Woodpeck Multi-knobs

[Murray MacLeod]

Does anybody have experience with these ? http://www.woodpeck.com/multiknob.html

I am a huge Woodpeck fan and have bought many of their products in the past and they have never been less than superlative.

I recently bought a couple of economy sized packs of these knobs, fully aware that they were sized for American 1/4", 5/16" and 3/8" nuts and bolts, but I thought I might be able to modify the metric nuts and bolts which we use over here to fit. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case ... the one size which does fit reasonably well is the 5/16" ..the head of a M8 bolt fits into the recess, but it is not a tight fit, and to fit a M8 nut would probably require squirting some silicon adhesive to make it stick.

So all in all, It looks like I am going to have to order some 1/4", 5/16", and 3/8" nuts, T-nuts and bolts of assorted lengths from the States.

The question I have is this: when the nut, or bolt, of the correct size is installed correctly into the Woodpeck multi-knob, does it create a solid, homogeneous entity...ie is it a tight compression fit, or is there a bit of slop involved whereby the bolt or nut could easily be removed. I do appreciate that the bolt /nut can be removed ...that is the whole point of these knobs, but once installed, do they stay seated firmly in place ?

Input from anybody with experience gratefully welcomed ...

[Waddy Thomson]

I'd bet it will be a spin fit... Much like a wing nut. When tightened, though should stay put. I haven't used that brand, but I have used the ones from Rockler that are used with their drill press and router tables.

[Steve Senseney]

I don't have any experience with these. Just a guess.

If this is plastic which can be thermo molded, could you widen the hole for the shaft either with heat or drilling, and then heat the nut and shaft enough to pull into the plastic and "thermo form" for the correct size?

Edit--

If I were adding to their functionality, I would use a metal washer (or fiber if you were concerned about rust stains) in addition to the plastic handles.

[Murray MacLeod]

Thanks for the replies, Waddy and Steve ...

Waddy, I was thinking more of the fit between the hex recess in the plastic knob and the head of the bolt ...I am assuming (and hoping ) that Woodpeck designed this to be a tight press fit, so that while it is possible to interchange between male/female threads , whichever one is chosen remains reasonably stable.

Steve, that thought occurred to me as well, but all in all I think I am better buying the nuts for which the knobs were designed. I can buy 1/4", 5/16" and 3/8" UNC nuts and threaded rod here in the UK, so I can weld up my own bolts, but I will have to buy the corresponding pronged T-nuts from the States. Not to worry, I have sourced a supply on Ebay ....

[Waddy Thomson]

Waddy, I was thinking more of the fit between the hex recess in the plastic knob and the head of the bolt ...I am assuming (and hoping ) that Woodpeck designed this to be a tight press fit, so that while it is possible to interchange between male/female threads , whichever one is chosen remains reasonably stable.

I would assume (always dangerous!) that the fit is tight enough that the bolt would be difficult to remove. Otherwise it would be a pain to use. One would knock the bolt out when trying to get it started on a threaded post.

[Murray MacLeod]

I would assume (always dangerous!) that the fit is tight enough that the bolt would be difficult to remove. Otherwise it would be a pain to use. One would knock the bolt out when trying to get it started on a threaded post.

Yes indeed ...I did a bit of research on the interweb regarding the distance across the flats on 1/4", 5/16" and 3/8" UNC nuts, and I am now satisfied that these nuts are indeed a nice tight press fit into the hex recess on the Woodpeck multi-knobs.

The thing is, this type of knob, bought individually in the corresponding metric sizes (M6, M8 and M10) are horrendously , in fact prohibitively expensive over here in the UK, and of course you are limited to whatever stud length the manufacturer chooses to supply. The beauty of the Woodpeck knobs is that you can interchange at will between male and female, and also have a free choice regarding length.

The other downside as far as the UK is concerned is that UNC threaded rod is also prohibitively expensive over here, whereas metric threaded rod is dirt cheap, so I have come up with the idea of re-tapping the UNC nuts to a metric thread , and welding up bolts to suit ...best of both worlds ...fortunately, UNC nuts are available at a reasonable price.

Apologies if this is the most irrelevant thread ever for US members, but hopefully it might be of some interest to members whose countries have gone metric.

[David King]

It sounds complicated to me. How do you get the metric tap started straight without first drilling out the UNC nuts?
I'd try grinding or filing down the metric nuts and bolt heads to match the UNC dimensions. You could also shim or pour a little epoxy/liquid steel around the heads if they are a bit too loose.

[Barry Black]

You might want to look up Lee Valley on the net, they sell this kind of thing but you supply your own nut or bolt into the plastic knob so metric stuff should fit.

[Steve Senseney]

Have you considered making a wooden knob, and gluing in your own metric nut with epoxy. If there is a little glue on the threads, you can retap the nut and clear the glue easily.

[Murray MacLeod]

It sounds complicated to me. How do you get the metric tap started straight without first drilling out the UNC nuts?
I'd try grinding or filing down the metric nuts and bolt heads to match the UNC dimensions. You could also shim or pour a little epoxy/liquid steel around the heads if they are a bit too loose.

Tomorrow will tell , Dave ...the UNC nuts I ordered should arrive tomorrow morning ...I am just going to clamp the nuts in the vice and have at it with the appropriate metric tap , lining it up by eye ...I think it will work ...if it doesn't work I will report back to prevent anybody else making the same mistake ...

You might want to look up Lee Valley on the net, they sell this kind of thing but you supply your own nut or bolt into the plastic knob so metric stuff should fit.

I couldn't find any link to this on the Lee Valley site, Barry ...do you have a more specific link ?

Have you considered making a wooden knob, and gluing in your own metric nut with epoxy. If there is a little glue on the threads, you can retap the nut and clear the glue easily.

Well ...I have bought a total of 72 Woodpeck knobs altogether Steve ...24 of each thread ...I have a lot of jigs to kit out, so ... much though I would love the feel (and look) of a black walnut knob ...sadly I don't have enough time to spend at the lathe to achieve this ...besides which, they would all require ferrules ( ideally brass) in order to resist the torquing stresses ...but they would look great , I admit .

[Murray MacLeod]

Well, I am pleased to report that everything went according to plan, and the nuts, all three sizes, are held totally securely in the hex recesses.

For tapping out the holes to metric, I simply used a taper tap and went straight in, tapping the 1/4" to M6 was easy, slightly more resistance tapping out the 5/16" to M*, and even more resistance tapping out the 3/8" to M10. At no point however was the resistance such that it felt like the tap would break ... but even so I will probably do a prior drilling on the 3/8" nuts when it come to doing the whole batch, just to make life easier.

I am hoping that for the male knobs, it will be sufficient to insert a metric setscrew into the tapped-out nut, along with a locking washer and a dab of loctite compound...otherwise it will be a couple of spot welds.