Turning square headed bolts

[john_reese]

I can get it in one chucking. Bed turret set up work stop chamfer tool, then hollow mill or box tool to turn the diameter, last the die head to thread the shank.
The square turret on the cross slide has a form tool to chamfer the square , and a part off tool ground to leave the pip on the work in the chuck.

 

[john_reese]

The screws could also be made from round using a rotary broach to form the square. That gives a lot more flexibility in the choice of material.

 

[nel2lar]

The rotary broach seems to be the best so far, broach turn down the press fit and part off.
Nelson

 

[TonyM]

Slow down guys. This is for 300 bolts. A half decent rotary broach + tooling is not cheap.

 

[joshsapp]

Made lots of square and hex bolts and nuts.
For square head I use precision ground Key stock ( 0-1 ) and a regular 4 jaw chuck.
Center the stock and mark with white paint the space between 2 jaws. Always stop and loosen/tighten only those jaws and you will be fine and it is faster than a collet setup.
I have box tool I made based on a Modeltec Article of about 20 years ago that supports the stock while turning it to size and length, and then you mount the die on a pilot at the front of the box tool and thread the bolt, all without shutting off power. takes only 5-10 seconds , then remove the box tool from the Aloris post and drop in a cutoff tool and you have the bolt.

Rich

One other way is to use three of the four jaws to clamp a vee block. The fourth jaw will hold the square stock against the vee block. This way you only have to loosen one jaw and gives a positive register for the stock.

 

[Kevinb71]

Made lots of square and hex bolts and nuts.
For square head I use precision ground Key stock ( 0-1 ) and a regular 4 jaw chuck.
Center the stock and mark with white paint the space between 2 jaws. Always stop and loosen/tighten only those jaws and you will be fine and it is faster than a collet setup.
I have box tool I made based on a Modeltec Article of about 20 years ago that supports the stock while turning it to size and length, and then you mount the die on a pilot at the front of the box tool and thread the bolt, all without shutting off power. takes only 5-10 seconds , then remove the box tool from the Aloris post and drop in a cutoff tool and you have the bolt.

Rich

I have not heard of a "box tool" and would like to see some pictures. Thanks!

 

[TonyM]

Obviously I didnt read the post properly .

 

[nel2lar]

Richard
I would love to see some pictures, it seem like you have a very special box tool?
Nelson

 

[kf2qd]

Use round stock of sufficient size, get one of the square collet blocks and mill the square. Much easier to use squatre stock and use a square collet...