By Perry Harrington

This is a trick I came up with out of necessity. I was trying to die-thread a keyed shaft with 5/8-18 threads. I don’t have a tailstock die holder, but I had a bolt with 5/8-18 threads on it. I took the bolt, cut the head off, and gripped the shouldered portion in the tailstock chuck. I threaded the die onto the bolt in reverse, so the finishing chaser went on the bolt first.
july08 Then, I butted the end of the bolt up to the stock in the chuck, locked the tailstock, and used the threads of the bolt to get the die started straight and true. This trick worked like a charm and is applicable to any size thread. It’s especially useful for those big or odd applications where you don’t have a tailstock die holder to match the size or style of the die.

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