder’s back in service.

 

[Garyt]

I also find thread cutting very satisfying. I even teased my old SB into making a working metric thread.
Gary

 

[wmetfab]

Well done man

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Great job. It's always fun doing these little projects like that. They don't make ANY financial sense, but they are rewarding every time you pick up that tool and use it.