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I asked other woodturners in my club how to solve a particular problem. Several had machining background. Their recommendation was to obtain a flange nut then drill and tap for a set screw in the side. Essentially, a flange nut incorporates a washer with a nut as one unit. The set screw locks it in place on the bolt. A brass or nylon set screw does the job without damaging the threads on the bolt.

The only problem was that 1″-8 tpi flange nuts are rare and expensive. I decided to make my own from HDPE, High Density PolyEthylene using a 1″ spindle tap. But instead of a round portion for the flange, just make the nut oversized in a hex nut shape.

I could not find a brass set screw locally. Instead I obtained a brass bolt and hammered the head into sort of a thumb screw shape.

As you’ll see in the video, this worked out well. Now I will used the flange nut to see if an experiment with my threading jig works. More on that later.

Enjoy!