Hey Cliff, I wanted to check out other comments before I did. Again this is brilliant. I think that one thing people are overlooking is that this could free up time on other machines by threading better on a stand alone “threading machine”. Because this solves, imo, the biggest problem to come with threading…tool pressure! I think you should integrate a power supply with it…think big die grinder or even the way a rose machine has its. Now a shop would no longer need to tie up “machine time” on the threading portion of a part, prep it with them yes. Also almost anything I can think of that requires a follow rest…wouldn’t 😮. Also for what this is…an assortment of multi-cutter discs would be perfect, like for different gearing cutters. With these it seems like even acme threads would be a breeze. Sure I’m forgetting to tell you some things because each time I watch one of your videos I think of more uses. Well done. You’ve inspired me to proceed with a couple of my inventions

Very impressive and interesting. Nice work sir

Hi Cliff. Been following along since you started with the probes. You are a clever fellow mate 👍👍 My take on this machine, is that it’s real market would be developing countries ( say, India). I’ve seen some incredible work being done on KZfaq, in the most basic of workshops. These countries are highly unlikely to be getting widespread CNC into their ‘cottage’ industries… but a ‘production’ machine like yours would fit nicely into a basic manual machine shop. Maybe get in touch with organisations (or Governments?) that want to expand manufacturing in third-world countries. Just a suggestion. Regards Robert (Sydney)

This is an amazing invention, one I am not likely to be able to build or afford to purchase but I can certainly appreciate the genius it takes to invent this. How do you adjust the TPI, the pitch adjustment scale you showed seems to only adjust the cutting angle if I understand it correctly.

Hi Cliff, Very nice work and design. My thoughts lead me to compare with the size and cost of a auto tapping head which many serious manual machinist with multiple parts will fork out for. If your design could be smaller and easier to handle and setup on say smaller hobby machines with fixed heads and minimal table clearance, you may be on to something. Another thought is that of large earth moving machine repair in remote situations using a jig , like portable line boring and welding machines.

Is selling the plans an option ? The more I see this device the more I want to build one. I’m anticipating the cost to purchase one will be outside my home shops budget. It’s a wonderful prospect, and I’m looking forward to seeing it pop up in more applications. I’ve watched a lot of your content and I have a great amount of respect for you and your machining capabilities in general, not just on this project. Eagerly awaiting the next tidbits ! 🍻

I had to cut a metric thread on an imperial lead screw once to make a custom puller for rotor on a antique Italian motorcycle once. I didn't have the proper conversion gears. I borrowed a trick from Ivan Law's book 'Gears & gear cutting'. He talked about using continuous fractions where you can calculate a not precise, but very close thread with the change gears at hand. It worked beautiful. The little inacuracy of 0.01mm every so often doesn't look like a big of a deal. I was wondering if that occasional 0.01mm blipp is linear & if so why? I wouldn't worry. Just a thought. Nice job.

I think its a very impressive unit and would question the comment you quoted about it not having much of a market at 1K. Lots of amateur machinist are quite happy to spend large amounts on their hobby ( I know three with Deckel mills). And would have thought a well made hardened unit at @ 2-3K (AU) would have a healthy market. Why not determine a price that gives you a worthwhile profit and see how many people would be willing to place a deposit? Or perhaps selling the IP to someone like Vertex .

Greetings from the garden city. I could certainly use one of these. I would also value it at more than NZ$ 1000 per unit. I wonder if the design might be optimized for economic production? I also wonder if it might be scaled up and/or down? How would it work at half or quarter of the size? It seems like you have come up with an excellent core design that would lend itself to various adaptations. Have you thought of recruiting collaborators while legally protecting your IP investment?

Overall, I am net crazy about trying to hang that rather heavy unit on the edge of my table, and then having to swing the ram to cut a thread. Maybe it's not feasible for you, but it would be nice to have a 1:1 right angle and just set it on the table, or even throw it in your vise. Also I see limitations with length of thread vs. diameter of thread. At some point you will need a center to hold the end, and you will probably end up in a lathe. Just my 2 cents. I applaud you for your unique design, Good luck Cliff.

I think longevity is important. When someone buys a used one 20 years from now it should still function. I understand intellectual protection, as I am also an inventor of sorts. Still, I am anxious to see how this is implemented. It's hard to give critical assessments without that knowledge. I feel that's the part which could make or break this product.

How heavy is it? How much would you roughly anticipate its cost? I would prefer a smaller unit (as a home shop machinist) and cost < 1000usd I also agree with your other commenters saying that you should keep the IP protected instead of open sourcing it right now. You deserve to make a profit out of this. Another comment I will make is that the more you use it, the more accurate it will get - in terms of periodic error. The nut and lead screw will lap each other until they get very smooth. Of course, the backlash will increase but accuracy of the mechanism itself will improve. This may not be the case with hardened materials as they won’t be easy to lap.

You showed (6:20) the mechanism for setting the thread pitch according to scale, and during the show (10:00) you covered this mechanism, it seems to me that this scale has nothing to do with the actual thread pitch. To set the correct thread, it requires several attempts and corrections, which means it is problematic, perhaps apart from the locking mechanism on the scale behind using the counterscrew (6:20), it would be necessary to add a lead screw to the adjustment mechanism, which would enable precise setting.

I don´t see how it can make economic sense in our current production world (maybe some nieche prototyping situation). I also don´t see how the pitch generating mechanism is revolutionary (even if it was so simple to not add any cost at all, the rest of the mechanism is already expensive if you want it to be build to the same accuracy as a decent lathe), sorry. It is still a cool idea, and i know the feeling if you chase a new idea and come to clash with reality. People writing they are interested and paying multiple hundred dollars are two very different things. Cheers

What are the thread measurements like with a thread micrometer..?

It seems to me that this is too much of a niche device to get any economy of volume for pricing, anyone that would need one of these will already have a lathe that will do the threading. The extra quality produced wouldn't justify much cost for most.