Heli-Coil to the rescue?

[Elric]

Being a disinterested observer doesn't happen all the time. The old retrobate let someone borrow a Malcom 6x replica scope, and somehow one of the screws went missing... Now instead of asking yours truly to search for the proper screw size, he grabbed a holt of destiny, and with a 1/4-32 tap he opened the tapped hole on the dovetail "shoe" on the mount. He's in his mid 70s, so there is nothing preventing him from making decisions...

For those unfamiliar with the thread, it is UNEF. Ace does 1/4-20 and 1/4-28. Fastenal said they'd have to get it made $pecial... The one place I found a 1/4-32 bolt was on a UK site. The UK is filled with crazed lunatics that recreate scale steam locomotives, and you need that high of a tpi to deal with the sheet metal parts... 4.4 pounds STERLING for EACH bolt...

Anyways, I thought of drilling out the roached thread and using a Heli-Coil insert...

 

[fiver]

well...wow.
you could bend the scope over his head and start over.
or possibly re-cut the threads to something metric...

wait 4.4 lbs??? as in Sterling?
that's almost 10$ American plus shipping.

 

[Roger Allen]

Lol. Sounds like Your the furthest thing from pleased. Well you could always make your choice of thread and use your new said choice of screw or spend the money to make what’s there work. We use helicoils at work and they hold up to the 60 cycle vibration of a substation class transformer for a entire decade (last job I did w a helicoil was 10 years old using red locktite to hold it in place).

 

[JSH]

I loan very few things anymore.
I loaned a commercial Hobart meat grinder to a "friend" 20 some years ago. Now this thing was big and heavy took two guys to move it. He "lost" it, now how in the world............bought one from cabelas and it will not leave my sight.

Loaned a set of forming dies to a friend, I actually had forgotten about them till I went to use them last fall. Called my buddy and asked for them back. He has aged some, he informed he had a set but they were his and he was pretty sure he bought them brand new, but he would loan them to me.
Asked him if he could put his hands on them real quick. Yes he knew exactly where they are. I told him I would be over directly, open all four boxes up and look what it says on the inside. I get there and he is almost mad. He asked me when I put my name on the inside of the boxes. When I loaned them to you 10 or more years ago.
He is still some what irked, why I do not know.

Loaned out a mold once, never again. Came back and was junk. Have no idea what the gorilla did to the blocks.

Jeff

 

[Roger Allen]

The forming die story gets me. Kinda happened to me awhile back I bought a keg of bullseye and I didnt need that much. My bud said he’d take half and I was like ok you owe me 4 lb of unique in the future. Well what happened was the reload component crunch happened and he was like “no way man I’m not paying for impossible to find powder!!!” I was like “ha make something happen”

Well we settled for the cost of the half bullseye.

 

[Ian]

I too am very reluctant to lend or borrow. Seems like every time I lend something it either comes back broken or never comes back, and every time I borrow something, it breaks and I have to fix or replace it. I'm still trying to remember who I lent my Snap-On steering wheel puller to, noticed it was missing the other day and can't for the life of me recall who used it last. It's a universal curse.

I got nuthin' on the odd screw problem, heli-coil sounds as good a solution as any. If it were me, I might try waxing the proper, original screw and rebuilding the hole around it with Devcon liquid steel. If the mount is steel and you had a proper tap, you could either braze or weld up the hole and re-drill it.

 

[Brad]

No Ian, you would make a new screw on your lathe!

I tend to follow the rule a former coworker held dear for his chainsaw. Never loan your chainsaw to anyone you wouldn't load you wife to.

Outside of Khornet I don't tend to loan any moulds. I also don't borrow moulds.

 

[Pistolero]

Make a screw. Not hard, really, with a lathe. If you don't have one
ask around. Any hobbyist can do it, a real machine shop would be kinda
expensive, though. Not sure Helicoils that small are very reliable or easy
to do. Plus a kit for installing them is pretty expensive for a single use.

Bill

 

[Ian]

I thought he still had the original screw, just forgot to loan it with the scope. That's why I was leaning toward repairing the hole.

 

[KeithB]

I'm still trying to figure out how the OP ended up with a 1/4-32 tap in the first place.

 

[RBHarter]

Sets used to have a #12 taps . For whatever reason , maybe it's too early after a bad night , I can't remember what it was , 12-32 maybe . It's not much over a 1/4 SAE . I've run across a handful .

 

[pokute]

Not one single mention of JB Weld? Am I in the right forum?!

 

[Pistolero]

#12-32 is likely what it really is, it would seem to be dramatically more common.
You can buy a #12-32 tap, and can make a #12-32 screw.

Bill