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Screw thread

 
Screw Thread

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Screw thread



 
 
A screw thread is a helical
Helix

A helix is a special kind of space curve, i.e. a Differentiable manifold curve in three-space. As a mental image of a helix one may take the spring ....
 structure used to convert between rotational and linear movement or force.

A screw thread may be thought of as an inclined plane
Inclined plane

The inclined plane is one of the original six simple machines; as the name suggests, it is a flat surface whose endpoints are at different heights....
 wrapped around a cylinder
Cylinder (geometry)

A cylinder is one of the most curvilinear basic geometric shapes: the surface formed by the points at a fixed distance from a given straight line, the axis of the cylinder....
 or cone
Cone (geometry)

A cone is a dimension geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat, round base to a point called the apex or vertex. More precisely, it is the solid figure bounded by a plane base and the surface formed by the locus of all straight line segments joining the apex to the perimeter of the base....
.






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Internal and External Thread
Dubendorf Floodgate
A screw thread is a helical
Helix

A helix is a special kind of space curve, i.e. a Differentiable manifold curve in three-space. As a mental image of a helix one may take the spring ....
 structure used to convert between rotational and linear movement or force.

A screw thread may be thought of as an inclined plane
Inclined plane

The inclined plane is one of the original six simple machines; as the name suggests, it is a flat surface whose endpoints are at different heights....
 wrapped around a cylinder
Cylinder (geometry)

A cylinder is one of the most curvilinear basic geometric shapes: the surface formed by the points at a fixed distance from a given straight line, the axis of the cylinder....
 or cone
Cone (geometry)

A cone is a dimension geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat, round base to a point called the apex or vertex. More precisely, it is the solid figure bounded by a plane base and the surface formed by the locus of all straight line segments joining the apex to the perimeter of the base....
. The tightening of a fastener's screw thread is comparable to driving a wedge into a gap until it sticks fast through friction and slight plastic deformation.

In most applications, the pitch of a screw thread is chosen so that friction
Friction

File:Friction alt.svgFriction is the force resisting the relative lateral motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, or material elements in contact....
 is sufficient to prevent linear motion being converted to rotary, that is so the screw does not slip even when linear force is applied so long as no external rotational force is present. This characteristic is essential to the vast majority of its uses.

Applications

Screw threads have several applications:

  • Fastening
    • Fasteners such as wood screw
      Screw

      A screw is a shaft with a helix groove or screw thread formed on its surface and provision at one end to turn the screw. Its main uses are as a threaded fastener used to hold objects together, and as a simple machine used to translate torque into linear force....
      s, machine screws, nuts
      Nut (hardware)

      A nut is a type of hardware fastener with a screw thread hole. Nuts are almost always used opposite a mating screw#Bolt to fasten a stack of parts together....
       and bolts.
    • Connecting threaded pipe
      Threaded pipe

      A threaded pipe is a Pipe with screw-threaded ends for assembly....
      s and hoses to each other and to caps and fixtures.
  • Gear reduction via worm drive
    Worm drive

    A worm drive is a Gear in which a worm meshes with a worm gear . The terminology is often confused by imprecise use of the term worm gear to refer to the worm, the worm gear, or the worm drive as a unit....
    s
  • Moving objects linearly by converting rotary motion to linear motion, as in a leadscrew
    Leadscrew

    A leadscrew , also known as a power screw or translation screw, is a screw designed to translate radial motion into linear motion....
    .
  • Measuring by correlating linear motion to rotary motion (and simultaneously amplifying it), as in a micrometer
    Micrometer

    A micrometer , sometimes known as a micrometer screw gauge, is a device used widely in mechanical engineering and machining for precisely measuring, along with other Metrology instruments such as Caliper#Dial calipers and Caliper#Vernier caliper....
    .
  • Both moving objects linearly and simultaneously measuring the movement, combining the two aforementioned functions, as in a leadscrew of a lathe
    Lathe

    A lathe is a machine tool which spins a block of material to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, or Deformation_ with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object which has rotational symmetry about an axis of rotation....
    .


In all of these applications, the screw thread has two main functions:

  • It converts rotary motion into linear motion.
  • It prevents linear motion without the corresponding rotation.


Basic concepts of design


Gender


Every matched pair of threads, external and internal, can be described as male and female. For example, a screw
Screw

A screw is a shaft with a helix groove or screw thread formed on its surface and provision at one end to turn the screw. Its main uses are as a threaded fastener used to hold objects together, and as a simple machine used to translate torque into linear force....
 has male threads, while its matching hole (whether in nut
Nut (hardware)

A nut is a type of hardware fastener with a screw thread hole. Nuts are almost always used opposite a mating screw#Bolt to fasten a stack of parts together....
 or substrate) has female threads. This property is called gender.

Handedness


The helix of a thread can twist in two possible directions, which is known as handedness. Most threads are oriented so that a bolt or nut, seen from above, is tightened (the item turned moves away from the viewer) by turning it in a clockwise
Clockwise

A clockwise motion is one that proceeds 'like the clock's hands': from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back to the top....
 direction, and loosened (the item moves towards the viewer) by turning counterclockwise. This is known as a right-handed (RH) thread, because it follows the right hand grip rule
Right hand grip rule

The right hand grip rule is a physics principle applied to electric current passing through a solenoid, resulting in a magnetic field. When you wrap your right hand around the solenoid with your fingers in the direction of the conventional current, your thumb points in the direction of the magnetic north pole....
 (often called, more ambiguously, "the right-hand rule"). Threads oriented in the opposite direction are known as left-handed (LH).

By common convention, right-handedness is the default handedness for screw threads. Therefore, most threaded parts and fasteners have right-handed threads. Left-handed threads are used:
  • Where the rotation of a shaft would cause a conventional right-handed nut to loosen rather than to tighten due to fretting induced precession
    Precession (mechanical)

    Precession is the name given to the process of one part rotating with respect to another due to fretting between the two. It is described as "precession, in which a round object rolling in a circular ring in one direction will itself turn in the opposite direction." "In machinery, fretting is the micro-motion of tightly fitting parts that sup...
    , e.g. on a left-hand bicycle pedal
    Bicycle pedal

    A bicycle pedal is the part of a bicycle that the rider pushes with his or her foot to propel the bicycle. It provides the connection between the cyclist's foot or Cycling shoe and the crank allowing the leg to turn the bottom bracket axle....
    .
  • In combination with right-handed threads in turnbuckle
    Turnbuckle

    A turnbuckle is a device for adjusting the tension or length of ropes, cables and tie rods. It normally consists of two screw thread eyelets, one screw ed into each end of a small metal loop, one with a left-hand thread and the other with a right-hand thread....
    s.
  • In some gas supply connections to prevent dangerous misconnections, for example in gas welding the flammable gas supply uses left-handed threads.
  • In some instances, for example early ballpoint pen
    Ballpoint pen

    A ballpoint pen , is a modern writing instrument. A ballpoint pen has an internal chamber filled with a viscosity ink that is dispensed at the tip during use by the rolling action of a small metal sphere of brass, steel or tungsten carbide....
    s, to provide a "secret" method of disassembly.
  • In some applications of a leadscrew, for example the cross slide of a lathe
    Lathe (metal)

    Metal lathe or metalworking lathe are generic terms for any of a large class of lathes designed for precisely machining relatively hard materials....
    , where it is desirable for the cross slide to move away from the operator when the leadscrew is turned clockwise.


Form

The cross-sectional shape of a thread is often called its form or threadform (also spelled thread form). It may be square
Square (geometry)

In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular polygon with four equal sides and four equal angles . A square with vertices ABCD would be denoted ....
, triangular
Triangle

A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or wikt:vertex and three sides or edges which are line segments....
, trapezoid
Trapezoid

In geometry, a trapezoid or trapezium is a quadrilateral with twoparallel sides. The term “trapezoid” is used in North America, while the term “trapezium” is prevalent in Britain....
al, or other shapes. The terms form and threadform sometimes refer to all design aspects taken together (cross-sectional shape, pitch, and diameters).

Most triangular threadforms are based on an isosceles triangle. These are usually called V-threads or vee-threads because of the shape of the letter V
V

V is the twenty-second letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English language is spelled vee ....
. For 60° V-threads, the isosceles triangle is, more specifically, equilateral
Equilateral triangle

In geometry, an equilateral triangle is a triangle in which all three sides are equal. In traditional or Euclidean geometry, equilateral triangles are also Equiangular polygon; that is, all three internal angles are also congruent to each other and are each 60?....
. For buttress thread
Buttress thread

The buttress thread form refers to two different screw thread profiles. One is a type of leadscrew and the other is a type of hydraulic sealing thread form....
s, the triangle is scalene.

The theoretical triangle is usually truncated to varying degrees (that is, the tip of the triangle is cut short). A V-thread in which there is no truncation (or a minuscule amount considered negligible) is called a sharp V-thread. Truncation occurs (and is codified in standards) for practical reasons:
  • The thread-cutting or thread-forming tool cannot practically have a perfectly sharp point; at some level of magnification, the point is truncated, even if the truncation is very small.
  • Too-small truncation is undesirable anyway, because:
    • The cutting or forming tool's edge will break too easily;
    • The part or fastener's thread crests will have burrs upon cutting, and will be too susceptible to additional future burring resulting from dents (nicks);
    • The roots and crests of mating male and female threads need clearance to ensure that the sloped sides of the V meet properly despite (a) error in pitch diameter and (b) dirt and nick-induced burrs.


Ball screw
Ball screw

A ball screw is a mechanical device for translating rotational motion to linear motion. A threaded shaft provides a spiral raceway for ball bearings which act as a precision screw....
s, whose male-female pairs involve bearing balls in between, show that other variations of form are possible.

Angle


The angle characteristic of the cross-sectional shape is often called the thread angle. For most V-threads, this is standardized as 60 degrees
Degree (angle)

A degree , usually denoted by ? , is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1/360 of a Turn ; one degree is equivalent to p/180 radians....
, but any angle can be used.

Lead, pitch, and number of starts


Lead and pitch are closely related concepts. The difference between them can cause confusion, because they are equivalent for most screws. Lead is the distance along the screw's axis that is covered by one complete rotation of the screw (360°). Pitch is the distance from the crest of one thread to the next. Because the vast majority of screw threadforms are single-start threadforms, their lead and pitch are the same. "Single-start" means that there is only one "ridge" wrapped around the cylinder of the screw's body. Each time that the screw's body rotates one turn (360°), it has advanced axially by the width of one ridge. "Double-start" means that there are two "ridges" wrapped around the cylinder of the screw's body. Each time that the screw's body rotates one turn (360°), it has advanced axially by the width of two ridges.

Analysis of pitch and TPI for single-start threads
The following discussion assumes a single-start thread, whose pitch and lead are always equivalent.

Pitch is the distance from the crest of one thread to the next. It is analogous to the wavelength
Wavelength

In physics, wavelength is the distance between repeating units of a propagating wave of a given frequency. It is commonly designated by the Greek language letter lambda ....
 of a wave
Wave

A wave is a disturbance that propagates through space and time, usually with transference of energy. While a mechanical wave exists in a medium , waves of electromagnetic radiation can travel through vacuum, that is, without a medium....
. A closely related concept is threads per inch (TPI), which is how many threads occur per inch
Inch

An inch is the name of a Units of measurement of length in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, and United States customary units....
 of axial screw length. Pitch and TPI describe the same underlying physical property—merely in different terms. When units of measurement are constant, pitch is simply the inverse of TPI, and vice versa. For example, a -20 thread has 20 TPI, which means that its pitch is inch (0.050").

Another wave analogy is that pitch and TPI are inverses of each other in a similar way that period and frequency
Frequency

Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency....
 are inverses of each other.

Inch-based thread standards are usually named in terms of TPI (that is, threads per distance), whereas metric thread standards are usually named in terms of pitch (that is, distance per thread).

Coarse versus fine
Coarse threads are those with relatively larger pitch (fewer threads per axial distance), and fine threads are those with relatively smaller pitch (more threads per axial distance). Coarse threads have a larger threadform relative to screw diameter, whereas fine threads have a smaller threadform relative to screw diameter. This distinction is analogous to that between coarse teeth and fine teeth on a saw
Saw

A saw is a tool that uses a hard blade or wire with an abrasive wear edge to cut through softer materials. The cutting edge of a saw is either a serrated blade or an abrasive....
 or file
File (tool)

A file is a hand tool used to shape material by cutting. A file typically takes the form of a hardened steel bar, mostly covered with a series of sharp, parallel ridges or teeth....
, or between coarse grit and fine grit on sandpaper
Sandpaper

Sandpaper is a form of paper where an abrasive material has been fixed to its surface.Sandpaper is part of the "coated abrasives" family of abrasive products....
.

The common V-thread standards (ISO 261 and Unified Thread Standard
Unified Thread Standard

The Unified Thread Standard defines a standardization thread form and series?along with allowances, tolerances, and designations?for screw threads commonly used in the United States and Canada....
) include a coarse pitch and a fine pitch for each major diameter. For example, -13 belongs to the UNC series (Unified National Coarse) and -20 belongs to the UNF series (Unified National Fine).

A common misconception among people not familiar with engineering or machining is that the term coarse implies here lower quality and the term fine implies higher quality. The terms when used in reference to screw thread pitch have nothing to do with the tolerances used (degree of precision) or the amount of craftsmanship, quality, or cost. They simply refer to the size of the threads relative to the screw diameter. Coarse threads can be made accurately, or fine threads inaccurately.

Diameters

There are several relevant diameters for screw threads: major diameter, minor diameter, and pitch diameter.

Major diameter
Major diameter is the largest diameter of the thread. For a male thread, this means "outside diameter", but in careful usage the better term is "major diameter", since the underlying physical property being referred to is independent of the male/female context. On a female thread, the major diameter is not on the "outside". The terms "inside" and "outside" invite confusion, whereas the terms "major" and "minor" are always unambiguous.

Minor diameter
Minor diameter is the smallest diameter of the thread.

Pitch diameter
Pitch diameter, also known as mean diameter, is a diameter in between major and minor. It is the diameter at which each pitch is equally divided between the mating male and female threads. It is important to the fit between male and female threads, because a thread can be cut to various depths in between the major and minor diameters, with the roots and crests of the threadform being variously truncated, but male and female threads will only mate properly if their sloping sides are in contact, and that contact can only happen if the pitch diameters of male and female threads match closely. Another way to think of pitch diameter is "the diameter on which male and female should meet".

Thread pitch diameter is analogous to gear pitch diameter
Gear

A gear is a component within a Transmission device that transmits rotational force to another gear or device. A gear is different from a pulley in that a gear is a round wheel that has linkages that mesh with other gear teeth, allowing force to be fully transferred without slippage....
, which is related to how two mating gear
Gear

A gear is a component within a Transmission device that transmits rotational force to another gear or device. A gear is different from a pulley in that a gear is a round wheel that has linkages that mesh with other gear teeth, allowing force to be fully transferred without slippage....
s should meet.

Classes of fit

The way in which male and female fit together, including play
Backlash (engineering)

In mechanical engineering, backlash, sometimes called lash or play, is clearance between mating components, sometimes described as the amount of lost motion due to clearance or slackness when movement is reversed and contact is re-established....
 and friction, is classified (categorized) in thread standards. Achieving a certain class of fit requires the ability to work within tolerance ranges for dimension (size) and surface finish
Roughness

Roughness is a measure of the texture of a surface. It is quantified by the vertical deviations of a real surface from its ideal form. If these deviations are large, the surface is rough; if they are small the surface is smooth....
. Defining and achieving classes of fit are important for interchangeability
Interchangeable parts

Interchangeable parts are components of any device designed to specifications which ensure that they will fit within any device of the same type....
.

Standardization and interchangeability

To achieve (a) predictably successful mating of male and female threads and (b) assured interchangeability between males and between females, standards for form, size, and finish must exist and be followed. Standardization of threads is discussed below.

Thread depth


Screw threads are almost never made perfectly sharp (no truncation at the crest or root), but instead are truncated, which is known as the thread depth or percentage of thread. The UTS and ISO standards codify the amount of truncation, including tolerance ranges.

A perfectly sharp 60° V-thread will have a depth of thread ("height" from root to crest) equal to 86.6% of the pitch. This fact is intrinsic to the geometry of an equilateral triangle
Equilateral triangle

In geometry, an equilateral triangle is a triangle in which all three sides are equal. In traditional or Euclidean geometry, equilateral triangles are also Equiangular polygon; that is, all three internal angles are also congruent to each other and are each 60?....
—a direct result of the basic trigonometric functions. It is independent of measurement units (inch vs mm).

The typical depth of UTS and ISO threads with truncation included is around 75% of the pitch. Threads can be (and often are) truncated a bit more, yielding thread depths of 60% to 65%. This makes the thread-cutting easier (yielding shorter cycle times and longer tap and die life) without making any large sacrifice in thread strength. For many applications, 60% threads are strong enough for the job, and 75% threads are wasteful (in the sense that extra resources were invested in creating them, but they were not necessary). For male threads, by turning down the bar stock
Bar stock

Bar stock is a common form of raw purified metal, used by industry to manufacture metal parts and products.Most metal produced by a steel mill is shaped and formed into long continuous strips of various size and shape....
 a bit more, the major diameter is truncated a bit farther. For female threads, by drilling with a slightly bigger tap drill, the minor diameter is truncated a bit farther. Notice that the pitch diameter is not the variable being changed here.

This sort of trade-off (truncation versus thread strength) is pervasive in the profession of engineering. Safety factor
Factor of safety

Factor of safety can mean either the fraction of structural capability over that required, or a multiplier applied to the maximum expected load to which a component or assembly will be subjected....
s must always be built in, but one must also quantify the safety factors in order to decide rationally "how much is enough". This balance is what keeps the cost of the product affordable.

Standardization


Standardization
Standardization

Standardization is the process of developing and agreeing upon Standard . A standard is a document that establishes uniform engineering or technical specifications, criteria, methods, processes, or practices....
 of screw threads has evolved since the early nineteenth century to facilitate compatibility between different manufacturers and users. Many of the standards also specify corresponding bolt head and nut sizes, to facilitate compatibility between spanner
Spanner

Spanner may refer to one of the following.*Spanner, a synonym of wrench*The SpannerTM by AbbeyMoor Medical, Inc. FDA approved prostatic stent for treatment of urethral blockages....
s and other driving tools.

ISO standard threads


The most common threads in use are the ISO metric screw thread
ISO metric screw thread

The ISO metric screw threads are the world-wide most commonly used type of general-purpose screw thread. They were one of the first international standards agreed when the International Organization for Standardization was set up in 1947....
s (M) and BSP threads
British standard pipe thread

The British Standard Pipe thread is a family of standard screw thread types that has been adopted internationally for interconnecting and sealing pipe ends by mating an external with an internal thread....
 also called G threads for pipes.

These were fully standardized by the International Organization for Standardization
International Organization for Standardization

The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO , is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations....
 in 1947. Although metric thread were mostly unified in 1898 by the International Congress for the standardization of screw threads, separate metric thread standards were used in France, Germany, and Japan, and the Swiss had a set of threads for watches.

Other current standards

In particular applications and certain regions, threads other than the ISO metric threads remain commonly used. This is largely for reasons of backwards compatibility. Non-ISO threads in common use include:

  • Unified Thread Standard
    Unified Thread Standard

    The Unified Thread Standard defines a standardization thread form and series?along with allowances, tolerances, and designations?for screw threads commonly used in the United States and Canada....
    , (UTS), which is still the dominant thread type in the United States
    United States

    The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
     and Canada
    Canada

    Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
    . This standard includes:
    • Unified Coarse (UNC)
    • Unified Fine (UNF)
    • Unified Extra Fine (UNEF)
    • Unified Special (UNS)
    • National pipe thread
      National pipe thread

      National Pipe Thread Tapered is a United States standard for tapered threads used to join Pipe and fittings. ANSI/American Society of Mechanical Engineers standard B1.20.1 covers threads of 60-degree form with flat crests and roots in sizes from 1/16 inch to 24 inch Nominal Pipe Size [NPS] ....
       (NPT)


  • British Standard Whitworth
    British Standard Whitworth

    British Standard Whitworth is one of a number of imperial unit based screw thread standards which use the same bolt heads and nut hexagonal sizes, some others being British Standard Fine thread and British Standard Cycle....
     (BSW), and for other Whitworth threads including:
    • British Standard Fine (BSF)
    • Cycle Engineers' Institute (CEI)
    • British standard pipe thread
      British standard pipe thread

      The British Standard Pipe thread is a family of standard screw thread types that has been adopted internationally for interconnecting and sealing pipe ends by mating an external with an internal thread....
       (BSP)
  • British Standard Pipe Taper (BSPT)
  • British Association screw threads
    British Association screw threads

    British Association or BA screw threads are a largely obsolete set of small screw threads, the largest being 0BA at 6 mm diameter. They were, and to some extent still are, used for miniature instruments and modeling....
     (BA), primarily electronic/electrical, moving coil meters and to mount optical lenses


  • Camera case screws, used to mount a camera
    Camera

    A camera is a device that records images, either as a still photograph or as moving images known as videos or movies. The term comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism of projecting images where an entire room functioned as a real-time imaging system; the modern camera evolved from the camera obscura....
     on a photographic tripod
    Tripod (photography)

    A tripod is a three-legged stand for an instrument, used for stabilisation and support.In astronomy, a tripod is a three legged stand used to support and stabilize a telescope, binoculars, or other optical or recording instrument....
    :
    • ¼? British Standard Whitworth
      British Standard Whitworth

      British Standard Whitworth is one of a number of imperial unit based screw thread standards which use the same bolt heads and nut hexagonal sizes, some others being British Standard Fine thread and British Standard Cycle....
       (BSW) used on almost all small cameras
    • ?? BSW for larger (and some older small) cameras
  • Royal Microscopical Society
    Royal Microscopical Society

    The Royal Microscopical Society is an international Science Society for the promotion of Microscopy, the technical field of using microscopes to view samples or objects....
     (RMS) thread, a special 0.8"-36 thread used for microscope objective lenses.
  • Microphone
    Microphone

    A microphone, sometimes referred to as a mike or?more recently?mic, is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal....
     stands:
    • ?? 27 threads per inch (tpi) Unified Special
      Unified Thread Standard

      The Unified Thread Standard defines a standardization thread form and series?along with allowances, tolerances, and designations?for screw threads commonly used in the United States and Canada....
       thread (UNS, USA and the rest of the world)
    • ¼? BSW (not common in the USA, used in the rest of the world)
    • ?? BSW (not common in the USA, used in the rest of the world)
  • Stage lighting
    Stage lighting

    Modern stage lighting is a flexible tool in the production of theatre, dance, opera and other performance arts. Several different types of stage lighting instruments are used in the pursuit of the various principles or goals of lighting....
     suspension bolts (in some countries only; some have gone entirely metric, others such as Australia
    Australia

    Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
     have reverted to the BSW threads, or have never fully converted):
    • ?? BSW for lighter luminaires
    • ½? BSW for heavier luminaires
  • Panzergewinde (Pg) (also: Stahlpanzerrohr-Gewinde) is an old German 80° thread (DIN 40430) that remained in use until 2000 in some electrical installation accessories in Germany.


History of standardization


The first historically important intra-company standardization
Standardization

Standardization is the process of developing and agreeing upon Standard . A standard is a document that establishes uniform engineering or technical specifications, criteria, methods, processes, or practices....
 of screw threads began with Henry Maudslay
Henry Maudslay

Henry Maudslay was a United Kingdom machine tool innovator, tool and die maker, and inventor. He is considered a founding father of machine tool technology....
 around 1800, when the modern screw-cutting lathe
Screw-cutting lathe

A screw-cutting lathe is a machine capable of cutting very accurate screw threads via single-point screw-cutting, which is the process of guiding the wikt:linear#Adjective motion of the tool bit in a precisely known ratio to the Rotation motion of the workpiece....
 made interchangeable
Interchangeable parts

Interchangeable parts are components of any device designed to specifications which ensure that they will fit within any device of the same type....
 screws a practical commodity. During the next 40 years, standardization continued to occur on the intra-company and inter-company level. In 1841, Joseph Whitworth
Joseph Whitworth

Sir Joseph Whitworth, Baronet was an England engineer and entrepreneur....
 created a design that, through its adoption by many British railroad companies, became a national standard for the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 called British Standard Whitworth
British Standard Whitworth

British Standard Whitworth is one of a number of imperial unit based screw thread standards which use the same bolt heads and nut hexagonal sizes, some others being British Standard Fine thread and British Standard Cycle....
. During the 1840s through 1860s, this standard was often used in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
 as well, in addition to myriad intra- and inter-company standards. In April 1864, William Sellers
William Sellers

William Sellers was a mechanical engineer, manufacturer, and inventor who filed more than 90 patents, most notably the design for the United_States_Standard_thread....
 presented a paper to the Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute

Founded in honor of Benjamin Franklin, The Franklin Institute is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest and premier centers of science education and development in the United States....
 in Philadelphia, proposing a new standard to replace the U.S.'s poorly standardized screw thread practice. Sellers simplified the Whitworth design by adopting a thread profile of 60°
Degree (angle)

A degree , usually denoted by ? , is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1/360 of a Turn ; one degree is equivalent to p/180 radians....
 and a flattened tip (in contrast to Whitworth's 55° angle and rounded tip). The 60° angle was already in common use in America, but Sellers's system promised to make it and all other details of threadform consistent.

The Sellers thread, easier for ordinary machinists to produce, became an important standard in the U.S. during the late 1860s and early 1870s, when it was chosen as a standard for work done under U.S. government contracts, and it was also adopted as a standard by highly influential railroad industry corporations such as the Baldwin Locomotive Works
Baldwin Locomotive Works

The Baldwin Locomotive Works was an United States builder of railroad locomotives. It was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania originally, and later in nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania....
 and the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad was an United States railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy," the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
. Other corporations adopted it, and it soon became a national standard for the U.S., later becoming generally known as the United States Standard. Over the next 30 years the standard was further defined and extended and evolved into a set of standards including National Coarse (NC), National Fine (NF), and National Pipe Taper (NPT).

During this era, in continental Europe, the British and American threadforms were well known, but also various metric
Metric system

The metric system is an international decimalised systems of measurement, founded by France in 1791, that is the common system of Unit of measurement used by most of the world....
 thread standards were evolving, which usually employed 60° profiles. Some of these evolved into national or quasi-national standards. They were mostly unified in 1898 by the International Congress for the standardization of screw threads at Zurich, which defined the new international metric thread standards as having the same profile as the Sellers thread, but with metric sizes. Efforts were made in the early 20th century to convince the governments of the U.S., UK, and Canada to adopt these international thread standards and the metric system in general, but they were defeated with arguments that the capital cost
Capital cost

Capital costs are costs incurred on the purchase of real property, buildings, construction and equipment to be used in the production of good or the rendering of Service ....
 of the necessary retooling would damage corporations and hamper the economy. (The mixed use of dualling inch and metric standards has since cost much, much more, but the bearing of these costs has been more distributed across national and global economies rather than being borne up front by particular governments or corporations, which helps explain the lobbying efforts.)

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, engineers found that ensuring the reliable interchangeability of screw threads was a multi-faceted and challenging task that was not as simple as just standardizing the major diameter and pitch for a certain thread. It was during this era that more complicated analyses made clear the importance of variables such as pitch diameter and surface finish.

A tremendous amount of engineering work was done throughout World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
 and the following interwar period
Interwar period

The interwar period is understood, within recent Western culture, to be the period between the end of the First World War and the beginning of the Second World War....
 in pursuit of reliable interchangeability. Classes of fit were standardized, and new ways of generating and inspecting screw threads were developed (such as production thread-grinding machines and optical comparator
Optical comparator

An optical comparator is a device that applies the principles of optics to the inspection of manufactured parts. In a comparator, the magnified silhouette of a part is projected upon the screen, and the dimensions and geometry of the part are measured against prescribed limits....
s). Therefore, in theory, one might expect that by the start of World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, the problem of screw thread interchangeability would have already been completely solved. Unfortunately, this proved to be false. Intranational interchangeability was widespread, but international interchangeability was less so. Problems with lack of interchangeability among American, Canadian, and British parts during World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 led to an effort to unify the inch-based standards among these closely allied nations, and the Unified Thread Standard was adopted by the Screw Thread Standardization Committees of Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States on November 18, 1949 in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
, with the hope that they would be adopted universally. (The original UTS standard may be found in ASA (now ANSI) publication, Vol. 1, 1949.) UTS consists of Unified Coarse (UNC), Unified Fine (UNF), Unified Extra Fine (UNEF) and Unified Special (UNS). The standard was not widely taken up in the UK, where many companies continued to use the UK's own British Association (BA)
British Association screw threads

British Association or BA screw threads are a largely obsolete set of small screw threads, the largest being 0BA at 6 mm diameter. They were, and to some extent still are, used for miniature instruments and modeling....
 standard.

However, internationally, the metric system was eclipsing inch-based measurement units
Metrication

Metrication refers to the introduction of the Metric system as the international standard for physical measurements?a long-term series of independent and systematic conversions from the various separate localism systems of historical weights and measures....
. In 1947, the International Organization for Standardization
International Organization for Standardization

The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO , is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations....
 (interlingually known as ISO) had been founded; and in 1960, the metric-based International System of Units
International System of Units

The International System of Units is the modern form of the metric system and is generally a system devised around the convenience of the number ten....
 (abbreviated SI from the French Système international) was created. With continental Europe and much of the rest of the world turning to SI and the ISO metric screw thread
ISO metric screw thread

The ISO metric screw threads are the world-wide most commonly used type of general-purpose screw thread. They were one of the first international standards agreed when the International Organization for Standardization was set up in 1947....
, the UK gradually leaned in the same direction. The ISO metric screw thread is now the standard that has been adopted worldwide and has mostly displaced all former standards, including UTS. In the U.S., where UTS is still prevalent, over 40% of products contain at least some ISO metric screw threads. The UK has completely abandoned its commitment to UTS in favour of the ISO metric threads, and Canada is in between. Globalization
Globalization

Globalization in its literal sense is the process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones. It can be described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and function together....
 of industries produces market pressure in favor of phasing out minority standards. A good example is the automotive industry; U.S. auto parts factories long ago developed the ability to conform to the ISO standards, and today very few parts for new cars retain inch-based sizes, regardless of being made in the U.S.

Engineering drawing

In American engineering drawing
Engineering drawing

An engineering drawing, or Construction drawing, is a type of technical drawing, created within the technical drawing discipline, and used to fully and clearly define requirements for engineering items....
s, ANSI Y14.6 defines standards for indicating threaded parts. Parts are indicated by their nominal diameter (the nominal major diameter of the screw threads), pitch (number of threads per inch), and the class of fit for the thread. For example, “.750-10UNC-2A” is male (A) with a nominal major diameter of 0.750 in, 10 threads per inch, and a class-2 fit; “.500-20UNF-1B” would be female (B) with a 0.500 in nominal major diameter, 20 threads per inch, and a class-1 fit. An arrow points from this designation to the surface in question.

Generating screw threads


There are various methods for generating screw threads. The method chosen for any one application is chosen based on constraints—time; money; degree of precision needed (or not needed); what equipment is already available; what equipment purchases could be justified based on resulting unit price of the threaded part (which depends on how many parts are planned); etc.

In general, certain thread-generating processes tend to fall along certain portions of the spectrum from toolroom
Toolroom

The word toolroom has three related senses. The senses have evolved over the past two centuries as technology itself has evolved....
-made parts to mass-produced parts, although there can be considerable overlap. For example, thread lapping following thread grinding would fall only on the extreme toolroom end of the spectrum, while thread rolling is a large and diverse area of practice that is used for everything from microlathe leadscrews (somewhat pricey and very precise) to the cheapest deck screws (very affordable and with precision to spare).

The various methods are summarized below.

Thread cutting


The excess material is cut away, with taps and dies
Taps and dies

Taps and dies are cutting tools used to create screw threads in solid substances including, but not limited to, metal, wood, and plastic. A tap is used to cut the female portion of the mating pair ....
 for most smaller diameters, or with single-point thread-cutting on a lathe for larger ones (or smaller ones needing very high concentricity). With the widespread adoption of affordable, fast, precise CNC milling machines, internal threads may also be cut with a rotating cutter moving in a helical path rather than with a tap, improving speed and avoiding the problem of broken taps. This type of screw applied for most plastics parts.

Thread rolling


In this process the material is extruded into a male thread through mechanical pressure as the screw blank is rolled between a matched pair of dies, either flat or cylindrical. Thread rolling is better suited to high-volume production, and produces threads of diameters typically smaller than one inch. Also, materials with good deformation characteristics are necessary for rolling; these materials include softer (more ductile) metals and exclude brittle materials, such as cast iron. A rolled thread can often be easily recognized because the thread has a larger diameter than the blank rod from which it has been made. (However, necks and shoulders can be cut or rolled to different diameters, so this in itself is not a forensic give-away.) Also, the end of the screw usually looks a bit different from the end of a cut-thread screw. Rolled male threads tend to be slightly stronger than cut male threads, because of the effect of the cold forming
Cold forming

Cold forming is a metalworking process in which metal is shaped at a temperature below its recrystallization temperature, usually at the ambient temperature....
 action on the metal's grain structure.

Process Characteristics
  • Produces external rolled threads
  • Material is plastically deformed and cold-worked
  • Produces rolled threads with excellent strength and surface finish
  • Forms major thread diameters greater than blank diameter
  • Is a high production process
  • It is usually three to five times faster than thread cutting.
  • The threads produced are very accurate and strong because they are cold worked


Setup and Equipment

The workpiece is held in a chuck or other workpiece holding device while the thread rolling die-head traverses the workpiece. Several sizes of thread rolling heads can be used over a wide range of workpiece diameters to produce threads that are superior in strength and finish to threads produced by other machining processes.

Geometrical Possibilities

Thread types include UNC, UNF, ISO, ACME, Whit-worth, worm, buttress, ball-screw, wood-screw, tapping-crew, bag-screw, and many others. Typical diameters for rolled threads range from 0.075 in. to 2 in. Typical lenghts range from 2 in. to 10 in., but with through-feed thread forming, lenghts of 100 in., or more, can be readily produced.

Tolerances and Surface Finish

Tolerances and surface finish depend on several variables, such as type of material to be formed, quality of the workpiece material, condition and type, and the rigidity of the equipment. In general, the tolerances and surface conditions are very good. Tolerances range from +-0.001 in. to +-0.0006 in. for the die major diameter and pitch. The surface finishes range from 6 to 32 micro-inches. Tolerance and surface finish depend upon the following:
  • Dimensional accuracy of the blank
  • Tolerances, surface finish, and wear of the dies
  • Workpiece material
  • Machine rigidity
  • Thread form and size


To increase productivity, the blank diameter should equal the pitch diameter. Ends of the blank should be beveled approximately 60 degrees. When considering the blank diameter tolerance, a change in blank diameter will affect the major diameter by an approximate ratio of 3 to 1.

Tool Style
DESCRIPTION STYLE APPLICATION
FLAT DIES RECTANGULAR MACHINE, TAPING AND WOOD-SCREW
CYLINDRICAL IN-FEED 2 DIES CYLINDRICAL LARGE OR BALANCED SCREWS
CYLINDRICAL IN-FEED 3 DIES CYLINDRICAL TUBE FITTING, SPARK PLUGS
PLANETARY DIES PLANETARY HIGH VOLUME MACHINE, SHEET METAL, DRIVE SCREWS


Effects on Work Material Properties

Cold working of the surface material during rolling increases yield stress of the work material. Thread rolling also increases resistance to fatigue failure because the surface layer of the thread is left with smooth burnished roots and flanks and is left stressed in compression, especially in the root section of the threads.

WORK MATERIAL PROPERTIES
MECHANICAL
  • Yield and shear yield stress increased
  • Fatigue resistance is increased
  • Ductility is decreased
PHYSICAL
  • Little effect
  • CHEMICAL
  • Little effect


  • Lubrication and Cooling

    The purpose of lubrication is to reduce friction and wear between the dies and workpiece, thereby improving surface finish. Because high temperatures are generated during the drastic mechanical forming of thread rolling, the cutting fluid also acts as a cooling agent. When using soluble oil as cutting fluid in flat rolls the diameter of threads go from 1/4 in. to 1-1/4 in., in cylindrical the diameter goes up to 1/2 in., and in planetary the diameter goes from 1/4 in. to 1-1/8 in. Instead if mineral oil is used, in cylindrical rolls the diameter goes from 1/2 in. to 4-1/2 in.

    Production Rates

    THREAD DIAMETER (in.) FLAT DIES (pieces/min) CYLINDRICAL(pieces/min) PLANETARY (pieces/min)
    1/8 40 to 500 75 to 300 450 to 2000
    1/4 40 to 400 60 to 150 250 to 1200
    1/2 25 to 90 50 to 100 100 to 400
    3/4 20 to 60 5 to 10 -
    1 15 to 50 1 to 50 -


    Power Requirements
    MATERIAL BLANK SIZE (in.) THREADS per inch* HP required
    Brass or aluminum 1/4 3/8

    1/2
    20 16

    13
    1.75 3.0

    4.0
    Alloy steel 1/4 3/8

    1/2
    20 16

    13
    3.5 6.0

    8.0
    • For a 3-in. long workpiece with a standard thread feed rate of 0.0005 to 0.002 in./revolution.


    Cost Elements

    Thread rolling is a very economical way of producing large quantities with good dimensional accuracy. The cost of thread rolling depends on the quantity; the more parts made, the cheaper the unit cost, as the cost of setup is amortized over larger production runs. Cost elements include the following:
    • Setup time
    • Thread rolling time
    • Positioning time
    • Tool change time
    • Direct labor rate
    • Tool costs
    • Overhead rate
    • Amortization of equipment and tooling


    Thread forming


    This is the female-thread analogue of the male-thread-rolling process described above. The material is extruded into a thread through mechanical pressure by a tap that is similar to a cutting tap except that it has no flutes. Instead of cutting, the tap squeezes the material out of its way. Formed female threads tend to be slightly stronger than cut female threads, because of the effect of the cold forming
    Cold forming

    Cold forming is a metalworking process in which metal is shaped at a temperature below its recrystallization temperature, usually at the ambient temperature....
     action on the metal's grain structure.

    This process is more often employed in soft, ductile
    Ductility

    Ductility is a mechanical property used to describe the extent to which materials can be deformed deformation without fracture.In material science, ductility specifically refers to a material's ability to deform under tensile stress; this is often characterized by the material's ability to be stretched into a wire....
     metals (such as aluminium) than in hard, brittle metals (such as cast iron).

    Thread casting


    The threads take the shape of whatever mold
    Molding (process)

    Molding or moulding is the process of manufacturing by shaping pliable raw material using a rigid frame or model called a pattern....
     or die
    Die (manufacturing)

    A die is a specialized tool used in manufacturing industries to cut, shape and form a wide variety of products and components. Like Molding and templates, dies are generally customized and uniquely matched to the product they are used to create....
     that the (liquid or gas) material is poured into. When the material freezes into a solid, it retains the shape. Material is either heated to a liquid (or rarely a gas
    Chemical vapor deposition

    Chemical vapor deposition is a chemical process used to produce high-purity, high-performance solid materials. The process is often used in the semiconductor industry to produce thin films....
    ), or mixed with a liquid that will either dry or cure (such as plaster or cement). Alternately, the material may be forced into a mold as a powder and compressed into a solid, as with graphite
    Graphite

    The mineral graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. It was named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Greek language ??afe?? : "to draw/write", for its use in pencils, where it is commonly called lead, as distinguished from the actual metallic element lead....
    .

    Cast threads in metal parts may be finished by machining, or may be left in the as-cast state. (The same can be said of cast gear
    Gear

    A gear is a component within a Transmission device that transmits rotational force to another gear or device. A gear is different from a pulley in that a gear is a round wheel that has linkages that mesh with other gear teeth, allowing force to be fully transferred without slippage....
     teeth.) Whether or not to bother with the additional expense of a machining operation depends on the application. For parts where the extra precision and surface finish is not strictly necessary (although it might be nice), the machining is forgone in order to achieve a lower cost. With sand casting parts this means a rather rough finish; but with molded plastic or die-cast metal, the threads can be very nice indeed straight from the mold or die.

    Thread grinding


    Thread grinding is done on cylindrical grinders
    Grinding machine

    A grinding machine is a machine tool used for Grinding operations, which is a type of machining using an grinding wheel as the Cutting tool . Each grain of abrasive on the wheel's surface cuts a small chip from the workpiece via shear deformation....
     using specially dressed wheels
    Grinding wheel

    A grinding wheel is an expendable wheel that is composed of an abrasive compound. These wheels are used in grinding machines....
     matching the shape of the threads. Although expensive, threads produced by grinding are highly accurate and have a very fine surface finish with applications such as ball screw mechanisms used for precise movement of machine components.

    Technically, thread grinding is a subset of thread cutting, as grinding is a true metalcutting process. Each grain of abrasive functions as a microscopic single-point cutting edge (although of high negative rake angle), and shears a tiny chip that is analogous to what would conventionally be called a "cut" chip (turning, milling, drilling, tapping, etc.). However, among people who work in the machining fields, the term cutting is understood to refer to the macroscopic cutting operations, and grinding is mentally categorized as a "separate" process. This is why the terms are usually used in contradistinction in shop-floor practice, even though technically grinding is a subset of cutting.

    Thread lapping

    Rarely, thread grinding will be followed by thread lapping
    Lapping

    Lapping is a machining operation, in which two surfaces are rubbed together with an abrasive between them, by hand movement or by way of a machine....
     in order to achieve the highest precision and surface finish achievable. This is a toolroom practice when the highest precision is required, rarely employed except for the leadscrews or ballscrews of high-end machine tools.

    Examples


    Examples of screw threads include:

    • Fasteners:
      • Wood screws.
      • Nut
        Nut (hardware)

        A nut is a type of hardware fastener with a screw thread hole. Nuts are almost always used opposite a mating screw#Bolt to fasten a stack of parts together....
        s and bolt
        Bolt

        Bolt may refer to:*Bolt...
        s, machine screws, cap screws.
    • C-clamps.
    • Threaded pipe fittings.
    • Threaded attachments used to mount equipment on stands, such as:
      • The case screw used to mount a camera
        Camera

        A camera is a device that records images, either as a still photograph or as moving images known as videos or movies. The term comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism of projecting images where an entire room functioned as a real-time imaging system; the modern camera evolved from the camera obscura....
         on a photographic tripod
        Tripod (photography)

        A tripod is a three-legged stand for an instrument, used for stabilisation and support.In astronomy, a tripod is a three legged stand used to support and stabilize a telescope, binoculars, or other optical or recording instrument....
        .
      • The thread used to mount a microphone
        Microphone

        A microphone, sometimes referred to as a mike or?more recently?mic, is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal....
         or microphone cradle on a microphone stand
        Microphone stand

        All the advances in recording and sound reinforcement still depend on the lowly microphone stand to hold things together.Microphone stands provide the support for lots of different sizes and shapes of microphones....
        .


    See also

    • Unified Thread Standard
      Unified Thread Standard

      The Unified Thread Standard defines a standardization thread form and series?along with allowances, tolerances, and designations?for screw threads commonly used in the United States and Canada....
    • ISO metric screw thread
      ISO metric screw thread

      The ISO metric screw threads are the world-wide most commonly used type of general-purpose screw thread. They were one of the first international standards agreed when the International Organization for Standardization was set up in 1947....
    • National Thread Form
    • Acme Thread Form
      Acme thread form

      The Acme thread form is a common leadscrew screw thread profile that offers high strength with ease of manufacture. It is typically found where large loads or high accuracy are required, as in a Vise or the lead screw of a lathe....
    • Buttress Thread Form
    • National Pipe Thread Form
    • Dryseal Pipe Threads Form
    • Hose Coupling Screw Thread Form
    • Metric: M Profile Thread Form
    • Metric: MJ Profile Thread Form
    • Joseph Whitworth
      Joseph Whitworth

      Sir Joseph Whitworth, Baronet was an England engineer and entrepreneur....
    • British Association screw threads
      British Association screw threads

      British Association or BA screw threads are a largely obsolete set of small screw threads, the largest being 0BA at 6 mm diameter. They were, and to some extent still are, used for miniature instruments and modeling....
       (BA)


    External links