HI,
If you have an industrial fastener outlet near you, you can buy a 1" X 8 TPI
grade 8 bolt and cut triangular reliefs at several places around the end so
that it cuts like a tap. It can be used on hard woods, aluminum and copper.
Since it already has a hex head, it makes operation with a ratchet or box
end wrench easy. You should be able to get a short one for a couple of
bucks. This should take you through occasional use. If you expect to do a
lot of this, you may want to go ahead and spring for the tap and have the
hardened cutter that should last a life time threading wood, unless you work
some of the high silica woods like mesquite. For a good selection of taps
you can try places like MSC.

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX
********************************************
"AHilton" wrote in message
...
Just use a 1" - 8 tpi nut! While I've not ever found one of these at a
Lowes or Home Depot, I find them at all the ACE Hardware and semi-local
hardware stores.

What I do is take a block of wood (hard maple is my usual choice) about 1"
thick and turn it round. Then I turn a little recess about 1/2" deep in
it
that the nut will fit into snuggly. I put the nut in there and use a good
glue (polyurethane is fine) to keep it there. NOTE: Don't get the glue in
the threads! It'll foam up but I just cut that away. Put that nut/wood
on
your lathe and true up the face of the wood. For a glue chuck, I glue
another piece of wood (again about 1") onto that 1st piece of wood. This
wood is my waste block wood. I can do whatever I want to with that and
just
replace it when needed. To make a screw chuck, I simply bore a hole in
the
wood through the center of that nut and use a modified bolt. You can glue
it in or just leave it free spinning along with a lock-nut so it'll
tighten
down good and not spin. You could make small faceplates or just whatever
you want with this arrangement. I think I paid under $2US for the nut. I
got this tip from a club member and it's worked great.

Yes, you can tap wood but it'll need to be a hard, tight-grained wood to
work at all. Personally, I wouldn't trust it but I know of several
turners
that do and have for a long time.

- Andrew



"Silvan" wrote in message
...
I'd like to buy this, that, and the other, but money is tight. I'm
thinking
of lots of things I could fashion some reasonable approximation of for
myself, if only I had some way to thread something to fit on my spindle.

I have a JET mini, so I guess that's 1"-8. I don't have a tap anywhere
close to that big, and I don't think I've ever seen one. Is it as
simple
as finding a machine tools catalog or such online and buying a big tap?
Can you actually tap wood acceptably with a metal tap, or should I be
thinking along different lines? (Most of the gadgets I have in mind to
make, like a screw chuck, would be fashioned out of wood.)

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/