By and large, when you follow the recipe, you get the expected result:
Screw cutting fixture – M3x0.5 aluminum – side view
That’s another length of the same aluminum rod, this time with a full-length M3x0.5 thread down the middle, and a screw with a neatly trimmed end.
Running the lathe spindle in reverse prevents the screw from loosening the jam nuts on the left:
Screw cutting fixture – M3x0.5 aluminum – in lathe chuck
Running the spindle forward does move the screw enough to loosen the nuts. Perhaps I should put wrench flats on the big end of the fixture so I can really torque the nuts.
That front nut was mostly decorative, rather than tight, because I didn’t expect the first attempt to work nearly as well as it did. A bit of filing to taper the end of the thread and it was all good.
That was easy…
