Single point thread tools

[magicniner]

If you have the horsepower available along with the rigidity to handle it, a multi-thread/tooth thread mill is far quicker,

That way you will also need the budget to buy a cutter for each pitch you wish to cut.
I have cutters capable of full thread depth in a single pass for frequent jobs but a single point cutter can give you a lot of flexibility for one-off jobs and you don't end up with a drawer full of "once-used" threadmills.

[Neale]

Something to put on the shopping list - slightly further down than the CNC vertical mill conversion...

[Lloyd Barnes]

The reasoning is I have 4 nuts to make. 75mm diameter thread, can you imagine the cost of a 75mm diameter tap!! I would use it twice and in fact need 2 (2 nuts LH thread, 2 RH).

Single point threading seems a very sensible option as I'll be able to use it again for other large but different threads. I'd only need to buy a LH and a RH insert. That's assumes I can find one of course!

[Neale]

Do you need two different inserts? Surely the only difference between cutting LH and RH threads is the movement in the Z axis?

[magicniner]

Do you need two different inserts? Surely the only difference between cutting LH and RH threads is the movement in the Z axis?

That's correct, thread milling tools cut left or right handed threads.

[Lloyd Barnes]

That was my logic too but the inserts still seem to be available in left or right handed versions which makes no sense to me.

I need to spend some time browsing the links provided earlier in this thread at the weekend.

[magicniner]

That was my logic too but the inserts still seem to be available in left or right handed versions which makes no sense to me.

You mean for the tools that can be used both for turning & milling like the one I linked to?
It's because you do need left and right hand inserts for some turning operations, I always thread away from a shoulder and from the bottom of a hole outwards and it's handy to have both LH & RH threading inserts.