CA-ALL Farm yards are a great stock source

[Susquatch]

I often mention finding old farm equipment to scrounge metal from in the bush or in a farm yard. A neighbour called me over today. He has a trailer loaded up to go to the scrap yard. He told me to help myself. So I did.

A lot of it is old and mostly mystery metal but it will be great for the kind of stuff I do. Might even end up back on his own equipment some day!

That long piece of 1/4 x 1-1/2 on top will make lots of perfect screw cutting coupons. Maybe even a full set? I'll set it aside for just that purpose. Maybe I'll even finish that before I fill a big hole someplace......

 

[BMW Rider]

I was expecting pictures of farm animals when I read the title.

 

[Megar arc 5040dd]

What are screw cutting coupons? I have never heard of them before.

 

[Darren]

I'm not near any farms, but I live in the country. My favorite neighbor is downsizing and getting rid of stuff. He just dropped off 5 of these 2"x4"x36" steel bars. Just mild steel off cuts but ill make something with them.

 

[Susquatch]

What are screw cutting coupons? I have never heard of them before.

Just my name for them. I'm sure somebody has a better name.

I once used a screw checker to cut off a screw and had a buddy chew my head off for wrecking a perfectly good screw checker. I happened to have two so it didn't really matter but boy was he ever annoyed with me....

Screw Checker

https://a.co/d/fzvUztm

So I made one of my own out of 1/8 flat bar cut into 2x1.5 "coupons" just to satisfy him.



I liked the coupons waaaay better than using a screw checker. So much so that they are shop practice for me now. I make them one at a time as needed. I drill and tap a fine thread hole in one corner and a course thread in the other for a given screw size and mark them accordingly. The coupons can be stacked neatly away in a box just like checkers for the neat freak guys on here.

To use a screw cutting coupon , you find the coupon for the required screw thread. Thread the screw in to the desired depth, and then cut the screw off on the back side a wee bit long. The coupon will easily hold the screw in a bench vise. This will leave a screw stud that can be ground off flush with the coupon leaving behind a nice screw that is not all chewed up ready to be used with a nut or threaded hole elsewhere.

You can chamfer the screws too if you want, but I generally don't. When I do, I just thread the screw in further, then grind the chamfer, then unscrew it to clean up the threads.

This method works best with small screws. But Thicker coupons would facilitate bigger screws.

 

[6.5 Fan]

I have made a few of those screw holders for little stuff like 6-48 size and others. Makes my fingers happier when i have to grind one a wee bit shorter. I can see a set of assorted larger sizes being handy.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I've made a few of those for smaller threads over the years. Anything about #10 and up I'd just cut off and bevel on a grinder/sander. Smaller ones I'd typically thread in to the depth needed, then grind thread to flush and wind back out. We were forever shortening screws in the fixture building world, and for something like a 4-40 these are super handy. mine were typically made from a 1/2x1/8 off cut of o1 flatground about 3-4" long that would act like a handle , and I'd hold the screw head on the other side. When they got too beat up, toss and make anew.

 

[Susquatch]

I have made a few of those screw holders for little stuff like 6-48 size and others. Makes my fingers happier when i have to grind one a wee bit shorter. I can see a set of assorted larger sizes being handy.

With the 1/4" stock, I might make a few bigger ones.

Heck, I could even mill down a few coupons to 1/16 for really tiny screws. Grinding a screw on the back side of a coupon makes the shortening job super easy and does a great job.

For really tiny screws, I even wonder how other people do it! Just buy shorter screws?

 

[historicalarms]

Im in the middle of a farm /construction yard clean-up myownself. 60 yrs of cut-offs and repair chunks coming out of the grass. So far ive found 8 ft lengths of angle of different sizes and prob a ton of different sized re-bar...and thats just the outer peripheral of the "good stuff" pile Where the flat bar & up to 3" rounds reside. Prob a1/2 ton of high carbon steel for some forger/knifemaker.
i will be keeping a small amount of the "good stuff" for later use but for the most part it's all going to a recycler.

 

[djberta]

Im in the middle of a farm /construction yard clean-up myownself. 60 yrs of cut-offs and repair chunks coming out of the grass. So far ive found 8 ft lengths of angle of different sizes and prob a ton of different sized re-bar...and thats just the outer peripheral of the "good stuff" pile Where the flat bar & up to 3" rounds reside. Prob a1/2 ton of high carbon steel for some forger/knifemaker.
i will be keeping a small amount of the "good stuff" for later use but for the most part it's all going to a recycler.

Just went through my cleanup. Got rid of at least 3000lbs of steel. Kept about twice that in manageable stuff. Not as much high carbon as you. It is amazing how much we all that have the bug collect.

 

[Gennady]

Screw Checker
https://a.co/d/fzvUztm

Does this screw checker have actual threads inside that holes ? Or it just flat holes/bores?

 

[Susquatch]

Does this screw checker have actual threads inside that holes ? Or it just flat holes/bores?

The screw checker has threaded holes. It's a pretty good little fixture. I was wrong to grind on it.

 

[Gennady]

So this is exactly my concern. This thin plate may have only 1-1.5 turns of the thread. It would be easy to cross-thread it. I ordered thread checker of another kind just yesterday - Universal Thread Checker Inch & Metric on Ali. Will see how it works and feels.

 

[Susquatch]

So this is exactly my concern. This thin plate may have only 1-1.5 turns of the thread. It would be easy to cross-thread it. I ordered thread checker of another kind just yesterday - Universal Thread Checker Inch & Metric on Ali. Will see how it works and feels.

While you are right about bigger screws only needing a turn or two, I have been using two of these (a metric and an imperial one) for at least 20 years. I've never cross threaded a screw.

The material it is made of is very hard and I never use tools. You install the screw by hand and almost instantly know if it is the right choice. I only recall one time when I wasn't sure if the right choice was a metric or an imperial thread. I've forgotten which ones they were. But I do recall that even thread gauges produced ambiguous thread results. In the end I went with the tighter fit and ended up being wrong. Fk.

I should have remembered why we have thread classes and gone with the looser fit.

For what it costs, how easy it is to use, and how often I use it, it's a tool I wouldn't want to be without. Especially for the really tiny stuff.

I have at least 5 different thread identifiers. I really like the ones that have a string of both male and female fasteners beaded together. I also like my home made coupons. And of course, you can always use thread gauges along with a chart of standard threads. But my first goto is always the screw checker.

I think your fears are unfounded. If you give it a try, I think you will like it. Amazon has free easy returns.....

 

[Gennady]

You sounds very convincing I have lots f small screws metric and imperial mixed all together. It became a really headache to find matching tap or die. Often it is easy to go to the store and buy something, just picking from the marked bin, then ploughing trough my own stuff.
Anyway, I will a try thread checker I already ordered and then will look at yours.