Thread: Ever see a Tap & Die set like this?

I have only ever seen one other I think and that was years ago.... I have not even found one of these listed in old catalogs...... I understand this might be a product aimed at bicycle repairmen...... maybe the 1890's equivalent of a tool for a Nascar pit crew..... so anyone know anything about it or about these thread sizes which may have some special use?

It was made by Wells Bros.& Co. of Greenfield, Mass. The handles are 6" long and appear to be rosewood..... the ends unscrew and are full of taps and dies...... and the sizes included are 1-64, 1-56, 1 1/2-56 ,2-48, 3-56, 4-42, 6-38, 1/8"-40, 1/8"-42, 3/32"-52, 3/32"-54, 3/32"-56, 7/64"-56 and 9/64"-40....... WOW.... got some odd ones there!







Thanks

Wow, what cool pieces! I'd agree with you too on those handles being rosewood. I have some old piano tuner's tools with rosewood handles.

Rivett:_

The small fractional sizes rang a bell, so after several try's I dug out the right book.

The NEW PRACTICAL METALWORKER, published by The Waverley Book Company Ltd, London.

It's not dated but I'd say the 20s the sort of book for night school improvers and mechanical institutes etc.

Vol III pg, 959 shows.

United States Standard Form Thread - old series- formerly know as Sellers Thread.

At the risk of teachng granny how to suck eggs the sizes are all fractional going up from 1/16" - 1/4" X 64ths.

Several of your sizes are listed, any more info on formula wanted let me know.

Take care. Sami.

LIMY:

BINGO! You just explained the origin of a Greenfield Tap & Die (GTD) "Little Giant" set that I have. And you've given us a keyword "Sellers" to do further research. Thank you!

Rivett608:

Thank you too, for posting this interesting item. The bicycle theory would explain the need for compactness.

Do you find it more difficult or less difficult to start a die straight with that kind of handle vs the two-armed handle?

This board never ceases to amaze me.

John Ruth

Limy, Thank you.... I did know the 64th fractions were based on Seller's ideas..... What seems odd to me is the half size (1 1/2) as I had heard of it but never seen one before and all the different pitches such as th 3/32-52,54 & 56...... kind of why so many and was there a special use?....... I have another set of "Stubs IRON wire" sizes that are all small and have many different pitches... I was told these were for bicycle spokes?... years ago I did a thread on them.

John..... "Do you find it more difficult or less difficult to start a die straight with that kind of handle vs the two-armed handle"...... do you think I have had a chance to USE them????? ........ maybe some day [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thanks guys...

Rivett & South Bend, now please bare with me guys, it's a bit late over here but the odd pitch question had me bugged, right real longshot time and maths/logic aren't my strongest suit!

52 = 13 x 4 (1/2" unc 13tpi?) like a machine set for 13tpi would only need a 4-1 reduction to go to 52???? something to do with screw engagement?

54 = 18 X 3 (5/16" unc?) etc etc,


56 = 28 x 2 (1/4" unf?) etc etc,

The only other thing I came up with, (metric doesn't fly easily)...... the pitches for those three threads are very close to 1/10 of the circular pitch of 16, 17 & 18 DP respectively, but have a 2%ish error, and that's just getting too weired.
Ok guys it's late, time for a crazy englishman to go to his bed.

Take care. Sami.

Sami..... you have me a little lost on this one.... I don't quite get all the math...... I wonder if they just used to make some of this because no one had yet set a standard...... or maybe it was strange stuff for electrical use like the old telegraphs.

Here is the old thread on the bicycle spoke threads

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/cg...c/1/4658.html?

Now I just need to find another thread on some more wired threads..... here's some,

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/cg.../1/11460.html?

not too strange, but pretty...

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/cg.../1/17861.html?

and super pretty...

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/cg.../11/1739.html?

Rivett, I think I may have got a little lost myself on that one.

memo to self if you don't understand you, how the hells anyone else going to :rolleyes:

take care. Sami

bump...... still looking for info.....

At least two of those threads are on Starrett mics and "Spot-On" (British) indicators...

the 9/64-40 is on a Spot-On for the holding spud (IIRC), and the 7/64-56 is the thread for the jam screw on a Starrett 124A.

The STYLE of holder is watchmaker stuff now. I have a set of taps and dies in MM threads down to 0.4mm size. The dies are about 6 or 7 mm diameter, and fit in the end of a small handle exactly like that. I don't have the tap holder.

Spoke threads??

Phil

Looks handy, I'd love one to hold 4-40 through 10-32 size taps, which I use all the time.

Just bumped it to go with the odd size thread post....