tailstock die-holders, your opinions please

Hello folks, like lots of other chaps I occasionally need to run a die along rod held in the lathe chuck. At the moment I use an ordinary hand-held die-holder, and put a flat ended centre in the tailstock to bear against the back of the die to get the thread started nice and square. I then have to juggle tailstock feed, die-holder handle, and chuck in order to progress, but only until the rod emerges from the back of the die whereupon the tailstock has to be withdrawn.

Now I'm thinking of acquiring a tailstock die-holder but am swithering between the sort with a guide pin which prevents rotation of the die, and allows just straight sliding feed, or the type where torque is applied via a side arm, and the die can be rotated back and forth to some extent.

I'd like to know if you have a strong preference for one type over the other, and how you deal with the need to back off the die periodically to break up the chips when using the pin-guided type. Is it all down to chuck rotation in that case? Sorry if these sound like daft questions, but humour me, please.

I have the type with a side arm but seldom use the arm. I find that upto 1/4" dia I can easily just hold the body in my hand (1/2" if 40tpi) and run the lathe at about 50rpm. Just push teh holder upto teh turning work and let teh lateh do teh rest, loosen grip when desired length is reached or I hit teh shoulder. Stop lathe select reverse and wind the die off under power. I have not found teh need to back off the die on any material.

With a keyed type you have to be careful when threading to a shoulder and stop early to finish by hand if you don't want a stripped thread or do it all by hand cranking/chuck pulling

I also have the type with a side arm but find it a real pain when you have to wind it back, especially on a long thread.

I'm OK with Whit threads though as I recently bought an American die holder that uses 4 tools similar to the ones in Coventry die heads in 3/16" to 1/2". When it gets to the end of the thread the tools can be opened to allow the die holder to be removed.

I made my own MT2 reversible die holder. There are lots of plans out there. I just sketched mine out in my head (amazingly) and went to work. Works fine for me. I do use a tommy bar to prevent the MT2 from turning in the tailstock socket. I advance 1 turn and retract 1/4 turn to break the chip for the best finish. The quality of the fit depends on the die. Stainless is a bit of a pain. For stainless I turn the thread close to spec and finish up with a good die. Experiment to find out what works best for you.

Like Bill I have made my own tailstock dieholder. I can remove the tommy bar if I want to. Wouldn't be without it.

Thor

I made my own die holder with inter changeable heads for different size dies. For the smaller threads I normally hold the small diameter at the back loosely in the tail stock drill chuck and under power grip the knurled body to cut the thread while allowing the small diameter to slide in the drill chuck jaws as the thread is being cut.

For larger / coarser threads the above method will not work so here I rough out with a single point tool and finish with the die holder but as my lowest speed is a bit to fast for my liking when thread cutting I turn the power of to the lathe and use my trusty home made spindle mandrel made from a Halford tyre lever, a bit of broom stick handle and other sundry scraps.

Rik

PS The die holder body is made from a foot rest from the rear wheel on a BMX type bike.

Edited By Rik Shaw on 05/04/2016 11:01:31

Like Rik, Thor & Bill I've made my own, reversible for two die sizes, with 2 reaction arms. I've also made a spindle handle as the threads I've cut so far are not large diameters & have not had the need to single point, as yet, must make the effort to practice . I've only recently made a small one for BA sizes which I've found really usefull.

George.

I bought a commercial one that takes four sizes of dies. I rest the arm (just a stud really) against the Front Tool Post when cutting, and reverse the rotation to back it off.

The limitation is that the length of thread is limited by the length of the die holder and the that arbor on which it slides.

I also made up a holder for ER25 collets, to hold taps, again with an arm that rests against the tool post.

This excellent for fine threads, since they don't like dragging drill chuck and Tailstock along the bed!

Sometimes, I use a shop made Mandrel Handle, rather than running under power.

Howard

Screwcut....

My tailstock holder i made is the sliding type , And I use a sprung loaded handle for safety reasons

Coming soon: within about a week to ten days:

Ketan at ARC.