I'm not sure if you've ever tried to manually tap a 3/4-10 thread. I'm not gonna say it's difficult... but if you're not prepared, it's definitely gonna hurt... ESPECIALLY when you're trying to thread a pipe that is taller than you are! Whelp that's what happened today. The idea is that since we couldn't find a single 12' steel galvanized rod, we were going to mechanically fasten the two bars together using a coupling nut. I bought the biggest coupling nut available (3") which meant I had to mechanically cut 1.5" of 3/4-10 threads on both bars. At first, I tried to do this with a vice that was spaces too far inland on the mounting table. I wasn't able to clamp the pipe by itself and still have it directly upright. So, thinking... I tried to use a piece of wood as a spacer. It worked for a while, but eventually, the bar twisted free. So, I had to think of something else. Moving right on down to the wood shop, I found another mounted clamp, but this time it didn't have a spacing problem! I was able to clamp the whole bar perfectly upright, but then of course... since each bar is 6' long... I need a ladder to get up to the threader. The ladder wasn't the most stable thing though... so once I got it started, I was able to come back to the ground, get a nice fix on the floor, and torque the dang tool for dear life! Needless to say, I got both bars threaded... but after that I had to take a bit of a break to give my arms a rest! So, those are now ready to be installed on the base! Shane and Joe said they'd be able to put it in, so I'm hoping they can get to it early next week! |