Grant Erwin wrote:
jtaylor wrote:
"Grant Erwin" wrote
can anyone ID this thread and explain how to do it? See the image:
http://www.tinyisland.com/images/temp/spokeThreads.jpg
2-56
Bingo! Should have thought of that. I did in fact have a 2-56 die, and I
was able to extend the thread like I needed to. Wow, that was quick.
Some time ago I saw a design for a tool to center a punchmarked piece in
the 4-jaw on a lathe. The guy made a shank which clamped a piece of
rubber sheet vertically in his toolpost, exposed on both sides. There
was a tiny hole in the sheet and through this he inserted a bicycle
spoke with a spoke nipple threaded way on, flange towards the rubber.
Then another spoke nipple threaded onto the end sticking through the
rubber, and another spoke threaded into the second nipple. The effect
was to suspend two spokes roughly in alignment with the lathe axis,
mounted on a rubber sheet. He cut down the spoke towards the headstock
to about 1", and sharpened it, and the other spoke he cut off at about
10", and he sharpened it too. To use it, you catch the short end in your
punchmark, spin the lathe, and adjust your 4-jaw until the far end ran
true, pointing right at a center in the tailstock. There's a 10-1
magnification factor. Sounded real easy to make, but I never knew
anything about bicycle spokes. Until today, that is. It's a piece of
cake to thread 2 spokes and 2 spoke nipples together so the flanges
meet, and it would be real easy to tighten this over a piece of
innertube about the size of a postage stamp.
I'm going to make this, and I'll post pix when I'm done. Might be soon,
might be 5 years from now (my queue is l-o-o-o-n-g) but I'll get to it,
hopefully before I need it.
Toughest part's going to be straightening the spokes, which aren't
particularly straight.
Anyone remember the exact source for this design? I'm sure it was either
HSM or PIM but I can't find it.
GWE
These were more common when I was younger, but "tailor made" ones are
still available new:
http://www.omwcorp.com/prod_ctw.shtml
But if it was me, I'd also make my own and save 30 bux plus shipping.
More fun and satisfaction that way, and little chance of screwing it up. :-)
Jeff
--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."