I have an old woodworking lathe with a 3/8" fine thread tailstock spindle
instead of a taper. I bought a Morse tapered live center, knocked the taper out
of the bearing and turned down a 3/8" fine thread nut to fit inside the
bearing. There were 2 problems with this:
1) in order to fit, I could only turn down the sharp edges of the nut - I'd
prefer it was round for a better fit.
2) the bearing is as deep as the nut, which means the live center has to come
off the nut so I can unscrew the nut from the tailstock with pliers. I'd rather
have a longer nut and only turn down half, leaving the other half accessable to
a wrench.

Do they make 3/8 fine thread long nuts (I think they're also called couplers?)
and/or do they make 3/8 fine thread nuts with wider diameters? If so, where
would be the best place to find them? I've tried an industial supply store as
well as the local Home Depot/Canadian Tire/Kent/Home Hardware.

If I can't find them, it was suggested I get a piece of hex stock, drill and tap
it, then turn it down. Where would I find small amounts of hex stock?

Thanks,
Shawn
--
Shawn Wilson

http://www.glassgiant.com

I'd try Fastenall for the special nuts. They have a larger selection of
anybody. Look at fastenall.com for location nearest you. McMaster Carr
would have the hex stock.

Karl

On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 11:31:49 -0400, Shawn Wilson
wrote:

I have an old woodworking lathe with a 3/8" fine thread tailstock spindle
instead of a taper. I bought a Morse tapered live center, knocked the taper out
of the bearing and turned down a 3/8" fine thread nut to fit inside the
bearing. There were 2 problems with this:
1) in order to fit, I could only turn down the sharp edges of the nut - I'd
prefer it was round for a better fit.
2) the bearing is as deep as the nut, which means the live center has to come
off the nut so I can unscrew the nut from the tailstock with pliers. I'd rather
have a longer nut and only turn down half, leaving the other half accessable to
a wrench.

Do they make 3/8 fine thread long nuts (I think they're also called couplers?)
and/or do they make 3/8 fine thread nuts with wider diameters? If so, where
would be the best place to find them? I've tried an industial supply store as
well as the local Home Depot/Canadian Tire/Kent/Home Hardware.

If I can't find them, it was suggested I get a piece of hex stock, drill and tap
it, then turn it down. Where would I find small amounts of hex stock?

Thanks,
Shawn
Much better to get a chunk of hex stock the size you want, turn it to
fit the center, and drill and tap to fit the spindle

try msc, heavy pattern nuts or large pattern nuts mscdirect.com

Shawn Wilson wrote:
I have an old woodworking lathe with a 3/8" fine thread tailstock spindle
instead of a taper. I bought a Morse tapered live center, knocked the taper out
of the bearing and turned down a 3/8" fine thread nut to fit inside the
bearing. There were 2 problems with this:
1) in order to fit, I could only turn down the sharp edges of the nut - I'd
prefer it was round for a better fit.
2) the bearing is as deep as the nut, which means the live center has to come
off the nut so I can unscrew the nut from the tailstock with pliers. I'd rather
have a longer nut and only turn down half, leaving the other half accessable to
a wrench.

Do they make 3/8 fine thread long nuts (I think they're also called couplers?)
and/or do they make 3/8 fine thread nuts with wider diameters? If so, where
would be the best place to find them? I've tried an industial supply store as
well as the local Home Depot/Canadian Tire/Kent/Home Hardware.

If I can't find them, it was suggested I get a piece of hex stock, drill and tap
it, then turn it down. Where would I find small amounts of hex stock?

Thanks,
Shawn

Shawn Wilson wrote:
I have an old woodworking lathe with a 3/8" fine thread tailstock
spindle
instead of a taper. I bought a Morse tapered live center, knocked
the taper out
of the bearing and turned down a 3/8" fine thread nut to fit inside
the
bearing. There were 2 problems with this:
1) in order to fit, I could only turn down the sharp edges of the nut
- I'd
prefer it was round for a better fit.
2) the bearing is as deep as the nut, which means the live center has
to come
off the nut so I can unscrew the nut from the tailstock with pliers.
I'd rather
have a longer nut and only turn down half, leaving the other half
accessable to
a wrench.

Do they make 3/8 fine thread long nuts (I think they're also called
couplers?)
and/or do they make 3/8 fine thread nuts with wider diameters? If
so, where
would be the best place to find them? I've tried an industial supply
store as
well as the local Home Depot/Canadian Tire/Kent/Home Hardware.

If I can't find them, it was suggested I get a piece of hex stock,
drill and tap
it, then turn it down. Where would I find small amounts of hex
stock?

Thanks for the responses. No luck at fastenall.com - it appears to be
a search engine booster page and not a real site. I searched McMaster
Carr site and MSCDirect for the nuts - no luck. So it looks like I'm
probably down to hex stock tapping whether I like it or not )

I searched for "hex stock" on the mscdirect.com site and came up with
nothing. Is there another name for it? I apologize if that's a stupid
question. I'm a bit out of my element here.

Thanks again,
Shawn

In article .com,
says...

Thanks for the responses. No luck at fastenall.com - it appears to be
a search engine booster page and not a real site. I searched McMaster
Carr site and MSCDirect for the nuts - no luck.

Search McMaster for "coupling nuts". There are several flavors of 3/8-24
available.

Ned Simmons

On 29 Mar 2005 16:06:24 -0800, wrote:


Shawn Wilson wrote:
I have an old woodworking lathe with a 3/8" fine thread tailstock
spindle
instead of a taper. I bought a Morse tapered live center, knocked
the taper out
of the bearing and turned down a 3/8" fine thread nut to fit inside
the
bearing. There were 2 problems with this:
1) in order to fit, I could only turn down the sharp edges of the nut
- I'd
prefer it was round for a better fit.
2) the bearing is as deep as the nut, which means the live center has
to come
off the nut so I can unscrew the nut from the tailstock with pliers.
I'd rather
have a longer nut and only turn down half, leaving the other half
accessable to
a wrench.

Do they make 3/8 fine thread long nuts (I think they're also called
couplers?)
and/or do they make 3/8 fine thread nuts with wider diameters? If
so, where
would be the best place to find them? I've tried an industial supply
store as
well as the local Home Depot/Canadian Tire/Kent/Home Hardware.

If I can't find them, it was suggested I get a piece of hex stock,
drill and tap
it, then turn it down. Where would I find small amounts of hex
stock?

Thanks for the responses. No luck at fastenall.com - it appears to be
a search engine booster page and not a real site. I searched McMaster
Carr site and MSCDirect for the nuts - no luck. So it looks like I'm
probably down to hex stock tapping whether I like it or not )

I searched for "hex stock" on the mscdirect.com site and came up with
nothing. Is there another name for it? I apologize if that's a stupid
question. I'm a bit out of my element here.

Thanks again,
Shawn
Greetings Shawn,
At the MSC web site, searching for coupling nuts, 3/8-24 thread gets
this link:
http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRAR...4&PMAV ID=202
Which is a link to a 3/8-24, 1.125 long, 1/2 across the flats,
coupling nut. Searching for "steel rod" at the MSC site brings up a
page which lists drill rod at the top. Scroll down that page and next
will appear raw materials. Under that heading see hexagon bars.
Clicking on that link brings you to a page which lets you search for
stock with your desired dimension across the flats. If you decide that
tapping a hole is what you want to do you might as well buy it from
MSC too.
Cheers,
Eric