Hardened lag screws
Tim Schubach
first mount the blank with a faceplate on the will-be top, and then shape
the outside and bottom before reverse mounting and finishing off the inside.
The problem I have is not in the technique, but in the fact that I get a lot
of lag screws that break when I try to remove the faceplate.
I use a drill/driver to run the lags most of the way in, and then use a
socket wrench to snug them up. And I generally use some kind of lubricant,
like a little bit of liquid soap. When I back them out, I use a socket
wrench until they're lose, and then finish with the drill/driver.
If I have a problem, it's almost always backing them out. I'll get a few
turns with the wrench, and then the head just twists off. Then, I have to
drill relief holes around the shaft, chisel away some of the wood, and then
grip the shaft with a pair of vice grips and turn it out by hand. The last
bowl I turned was Ash, and two of the four lags broke off backing them out.
The size or depth of the pilot hole I drill doesn't seem to make much
difference, and I've had this problem on almost every kind of wood I've
turned: Maple, Ash, Walnut, Birch. Unless the blank is larger than about
12" in diameter, or is unusually heavy, I use 2" lags.
A friend of mine suggested using hardened lag screws, like #6 or #7. But
only one Mom and Pop hardware store in my area even knows what that means,
and they don't carry anything except the standard lags - whatever hardness
they are.
Does anyone know where I can find hardened lags?
Arch
it involves
wringing the hex head from the shaft and not snapping the shaft in two.
Maybe stainless steel cut threaded lags would be an answer, albeit
expensive. Standard steel roll threaded lags work for me. Do you drill
the holes the same size as the lag's core? Could the watery soap
solution swell the wood around the lag? Does the problem occur with dry
blanks? Have you tried another brand of regular lags? Is the pilot
hole as deep as the lag
To answer your question, you might try looking up 'fasteners' in the
phone book. Arch
Fortiter,
Russ Fairfield
handle. The following discussion might help.
In most uses, lag-bolts make a one-way trip. Obviously yours are working well.
You can do several things to reduce their grip.
Not all lag bolts are equal. You might try using those with the shiny plating
rather than those with the rough dull gray coating. The bright plating is
smoother and gets less grip into the wood, making them easier to remove.
Use shorter screws.
Drill larger pilot holes. 1/32 smaller than the outside diameter of the thread
is plenty for our use in all but the softer woods. In other words, a 3/16" hole
for a 1/4" lag-bolt isn't large enopugh. It would be better to use a 7/32"
drill.
Drill the pilot hole to at least the same depth as the length of the screw.
There is always the problem of green wood drying and tightening around the
screw for a tighter grip. The solution: don't leave the screws in the wood for
long lengths of time. If you have to set the piece aside for a couple days,
loosen the screws; and remember to tighten them again when you put the piece
back on the lathe.
There is always a problem of oxidation of green wood that is in contact with
the plating on screw. This will show up as the wood around the screw turning
black. The oxidized wood will form a strong chemical bond with the screw,
making it harder to remove. Dragging the screw threads across a block of
beeswax several times, or rubbing them with some paste wax, before screwing
them into the wood will help to solve this problem.
Harder lag-bolts without doing anything else could make the problem worse.
Harder lag-bolts are not plated and you can have corrosion to contend with in
green wood. This can have the effect of making them harder to remove. Should
you go this route, make sure that they are waxed before screwing them into the
wood.
I use the hard screws for no other reason than they can be re-used for years
without rounding the hex head on the screw.
That's everything I know about using lag-bolts.
Russ Fairfield
Post Falls, Idaho
http://www.woodturnerruss.com/
Chuck
<timothy....@lexisnexis.com> wrote:
Tim,
>I use a drill/driver to run the lags most of the way in, and then use a
>socket wrench to snug them up. And I generally use some kind of lubricant,
>like a little bit of liquid soap. When I back them out, I use a socket
>wrench until they're lose, and then finish with the drill/driver.
It sounds like you are turning gigantic bowls if you are using lag
screws to fasten them to the faceplate. But you mention using #6 or
#7 hardened lag screws. I have another suggestion. Rather than go to
a different lag, try some comparably-sized sheet-metal screws. They
are threaded all the way to the head, have a shallower pitch,
generally, than lag screws, and, IME, seem to grip better, in that
application, than a wood screw of the same size.
Try using some beeswax for a lube, too, rather than the wetter liquid
soap.
--
Chuck *#:^)
chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
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Derek Hartzell
them with a cordless drill. I don't use a socket wrench at all. I break
one screw about every 30-50 bowls. The threads gradually wear down from
going through the faceplate. I never pre-drill. The screws are just normal
cheap ones.
Derek
Ray Sandusky
have one break off in a piece. You can get the SPAX screws at Home Depot or
Highland Hardware in Atlanta - they sell them in boxes of 50 or 500. These
scews have phillips/square drive heads - I use a square drive in my drill
and they work great - hold great and never break. The ones I use are #12 &
1 1/2" length. The faceplates I use are One Ways that have either 8 or 16
holes.
Additionally, I think you may be better served by mounting your bowl between
centers before mounting the faceplate - that way you can true up the
top/bottom and adjust the center points to ensure that the wood's grain is
properly aligned. By proper alingment of the grain, I mean you should be
seeing a distinct H pattern in bowls that have the base to the bark side and
a bullseye pattern in bowls with the base to the pith side. By mounting
between centers, you can acheive a distinctive pattern that makes the bowl
that much more attractive.
These are just my opinions and should be taken in the spirit that they are
offered.
Ray
"Tim Schubach" <timothy....@lexisnexis.com> wrote in message
news:c7dahc$trp$1...@mailgate2.lexis-nexis.com...
bri...@igetenoughspamalreadythanks.com
<timothy....@lexisnexis.com> wrote:
mount the blank with a faceplate **** lag screws that break *** I
generally use some kind of lubricant, >like a little bit of liquid
soap. *** the head just twists off.
soap is the wrong thing to use as a lubricant. it's slippery going in,
but it reacts with the wood and with the metal, and the products of
that reaction are anything but slippery.
try paste wax.
Pounds on Wood
length my workpiece will allow up to 1-1/4" long. Never needed any longer,
and never broken one after dozens of reuses. I like the hex heads because I
can retorque if needed without removing from the lathe. Oh, I never
predrill either, and drive them in and out with a drill/driver.
--
********
Bill Pounds
http://www.billpounds.com
"Chuck" <chaz391...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:409a7b04...@news.capital.net...
william_b_noble
use the tail stock also. I found that just using #10 or #12 screws doesn't
work very well - they tend to shear off and then you have a heavy moving
object to contend with, but that never happens with the lag screws. And,
I've had very few break - I don't lubricate and I don't predrill - I hammer
them in part way to get them started and drive in with a socket wrench.
When one does break, I just leave it there - I'm not going to use that
center core for anything anyway, just cut the center out with a slicer, or
cut from the edge in until you are below the lag screw and then cut into the
center -
"Tim Schubach" <timothy....@lexisnexis.com> wrote in message
news:c7dahc$trp$1...@mailgate2.lexis-nexis.com...
> Presumably, like a lot of you, when I turn a bowl from a part of a log, I
> first mount the blank with a faceplate on the will-be top, and then shape
> the outside and bottom before reverse mounting and finishing off the
inside.
> The problem I have is not in the technique, but in the fact that I get a
lot
> of lag screws that break when I try to remove the faceplate.
>
snip
Ray Manning
with them so far. I also use the 1 1/2" through a 6" Oneway faceplate. I
forget how many holes it has but it's quite a few, maybe 24. I turn green
big leaf maple vases, end grain, in the 18" tall range and maybe 10"
diameter and haven't had a failure yet other than one that I tightened too
much and it stripped the wood. I use a cordless drill with a clutch to drive
the screws with no predrilling and then check the tightness by hand before
mounting on the lathe. The blanks are turned between centers to cylinder
before the faceplate is mounted to them.
- Ray
"Ray Sandusky" <rsan...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:DeCdncNBxJR...@comcast.com...