Making studs

Edited By IanT on 08/09/2010 12:37:21

Edited By Paul Boscott on 08/09/2010 13:21:53

Peter use studding or make your self a lantern chuck. Turn a piece of steel two to three times the length of the threads of the longest stud you are going to make and about 4-6 mm wider than the widest stud you are going to use. Drill and tap (6mm) a blind hole in it to leave just enough metal to allow your shortest stud to screw in and project on the inside of the blind hole. Put it aside somewhere safe

I would then make all of the studs (and a few spares) you need. These will be threaded on one end only.

Put your lantern chuck into the lathe blank end outwards and a grub screw into the blind hole. I always mark the chuck against one of the jaws of my 3-jaw.  This helps to get it back accurately. Drill it and tap for the smallest stud (6BA). Screw in a stud and with a long hex key screw the grub screw up tight (I made mine from a length of scrap with a bit of a cheap hex key and two corks which I push up the head pipe of the lathe). Cut your thread, loosen the grub screw remove the finished stud and repeate. When you have finished all the smallest studs, re-drill and thread the lantern chuck for the next size up.

Three Jaws chucks are not always very accurate and can be tricky to put things back in to it. You can get problems even if you mark the thing. Hence the long screwdriver which is passed up the head pipe of the lathe and is held by a brace of old vine bottle corks. The long ‘driver was made from a bit of an old window stay with a hole drilled up it and the bit old allen key was crimped in.  As my Chinese friend the inspector Mr Wun Thou Wong says 'Keep it simple sirry irrot'  Using the long screw driver you can use the chuck to help you loosen the grub screw which can become very tight as you cut the thread.  It is a good idea to have two nuts and two spanners to help get a finished stud out if it gets too tight during threading.  Tip Do not let the end of the thread get too close to the face of the lantern.

Does the screw have to bigger than the stud –No- but the largest stud you want to make (as I read it) is 6mm so ... Doing it my way you only have to make one chuck.

Why is it called a lantern chuck? It is a clock maker’s name. The original type is used to shorten screws (or re-thread them). Two sides of the business end are filed away so it looks like an old fashioned lantern. These filed holes were used to let the operator put the a screw in (and remove them).