Im currently 'doing up' a old book press, stripping down, cleaning and re oiling etc, one of the 3 screws holing the plate to the central hub has a broken top, Ive measured the screws and converted to imperial ( Whitworth? ) but am a little confused as to what I need to search for, being of Metric age, just.
I think I need a 5/16th x 13/16th ( 1/4 inch? ) but fractions were never my strong point. Am I on the right track? There are a few Ebay sellers that will sell in small quantities as most engineering shops have huge quantity minimum orders from what I can see.
Thanks for any pointers.
Cheers..
Jase
Don’t mess around with the internet,find a local engineering firm and go down with a screw to match ,they’ll have loads of different screws and will probably give you on .
Near me there’s a company called bapp for bolts who will have one ,try googling ,I’m not sure if they have a site though,if you have no joy I’ll pick you some up .
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I use these https://www.arunfasteners.co.uk but I’m sure you’ll have something similar closer to you.Originally Posted by mk1974
If not pm me and drop one in the post and i’ll see what can be done.
Edit:
What about?
https://www.kalfixings.com/contact.html
Or
This has two listings in Cambridge
https://www.approvedbusiness.co.uk/f...gs/list_4.aspx
Last edited by Captain Morgan; 1st January 2019 at 11:23.
It could also be any one of a number of different threads although most likely BSF or BSW.
As already suggested, take it to an engineering workshop or bolt/screw supplier to find exactly what you’re looking for.
8mm is probably 5/16" but they won't be interchangeable. You also need to know threads per inch (TPI).
Look at someting like this https://www.austain.com.au/useruploa..._tpi_table.pdf
Thanks all, Im sure there are some engineering companies around here, Ill start with those and see how it goes, Ill take up the help offers if I don't find anything locally.
Cheers..
Jase
Any engineering company worth their salt will have a set of thread pitch gauges knocking around (like the ones below), so even if they don't have a suitable screw they'll be able to identify it for you. I'd offer to measure it myself but I'm miles away.
Cheers,
Plug
The thread gauges and a Zeus book should tell you.
https://ibb.co/5K1fR3q << Zeus tables
Jason if you can be bothered, DJ Evans in Bury St. Edmunds might well have them. I gone there for obscure American thread bolts, reverse thread etc.
Regards
Gerard
What is this metric of which you speak?
metric and imperial have different angles 60 and 55 dont forget
That looks like a great Sunday project. Are you intending to actually print using it?
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As already mentioned here, thread gauges and a Zeus is the way to go! You can get them from Amazon for under £20 for both.
Plus one for the Zeus book
Thanks, Im in Bury often so will look them up next time Im there if I don't have any luck locally.
Thanks, I doubt it if Im honest, Ive had it years but its showing signs of surface rust on the base from sitting on the floor of the garage for years so Im just lightly renovating it with a brush down and then some grate polish, it would make a great nutcracker at Christmas though, it had a very annoying squeak when pressing down, there was loads of gunk and hard oil under the plate ( loose because of the broken screw ) so I want to tighten it all up now Ive removed all the cak.
Im quite enjoying these sorts of Sunday projects, I recently did the same to a old Dunlop 8 ton bottle jack bought at the car boot for a fiver, all cleaned up and repainted now. I call them my mantiques, much to the scorn from the wife.
Cheers..
Jase
There are lot of restoration videos on Youtube you can while away a rainy afternoon watching. This guy is very good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iDJNGdMFls
Jason,
As others have suggested its the number of teeth per inch (TPI) that are important. I have set of TPI gauges that you can borrow and my son works in Cambridge (Hills Road).
Thank you, very kind, I’ll ask around locally and come back to you if I need to.
Cheers..
Jase
Nice project; good luck with the search for the screw.
Are you sure the annoying squeak wasn't coming from you when you tried to crack your nuts in it?
That would explain it Bob, mind you, I would have thought I would be used to it now.
Cheers..
Jase
It's always better to tell the missus that you're going to the garage to put your nuts in a vice than to let her do it to you
Very true, her memory is shocking, she never remembers the safe word, so she claims.
Cheers..
Jase
Could well be a 5/16 Whitworth thread. Looks too coarse a thread pitch for BSF but sometimes pictures can be deceiving.
Whitworth sizes..........
Thanks Ian, why is nothing straightforward? Lol
Cheers..
Jase
Even with metric these days, there are a few different thread densities so an m8 (for example) could have pitches of 0.5, 0.75 or 1.0mm.
You really need a set of thread gauges and a micrometer to identify a thread size.
I have used Namrick several times for those obscure imperial fixings http://www.namrick.co.uk/
Getting the right size bolts is tricky as the pilots of BA5390 discovered -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britis...ys_Flight_5390
Different threads never are! Unless of course you are dealing with the all the time. My late father was an engineer and would tell me the thread type and size simply by looking at them! Could be worse though, at least it's not 2BA or 4BA
If you're really struggling . Post one to me, I can measure it and probably supply replacements too.
Paul M.
If you can measure it roughly try this guy he helped me identify the thread and then supplied some obscure screws 1/4" 20 UNC.
He is a UK guy and very helpful - 01772 366708 based and ships from Greece.
Stainless Automotive Fastenings.
i served my apprenticeship between 74 and 78 and haven't had to set a dye box or cut obscure threads like Acme or Buttress for years.Different threads never are! Unless of course you are dealing with the all the time. My late father was an engineer and would tell me the thread type and size simply by looking at them! Could be worse though, at least it's not 2BA or 4BA
The old timers used to press their thumbs on an external thread, get a print and proudly say something 'like 18 tpi'
Was a different world then, especially when my father was an apprentice. Still have some of the bearing scrapers and other tools he made then!
I did a toolroom apprenticeship as a teenager and one day one of the guys teaching me showed me a piece he had made in the fifties, it was a nut and bolt about 6” long and about 1.5” diameter, he had made it out of phosphor bronze and what was incredible about it was the double start split square thread, you could screw the nut on easily but unless you knew the trick, you could not unscrew it! It was a beautiful piece to see, incredibly complicated to machine, it has remained in my memory these last 50 years and I do sometimes wonder what happened to it. Happy Days!
Last edited by KavKav; 3rd January 2019 at 09:58.
when i was doing my engineering training in the machine shop in the early seventies all the job drawrings we received were in metric.we had to convert all the measurments to imperial so we could machine the jobs on the old clapped out lathes/mills/capstans we were using.i can still remember all these years later that 10mm equates to .3937 thou,ask me tonight what i had for breakfast this morning and i would have to think about it.
I can remember the fitting apprentices scraping marking out blue off lathe beds and marking out tables, for hours and filing round bar, square.
The rest of us machining apprentices learned to grind our own hss cutting tools and drills among other things.
I've still got my old H2 and H23 turning manuals and write up books
Last edited by RD200; 3rd January 2019 at 19:56.
Just to add some 'closure' to this thread, I have to thank PaulM above who helped me out and sent me some screws FOC after I sent him one for checking.
His comments:
The tread is a whitworth thread form using the 55 degree V angle with a top and a bottom radius and 18 threads per inch.
Often confused with the American / Canadian standard UNC ( unified National Coarse ) which is also 18 threads per inch but has a 60 degree angle and only a bottom radius, uses a flat section on the top of the thread.
So, clear as mud to me
Many thanks for helping out Paul.
Cheers..
Jase
Just to add some 'closure' to this thread, I have to thank PaulM above who helped me out and sent me some screws FOC after I sent him one for checking.
His comments:
The tread is a whitworth thread form using the 55 degree V angle with a top and a bottom radius and 18 threads per inch.
Often confused with the American / Canadian standard UNC ( unified National Coarse ) which is also 18 threads per inch but has a 60 degree angle and only a bottom radius, uses a flat section on the top of the thread.
So, clear as mud to me
Many thanks for helping out Paul.
You're very welcome Jase.
Paul.
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