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I.D.ing Greenfield threading dies

Just a Sparky

Hot Rolled
Joined
May 2, 2020
Location
Minnesota
Picked up an old Greenfield pipe threading kit a while back for a steal of a deal. Almost entirely complete for 1/2" NPT through 1-1/2", except the dies and collar for 1" pipe are missing.

Posting here to see if anyone has stumbled across one of these oddballs before and could give me a style number or some other identifying information to track down a set of 1" dies.

It's a handy little kit. The whole thing including pipe vise breaks down real compact to store in a shoe box, unlike the bulky Rigid style ratchet threaders. Useful for my situation.

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These actually are a "copy" of the F. Armstrong dies of similar construction/layout/sizing.

In fact the sizes are duplicated between the two makers. GTD may in fact have made the dies for F. Armstrong since they did a lot of "contract work" - then and now. (well, maybe not so much now - see history at Greenfield Tap & Die Corp. - History | VintageMachinery.org)

F. Armstrong (Bridgeport CT) seems to have gone down in the 1929 Great Depression (one has to be specific on this now as the future does not bode well.)Armstrong Manufacturing Co. | Tool Archives Funny GTD has extensive history on the Internet, F. Armstrong not so much.

Common both are. Facebook Marketplace is filled with both brands. I have F. Armstrong set sizes in No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 (up to 2" pipe) The No. 3 is over 5 feet on the arms as befits the greater torque required. Armstrong also made a variety of "Machine Pipe Threaders" based on the same die format - and late in their work may have had the more usual single/collet mounted cutters which is where the industry went after 1900 or so.

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If memory serves, the dies are still available from specialty machine sources such as McMaster. However, bring your wallet and your first born for exchange.

A better plan would be to look for another setup which includes the die of omission. They're cheap enough. The collet/guide rings are a little harder. One of my collets was a smaller size which got "bored out" to take the larger pipe - the cast in "size" number no longer matches the current pipe size.

Finding a die which due to broken teeth does not cut well (galling is the usual effect of broken teeth) the offending broken tooth can be "ground out" and removed entirely - which simply transfers the cutting load to the other teeth and can restore what might otherwise be a "discard" die into a perfectly usable tool. The trick is to use a small thin wheel on the grinder and work on only that tooth without touching the good teeth to either side.

Joe in NH
 
Those things are nice antiques. And, yes, they store small.

But, unlike the ratchets, they take much more room to use.

Your use, your choice. I have a similar Niles set somewhere. I use the ratchets, the Niles is just an antique.
 








 
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