Machining a MONSTER Drill Thread (It's Literally Off The Charts) 

Thanks Richard! Haha. I’m a full blown ranga, so basically immune to heckling due to lack of soul 👻 We hang shit on each other all day long. It’s part of the fun with working with a great bunch of blokes and it makes me look forward to coming into work. Can’t take ourselves too seriously 💯

@@halheavyduty Amen to that brother!!

👊

How interesting. I didn’t know that. Cheers mate 👊

I’m itching to see it in action myself.

Thanks man. Appreciate the comment Brad. I’m having a lot of fun with it all - mostly the comments hey. It’s nice to chat with people from around the world who share my interest in machining. I do try to make each video a little better than the last. That’s the goal really. Growth… a little at a time 👌👊

Thanks very much mate. That’s the aim, be consistent and just get a little better each time. I always try to post stuff I find genuinely interesting.

48 years! That’s one heck of an innings as a machinist. Well done good Sir 🫡

Cheers mate. Personally I find the “let’s get in and take a look” part just as fascinating as the machining.

Hahaha. Cheers mate. That comment made my day. Diluted Vampire blood 🩸👌🤣 A video or two ago someone commented that it looked like we ground up the Pink Panther… and now the bloody song is stuck in my head every time I hit the coolant on button

@@halheavyduty You SIR are most entertaining and glad I made you crack a smile. (Would love to hear a shout out in the next part about "Vampire Blood" coolant - that will make my day!) Stay AWESOMENESS from Memphis Tennessee!

Done. Worthy of a shout out 💯🤣

Cheers mate. Yeah we’re pretty much pushing the limits of what we can handle on this one. Thanks for commenting 👊

Most welcome, and thanks for the kind feedback mate.

Thank you very much! 👊

Thanks for the encouragement and great feedback mate. Really appreciate it and glad you enjoyed rhe vids so far.

Thanks for tuning in mate, and for the kind feedback! 👊💯

Cheers brother! 🍻

Awesome! The company here was founded by a Canadian and Texan (Hal & Jean) Grandma was a diehard lone state lady. No nonsense… and no one ever messed with Texas over here 💯👊

@@halheavydutySounds like my grandma. Was usually quiet but occasionally ornery and fearless. (Waves from Texas.)

Described to a tee. Clearly a Texan trait 😜

Cheers Pete. We ran the big 80mm Udrill yesterday and a monster swarf necklace peeled off. Guys were taking photos and wearing it around the shop 🤣 You might be onto something for the 10k prize 🏆

I find it so mesmerising to watch. Half the reason I started the channel was because I just love watching this stuff all day 🤣🤣

Sounds like you know your stuff mate. Thanks for the tips!

I bet you’re right. As grandma (a diehard Texan) would have said. Everything’s bigger in Texas 🤣

Thanks man. I have a feeling they’ll naturally improve over time anyway as I get a bit more practice 👊

True.

Interesting. I’ll look into that. Thanks brother 👊

Thank you mate

@@halheavyduty Thank you...

👊

That’s a really good suggestion, thank you. We are debating everything now so that’s great input. I’m always open to any good suggestion - a lot of what we do is unconventional and we try to stay really open to trying stuff out.

Cheers my friend. Thanks for all your help with tooling too. Really grateful for your expert help!

Thanks mate. Yeah it’s pretty sad when you look back at all the industry we once had in Australia. Steel mills. Auto industry The list goes on… All gone. I’m hopeful that things might improve - especially in the high end machining world. So much potential right here in our back yard.

They’re the handiest tool. So it’s not electronic. The lever engages the magnet which is always on. The little ones lift 300kg The big one does up to 600kg.

Foundation pile at a guess, but Matt? Thoughts?

Great question. They’re used for ventilation in underground mining.

It’s bloody great ain’t it! Agreed. 3 TPI brother

That’s an excellent question! We do the inner section first so I can run a steady to get in there and hog it out with heavy cuts. If I cut the pin first it’ll take significantly longer. Not only that, but the inner profile has a 60degree taper at the very end so I can drive the pipe up it for rigidity when threading. The bit of rubber worked surprisingly well (thankfully). Again, great question.

It’s called Holemaker. We find it works well and does the trick. Almost all our machining is 4140 steel, so not sure how it would go for other stuff.

I really don't know what milling a slot is going to tell anyone... you need metrology, always. Surely there must be ways to measure, simplest I can think of is three wire method. I wonder about the hand ground tools, to what traceable standard were they ground? The way the tool cuts on in the final stage of the operation looks dodgy to me. Then again, 'quality is conformance to specification' and we don't know what the drawing calls for.

@@bigbattenberg Yes hand ground tools always leads to mis match. Will wait to see what the opening up shows. Cheers Ian

@@ianlangley987 I don't know if blueing a thread is a thing, guess not because it may show a contact pattern but there is no way to correct based on that.

Some great comments here. Trust me I wish we could have just gone with a standard API, but we needed a 3 TPI and it doesn’t exist. For the prototype, the main goal was to see it in the flesh, check we are happy with it… then get custom ground inserts made up. The inserts look dodgy (agreed) but the cutting edges are bang on. The “dodgy” part is having to shape the bottom of the insert to stop the non cutting surface from rubbing. I’m hoping we end up with a tool grinding machine - even for prototype runs in the future. Again, great comments. Love it.

@@halheavyduty In Pt 1 you consistently said "custom" and "prototype" meaning , one off. So even I, who knows little, realises that before larger scale manufacturing can begin you have to step slowly and adapt/amend tooling geometry's, speeds/feeds etc to get it right. Good on ya mate for bringing us on this journey. subbing to see the final Beast in action.

Mate, thanks for that! I fully intend on running that to see how it goes. Thank you so much for sharing. Makes sense with the magnet too. Thanks for the explanation as to way - I love to know the reasons / logic behind stuff.

@@halheavyduty your more then welcome

Legend.

That’s some excellent suggestions right there - thank you! I agree re tightening the intro. I’m going to keep it under 60, and then tune in at the end with any discussion for the people who want to hang around for it. Great ideas re camera work too, and I reckon you’re bang on. To grow the channel, it needs to improve a bunch. Lots of food for thought. Thanks again mate. 👊👊

We have two manual mills - a big bed mill and a little Bridgeport style. We don’t currently have much need for CNC milling, but I imagine we will in the near future. I’d say about 80% of what we do is on lathes. Just the nature of the work we do.

@@halheavyduty I love watching lathe stuff and would love to learn more of it. But I know my brain is more mill oriented. Lathe stuff can get so simple that it’s crazy complex and that’s when I get lost lol

Thanks for the comment Warren! Yeah, I’m really grateful to be able to share snippets of the project. It’s the most challenging one we’ve taken on yet.

Thank you good sir 🙏👊

Thanks Peter!

Thanks for the kind feedback mate! Appreciate it. So its still a 60 degree thread, just not API. It’s a different taper angle and the inserts are considerably larger - as it’s a 3 TPI thread. I bloody wish there was a 3TPI standard insert we could buy off the shelf. The crazy size of the thread is because it’s an RC rod, is it also has an inner tube that gets inserted up the centre.

I agree. The bit needs a name. No idea what though?! The last one was called the KRASH bit, after the two boilermakers who mostly welded it all up (Krester & Ash) The new big rig itself has a vehicle code DK60… So people have just started calling it Donkey Kong 🦍🤣

@@halheavydutyMust use the names of the rigs from _Armageddon (1998)._

Freedom and Independence I think they were called? I reckon we should call the big bit BRUCE. It'll be interesting to see what we come up with. I might put it out to the channel in a future video. See what cool names everyone comes up with.

I appreciate that! Thank you mate.

It’s a custom one we designed in house. A large RC drill rod thread.

@@halheavyduty cool, great job!

Cheers mate!

Love it. Great quote. Thanks for sharing mate!

We’ll definitely be going over the machines in a future video. They’re perfectly suited to the style of work we do and really good bits of gear. You can run them as a CNC & they have a manual mode. Colchester Alphas.

That’s some great advice. I’m definitely paying way more attention to how stuff is filmed now. I’ll be sure to check out wildlife videos… and keep zooming in and out to a minimum. Definitely something I do way to frequently right now. Thanks again for taking the time to write that all out. Much appreciated!

@@halheavyduty No problems. I am a self taught machinist, mechanic, mower repairer and whatever else the neighbours dream up, in SW Sydney. My shed (16M x 8M) has a 2500mm x 660mm capacity, MT5 tailstock, Victor lathe from Taiwan. Also a Bridgeport copy mill and a NT40 hydraulic controlled mill. I do a lot of benevolent work in the community through our church but a lot of people have been very kind and given things to me. Have up to 2" P&N drill bit, down to 4mm MT1 and have gear to sharpen all. Have a Repco tool and cutter grinder and with adapters can now sharpen flutes on taps - very happy to have learnt that skill - remember it is a hobby shed and I want to learn all I can. Can also sharpen both faces on horizontal milling cutters. Have made a fine adjustment D1-8 mount for my 3 jaw chuck - can get TIR down to 0.015mm on ground bar - that took many hours and head scratching . Also made a travelling steady to cope with larger roller shafts making new outer housing and utilizing rollers from smaller model. Took collectively 25 hours with local fabrication firm that plasma cut the larger frames. Used my lathe and bigger steady to machine OD of their client's 900mm long x 320mm dia drum - they only have a smaller lathe. Still looking for older manual equipment I can squeeze into the shed like another more capable T&C grinder (and tooling) plus boring and facing head either R8 or NT40. Am 73 yrs old and NC equipment is beyond me - manual one off stuff is what I am into. So if you know of any old gear lying around in the back of anyone's shop I would be very interested. You do good stuff. Keep it up. I am learning heaps. Bob

That’s marvellous Bob. I love what you’re up to mate. Sounds like you’ve got a really well equipped shed too! Hal (grandad) was like that. He retired as a driller at 60, then spent 27 years as a self taught machinist. Being self taught, he was totally unbound by convention or rules and was able to produce some incredibly innovative and quirky stuff. I imagine you’d be very much the same. Hal was beyond resourceful. I still find the odd shop made tool around… and I just stare at them wondering what the heck they were used for.

I’d love to chat to you about how I can improve stuff. That’d be great mate. If you can flick me an email & the best way to get in touch, I’ll reach out for sure. Halengineeringaustralia@gmail.com

@@halheavydutyjust emailed

Thanks brother. I’ll reach out during the week! Appreciate it.

We had to for this job. For the production run we will get them properly done, or likely buy a proper machine to do it in house. Really really hard to find people to grind tooling these days for odd custom threads (here at least)

Hey mate, really appreciate the feedback - and I agree100% Learning bit by bit how to improve it all, and comments like this are really helpful. If you get a minute, can you have a critical look at my last video (the MegaDrill one) and let me know if you think it's any better? Thanks again mate & God bless

If you look at from the first video he tells you then, If it isn't in there keep looking at the next.

It’s called Holemaker. A standard drilling and cutting fluid, but it works surprisingly well. Great rust prevention properties and it never goes off. It also doesn’t have the oily residue… which is great for the hands as we run quick change toolposts 👍

I’ve got the exact number somewhere… but let’s just say it’s bloody astronomical. How the rig doesn’t just start spinning and take off is beyond me 🤣

Thanks brother. Im going to start using both when I describe measurements. Our shop operates in metric and imperial anyway because half of our gear is from the USA 🇺🇸

@@halheavyduty Or you could use bananas.

I’ll start measuring in Wombats 🤣 We are building a mega drill that you could fit 80 wombats in.

Freedom units. We still insist on doing lots of things in fractions like we'd rather stick to £sd even though the British had decimal day. Makes for having a fun index drill set to have all of the in-between, nearest neighbor sizes.

We operate in both... and man... I still get half confused with all the smaller in-between fractional sizes that exist.

Thanks Peter. That’s some really practical advice, and I appreciate it. I’m going to sort the microphone for use when machining… or just do a post film voiceover. Thanks again mate!

The billet is 318mm, and the base of the pin is just over 11”

@@halheavyduty god damn my biggest part I had turned was like 100mm

@@halheavyduty also that sound was amazing and those two shop buddies are so cute

Totally. Love the sound of a lathe spinning away. The dogs are hilarious. Never a dull moment with them around

@@halheavydutythe sound of the lathe being under load not much better to hear a tool and a machine working

Bro I’m so sorry 🤣 So I don’t do it again… was it the music or voiceover?? Still working it all out.

@@halheavyduty Music was a bit hot.

Cheers man. Will be mindful of that in the future 👊

@@halheavyduty It was just the intro music, so the first few seconds. After that it was fine! (I survived. LOL! But it was a surprise.)

🤣👊🙏

Agreed! We’ve set up a GoPro inside the lathe for future videos. Trying to get vid quality as stable and watchable as possible. Thanks for commenting, and for the suggestion. Appreciate it

Thanks mate! Glad you’ve got a good set of sea legs 🫡👊

Thank you very much 🙏

@@halheavyduty Your welcome 🙏

👊

I’ve been accused of grinding up the Pink Panther in a previous video… and now the bloody song is stuck in my head every time I fill the coolant tank up 🤣

Indeed it does… Indeed it does 🤣

It’s a one off custom thread. 3TPI, 200mm long with a 3 degree taper. Custom inserts and proprietary profile. Specifically for the big rig as an RC tool joint. These get screwed (via a custom buttress thread on the other end) to a 1 tonne rod and will drive a 3.0m drill bit. Hope that helps. Thanks for tuning in mate.

Penny & Murray (everyone calls him Moooray though). He’s the happiest little dude there is and a little MoooRay of sunshine in the shed. Most do the dogs we get here are rescue dogs from either the prison or the police. We’ve had about 20 over the years. Penny is still a liiiiitle cray cray… but we love her. No shed is complete without a good bunch of dogs.

We were just altering the thread to cut it deeper. When you adjust the tool wear in the Fanuc programming the way it’s set up, it also adjusts the z axis so it looks like a step cut. Great question 👊

Agreed 100% These are a custom prototype for internal use, and the purpose was to see what they actually look like “in the flesh” before committing to investing in custom carbide. It’s been an extremely challenging project all round as it’s so far off the charts (compared to standard commercially available options) Great comment, and I couldn’t agree more. Hand ground inserts suck, and are unsutable for large production runs. Impossible to replicate parts accurately.