Well and trully screwed....

tramcar trev

tramcar trev

all manner of mechanical apparatus...
BA taps and dies are readily available in the UK from Model Engineering suppliers.
Don't buy cheap ones; they are a false economy.
 
If anyone wants really small screws etc. plus the tools to work them in Clerkenwell near where I work there are several watch and clock makers parts and tool shops. They also sell bargain bags of bits so the old cogs and other bits may be useful as detailing parts.
 
Broke a 10 BA tap, tapping aluminium. Too easy to do. Just go slow...really slow.
A friend gave me them as a pack of 3.
Since then picked up a set of BA taps from squires at a show.
I bolt my axle boxes onto scratchbuilt wagons and if tapped dont need a nut, justa bit of loctite.
I want a set of dies and then I can thread steel bar and put nuts on the end. Just havent quite worked out what for yet...
 
ROSS said:
the old Model Engineer stalwarts.
Click to expand...

Not referring to me there I hope Ross.

Old = yes!
Model = yes!
Engineer = maybe!
Stalwart = don't really think so. :bigsmile:

That website you quoted is very good, just that the list of threads they give is far from conclusive, but easily enough for general day to day usage. :thumbup:
 
Stainzmeister said:
ROSS said:
How many people use a pilot drill of suitable size for the tap first..... followed by the tap?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't attempt to do it any other way Ross.......as I was taught :)
Click to expand...

Is there another way? Drive the tap in with a hammer perchance? The foreman in the apprentice training school would have you on the punishment bench, sawing 6" diameter steel bar into 1" lengths if you broke a tap when I was an apprentice!

I think I still have that test piece somewhere, the 1/4" thich steel oblong with the square hole in the middle, with the square piece that had to fit exactly into the hole, any way round, which had to be "light tight" when placed over the light box, all marked out, and then hand drilled, filed, and finally scraped to fit, NO EMERY allowed!
 
alec dawe said:
Stainzmeister said:
ROSS said:
How many people use a pilot drill of suitable size for the tap first..... followed by the tap?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't attempt to do it any other way Ross.......as I was taught :)
Click to expand...

Is there another way? Drive the tap in with a hammer perchance? The foreman in the apprentice training school would have you on the punishment bench, sawing 6" diameter steel bar into 1" lengths if you broke a tap when I was an apprentice!

I think I still have that test piece somewhere, the 1/4" thich steel oblong with the square hole in the middle, with the square piece that had to fit exactly into the hole, any way round, which had to be "light tight" when placed over the light box, all marked out, and then hand drilled, filed, and finally scraped to fit, NO EMERY allowed!
Click to expand...

Not a lot wrong with that Alec, you've never been frightened to pick up a file since. The number of people I've seen messing about, when all they needed to do was drag a file over it. I once saw a bloke spend an hour and a half with a milling machine to take 1/16" off the side of a piece of 1/8" thick steel 2" long. When asked he said "I'm not very good with a file".

I think I also went to that training school! :rolf::rolf:
 
funandtrains said:
If anyone wants really small screws etc. plus the tools to work them in Clerkenwell near where I work there are several watch and clock makers parts and tool shops. They also sell bargain bags of bits so the old cogs and other bits may be useful as detailing parts.
Click to expand...
Clerkenwell Screws, been using them for years. Can get just about anything with a thread from them. They do mail order but I think they now have a minimum order value. E.C.1 was my old stomping ground when I was selling for Xerox, happy days.
Max.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom