Mystery Tooling

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Here’s a picture of some ‘mystery’ tooling:

 

I’m pretty sure I know what they are, and on what type of production machinery (that’s a hint) they are used. What I don’t know is exactly how they are used in the production environment. I’ve got boxes of the things:

 

Possibly not one of my better buys on Ebay. Then again the whole lot only cost 99p, and they were delivered FOC to my mother, ready for me to collect later.

 

So, can anynbody confirm what they are, and even better has anybody used them in anger?

 

Regards,

 

Andrew

 

 

 

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Are they for producing nuts without having to reverse the spindle to unscrew them i.e. the nuts stack up on the curved side?

 

Martin.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Nut taps.

 

Not sure on this part, never seen one working but I think the tap is held by two pairs of fingers.

The leading set open and let the nuts roll down then they grip and the second set open and let them drop off.

 

Got a few here but just ground the curve off and ground a square on to use as normal taps.

 

John S.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Andrew,

 

Would you be interested in selling sets of mixed sizes?

 

Neil

[Anonymous]

Martin & John: Spot on; that’s what I think they are, bent shank taps for use on automatic nut tapping machines. The shanks are smaller than the thread core diameter, so the nuts can slide down the shank. What I don’t understand is how the nuts fall off the other end, as the tap must be held somehow. I did think of something like the two clamp method, as suggested by John, but it seemed a bit hit ‘n’ miss. I guess if the fingers were timed correctly you’d avoid clamping one’s nuts by mistake? God only knows why I bought them; idle curiosity is all I can think of, but at least it didn’t break the bank.

Neil: I’ll be happy to send you an assortment FOC. Be aware though that they’re rather odd sizes. There’s a lot of BA, some UNC/NF, Whitworth and metric and some other oddities. If you can’t read the sizes from the picture let me know and I’ll PM you a definitive list. Some of the taps are loose in the boxes, but others are in sealed plastic bags with wax over the tap proper, and so are presumably unused.

Regards,

Andrew

[graham howeParticipant @grahamhowe83128]

Yes these are for use in a nut tapping machine. I used to watch nuts being made on these machines during my apprenticeship at Crewe Locomotive Works. The nuts in these machines were very much larger. A hopper feed of un-tapped nuts fed the nuts, aligned them into a rotating hex drive and as they revolved they travvelled onto the tap and fell off the other end. From memory the hex drive did not clamp the nuts and was a sliding fit.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

And here is one in action

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL940jpzrDo&feature=related

 

J

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

Hate to be scrouger but I to would love a sample…facinated by inteligent production kit before we went for “manual”machines with motors to drive the handles.. C N C =ibm instant but mindless

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Thanks Andrew,

 

I’ll have a think and PM you with the sizes I’m interested in.

 

Neil

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Andrew

 

I too would be interested in buying a few of these (metric) taps if you decide not to keep them all.

 

Regards

 

Ian P

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the further information confirming the use of the items. It’s an interesting video posted by JasonB, but also frustrating! I’d rather assumed that the tap was held at right angles to the thread, to stop it rotating; but the video clearly shows this not to be the case. Rather annoyingly it doesn’t show how the tap is actually held and what stops it rotating.

 

PMs sent as appropriate for those who expressed an interest in having some of these taps.

 

Regards,

 

Andrew

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Andrew,

 

Count me in for metric and BA, Beer tokens will be distributed!

 

I loved seeing that machine, so simple but so effective, brilliant!

 

Regards

 

Terry

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

the tapping mc. Stops the tap rotating with the fork you see recipricating…larg hole near ‘collet’ end allows nut to fall free on the return stroke.
Great machine…parts like rain….

[Author]

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