I am working on repairing a Waterbury Winchester chime mantel clock. The minute hand is held on by a nut but the threads on the end of the arbor are rather messed up (see photo) and I want to clean them up. The OD of the chewed up threads is 0.090" and the best match to my thread gauge is 50 TPI. The closest match I can find to this is a Whitworth #95 instrument thread (Whitworth Instrument Thread) but this seems to be long obsolete. Was this thread even used on American clocks?
Is there anything I can do to clean this up? I think part of the reason the threads are so chewed is that a previous owner has tried jamming a 4-40 nut on them to hold the hands in place. Would I be able to rethread the end with e.g. a 3-48 die, or would I have to drill out and replace the end as in a re-pivoting operation? This operation would have to wait a while since I don't have a lathe yet but plan to get one soon.
Any advice appreciated.
Is there anything I can do to clean this up? I think part of the reason the threads are so chewed is that a previous owner has tried jamming a 4-40 nut on them to hold the hands in place. Would I be able to rethread the end with e.g. a 3-48 die, or would I have to drill out and replace the end as in a re-pivoting operation? This operation would have to wait a while since I don't have a lathe yet but plan to get one soon.
Any advice appreciated.
