Feed Screws and Nuts

Hello everyone, recently I’ve started selling replacement cross feed and compound screws. I’ve been mulling over how I price them and I’m interested to know what you guys would consider to be too much to pay for them?

For example: for a South Bend Heavy 10 without taper and with large dials, I offer a replacement for $298 including a replacement feed nut. This one in particular is somewhat higher due to cutting a new gear. With a taper it’s $200 including the nut.

They’re made from 1144 stress-proof and entirely from scratch, no looping off an old thread and using loctite to attach a new one. The dimensions are exact to what South Bend made them to, granted there’s a little variation where allotted such as non critical diameters and such.

Anyways long story short..
1. Am I priced too high for you to consider? What do you think is an acceptable price?
2. Everyone offers brass feed nuts, would you pay potentially twice as much for ones made of 660 Bronze? 360 brass is an acceptable material not too hard not too soft, but it does wear itself and the screw faster. Bearing bronze is very expensive in comparison.

Anyways, any feedback is appreciated. Practical machinist hates me trying to add photos from my phone so I’ll throw some up when I get home later.

Stephen

Edit: A small imgur album of screws that I've made Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Edit 2: If anyone is interested but the price is scary, periodically I'll post an auction for a screw. I have one running right now, it's not machine specific. If you win just specify what screw and for which machine. New Shop Made South Bend Lathe Lead Screw - Your choice of screw - Auction! | eBay

Edit 3: Bronze nut prices are as follows:
13" cross slide - $90
16" cross slide - $90
Heavy 10 cross slide - $60
Model 9 w/taper - $55
Model 9 w/o taper - $65
There is no markup on these, they are not sold individually and will only be provided with a screw if requested. Material is 660/CDA932 bearing bronze.

I am pretty sure you and I are working through a transaction on a screw for my 16" and so far I am impressed with the product and more impressed with your support that you are giving me. As for pricing you are the only game in town so you gotta free pass to charge what the market will bear until such a time any competition shows up. I had a nut already when I found your screws for sale so I am just working with your screw product but I would have potentially paid more for a bronze feed nut if the option was presented.

A worthy mention:
Having a feed nut from someone else I thought I made a mistake when I first tried to thread it on for a test fit. Since mine is a cross feed screw for a lathe with a taper attachment it has a groove in it to allow some movement when changing taper setups. This was a saver for me because the groove has proved useful for sizing up the nut for a good fit down the screw! Without the sharp edges on that groove I would not have been able to use that nut!

Hey Kevin, ideally you wouldn’t need to size the nut to the screw. I’m not sure who you got the nut from but that could’ve been a mistake on my end or theirs. Or it could’ve been a minor difference in tap sizes and clearances. I check all of my screws with pitch wires and compare them to the reference screws or prints I have available to me. As I said before though, if you decide you aren’t happy with it I’ll be happy to make you another to be sent out in the next day or so.

As for the feed nuts. I expect to have a quote back tomorrow for the pricing on versions made with bearing bronze. I plan to offer them to everyone I’ve sold a screw to since I personally am not thrilled with the brass nuts. I think that people who are willing to pay for the cost of a new screw would likely be willing to pay a bit extra for a better nut that will improve longevity of both parts. And as I do now, I’ll resell the nut with the screw for the same price I get the nuts for. I don’t sell them to make a profit only for a convenience so you don’t have to place multiple orders. So if I get a nut for $60 you just add that to screw cost, nothing more.

I appreciate your business Kevin, if there’s anything else I can do to assist you please don’t hesitate to ask!