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Faceplate Parts - Making Your Own

Allen Mattsen

Allen Mattsen

Joined
Feb 8, 2021
Messages
233
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Location
Vancouver,WA
Anyone have sources for parts to make your own faceplates using lag bolts?

I'm not sure what to call them. They look to be automotive parts that you can buy and use a number of lag bolts into a waste block for glue block use or other things.

I'm looking to buy 1-1/4" x 8 tpi versions, inexpensively, in the US, so I can have multiple without buying a bunch of faceplates and having to use regular sheet metal or wood screws. 20220218_160952.jpg
 
Wheel hubs? Axle pinion flanges? differential carrier flanges? depends on where the part is used on the car as to what it's called exactly. If I was looking to source something similar from used auto or lawnmower parts I'd go find a lawnmower junk yard and pull wheel hubs off garden tractors (John Deere, Cub Cadet, Wheel Horse, to name a few, all used hubs that might be able to weld a nut to them, or have threads machined into them) - Edit to add, I'd just buy some suitable threaded nuts (Mcmaster-Carr?) and get some solid reliable wood and fabricate my own faceplates (Wasn't too hard to do with the longworth chuck I made) unless of course you want the faceplates to be supporting some big heavy stuff.. in which case I wouldn't put a lot of faith in a welded up hub either, I'd invest in a proper faceplate made specifically for wood turning lathes (it'd be cheaper than paying machine shop to weld something up for me)
 
I have seen home made ones where you buy 1 1/4 for the big lathes, by 8 tpi nuts, which have to be ordered usually because standard is 7 tpi, and then weld that to some plate metal. The standard nut is not deep enough for full contact when mounting on a bigger lathe. You can get the nylon insert type locking nuts for 1 by 8 tpi, and then turn or burn out the nylon, then weld on a face plate or glue into a waste block. Might be easier to buy a steel face plate and bore out the screw holes to accept the lag bolts. Oh, the nuts are not 'precision' machined and you may need to true the faces up, which I would do by putting them in a chuck and then very gently turning one face true, reverse, and turn the other side true.

robo hippy
 
Fastenal is one source for the 1.25X8 nuts and the large washers. Our small local branch actually had some in stock when I stopped by a few years ago. As Reed mentions, the nuts are not long enough to reach the shoulder of the spindle, on the 3520 at least.

Bill Noble used to make and sell such faceplates, with buyer specified levels of flattening and relieving. These were inexpensive and very appealing to those of us cheapskates who don't weld. A half dozen could be had for the price of a single Oneway faceplate. https://wbnoble.com/wood_turning/faceplates/faceplates.htm All of my vacuum chucks (4) and a couple glue blocks are built on his faceplates. The wood surface gets faced off, so any irregularity in the washer or the weld gets turned away and the business end of the fixing is true.
 
If those 'faceplates' linked by Dean aren't long enough as Reed stated, using a 1" version in conjunction with a 1-1/4 to 1" reducer/adapter would work, no? (edit: after writing this I realize I'd be right back to where I started). Perhaps a combo of a tapped piece of some kind would provide the added length...hmm

I do have a local Fastenal, or did, I'll see what I can find.
 
If you know how to use a wood lathe, using a metal lathe to turn wood turning accessories is an easy leap.
You can turn smaller metal parts in a pinch on a wood lathe, but you really need a cross-slide and compound rest
to hold the cutting tool to machine hard metals. Another option is welding a nut onto a round metal drop and
drilling holes into the round drop plate for your lag bolts or screws. Having a few spare nuts on hand that match
your lathe spindle thread will come in handy for various other accessories you end up needing for a lathe. Going
this route you need to weld the nut perfectly in the center of the round piece, so it is balanced. You can mount it
on the lathe and machine it or grind it to perfectly round.
 
robo hippy said:
I did contact the local Fastenall asking about the 3M cubitron abrasives, and they only service business accounts now.

robo hippy
Click to expand...
There is (or at least was) a way around this. A couple of years ago, pre-pandemic, I opened an online account at fastenal.com using the DBA name I have for craft shows and credit card processing. I was able to order anything I need in any amount I need, pay for it through their online shopping cart, and pick up at my local store (no shipping charges). They may have changed their policies since then, but it may be worth checking out.
 
Well, I closed my business. A couple of fastener companies have done this. Not sure why they don't want to sell to the little guys any more.

robo hippy
 
Grainger is a good source for heavy hex nuts or a fastener company that supplies pipeline or refinery companies. I have an 1 1/4"-8 heavy hex nut that will screw onto my spindle but because the threads contact a land on the spindle the nut does not touch on the end like a chuck will. That would need to be dealt with. I would not use a standard nut.
Not that I use Fastenal alot, but I did pick up a few LH nuts that fit an old Dayton grinder the other day before the branch here in West Memphis closed.
 
Funny, I just ordered some hard bolts from my local Fastenal store and when asked if I had an account I said no, cash sale. They ordered them from Minn. and I picked them up the next day. Maybe it's a store decision?
 
I don't weld and based on cost, there are two types of homemade inexpensive faceplates that I make:

One is using a nut embedded in a piece of oak or equivalent hardwood. I measure from flat to flat of a hex bolt and drill that diameter hole into 2" oak stock. The minimum thickness of the wood is based on the nut width and your spindle length. I then chisel notches for hex bolts to fit. I epoxy the spaces to strengthen the joint between the nut and the hex hole that I carved out. It works very well. The difficulty was finding an inexpensive M33 -3.5 nuts for my Oneway. A 1 1/4 x 8 hex nut is not very common also. For what Fastenal and Granger charge, I can buy a faceplate company! Seek and ye shall find as they say. Here is a link for about $5 cost for 1 1/4 x 8 threaded nut.
https://www.fmwfasteners.com/collec.../products/1-1-4-8-a194-2h-heavy-hex-nut-plain

(Nutty.com seems more reasonable. That was posted while I was composing this)

The cost of a machine screw or a threaded rod, in M33, I never found reasonably priced. So for projects like a carving stand, I used 1 x 8 bolt and used an adapter to my chucks. Alternatively, You can use a 1 x8 nut and use an adapter as well for the faceplates. My club has all 1 x8 threading and when I am preparing blanks on my oneway for a club demo, I attached them to 1 x 8 homemade faceplates that are adapted to m33.
The adapter idea was thrown out there for all those having difficulty locating a nut that fits your spindle thread.

The second method I used in creating a faceplate was to buy a tap the same size as my spindle. The initial investment of about $30, can yield an endless supply of wooden faceplates. Like the above, I use my scrap hardwood for a free supply. I sometimes use 1/4" lag bolts to attach the work, but sometimes I may glue a valuable blank directly to the homemade, home tapped faceplate saving me 1/2"- 1" of stock without screw hole waste.
Here is one source for the tap:

It is important to note for safety: The larger your blank size, the more rigid your faceplate requirement will be to safely hole your work. All steel or cast iron faceplates may be preferred in these cases.
 
Last edited:
Dave Fritz said:
Funny, I just ordered some hard bolts from my local Fastenal store and when asked if I had an account I said no, cash sale. They ordered them from Minn. and I picked them up the next day. Maybe it's a store decision?
Click to expand...
Fastenal got out of the consumer business a few years ago ... they got tired of people breaking open a box of 1000 bolts to get 2.
 
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