Acme Theaded Rod & Nuts

I recently needed some 1/4" inch Acme threaded rod and nuts for my Burrell-Boydell traction engine but could find no UK supplier of these items in carbon steel.

An on-line search revealed a US company named 'Wholesale Tool' in Tulsa (only 24 hours from, for those with long memories) and they take PayPal.

I ordered a 3' ft length, cut into 3 for easier packing, and 3 nuts. The bill came to $23.65 but the postage was $52.75!!! Total in GBP was £58.65. Even so I needed the parts so placed an order on 6th Feb and received the parts on 15th Feb which is what I would call good service.

The parts are of excellent quality and will enable further progress on my engine.

Brian

I ordered an old car lamp on e-bay last week & the postage was twice the value of the item; think it could have been via e-bay's Global Shipping Program. The guy agreed to cut the price in half from $38 & not without some difficulty has sent it via U.S Postal Service. Hasn't arrived yet but I'm confident.

If you want short lengths (300mm) of 8mm 2mm pitch leadscrew with matching brass nuts, they are cheap and readily available as they are a common upgrade for 3D printers. Possibly worth adapting designs to use this size?

Neil

I don't know what happened to the 2 replies I posted earlier today but I'll try again; the nearest size I found in Uk was 5/16" inches but 8mm is close. The problem was that it's for a scale model and I'd already made all the mating parts. I found a UK supplier of st/st 1/4" inch acme threaded rod in 5" inch lengths but the price for the three pieces I needed was more that the price I paid from the US of A.

I could have screwcut them and made a tap for the nuts but there is so much more work to do on the engine that I decided to buy them in.

Brian

In the current ME Chris Gunn mentions someone who used the screw and nut off a g-clamp for their traction engine.

Many sizes available, all cheap

Neil

Hi engineers, you can buy 500mm of 8mm dia ACME screwed rod for as little as £5.99 carriage paid from Hong Kong on eBay. See eBay item number 131962035250

I've had some for the brake operating screw on my 3" scale Allchin. It comes single or two start and it's stainless as well.

Donald Mitchell

Bonnie Scotland

The problem is that none of the suggestions are for 1/4" inch dia.

Brian

Edited By Brian Hutchings on 15/02/2017 20:22:28

But they are square thread not ACME which is even further from what Brian wanted than trapizoidal metric

We are "model engineers", why not make your own ?

.

Richard ... I think Brian covered your question, even before you asked it ^^^

We all make choices, and Brian made his.

MichaelG.

Things coming from America seem to be sent via Iran or perhaps the Artic circle,so the high transport costs may be due to dealing with the sand or the snow. By the time they get here,there,s nothing cheap about them. I dont think I,d be bothered looking for any more stuff from there.

When you are asked $35 to post an item which costs $9,it,s time to stop and think !

For the benefit of others who may be searching, try Halifax Rack and Screw Ltd. They claim to be the biggest manufacturers in Europe

​www.hrs-col.co.uk

Regards
Brian

I agree entirely with you Larry, but buying from the US was cheaper than buying from the UK, although the UK ones were stainless steel.

Brian

just tried that website Brian, it doesn't work. it is actually : hrs-ccl.co.uk a minor difference but could be frustrating

Andries

Thank you Andries, one of frustrations that seem to come with the inability to copy Link using Microsoft Edge

Regards Brian

Nah ... I see the same thing having stuff sent from the other side of Buffalo NY to Toronto ... maybe 100 km or so. US postal costs outside the US are pretty high. And the eBay Global Screw-you Program just sends the cost into the stratosphere - while "protecting" me from import charges that I wouldn't pay anyway.

Anything on eBay that says GSP I just skip these days.