First I read about the machine technicalities and metallurgic properties, I once worked in a chemistry lab of a foundry, then I sourced advice from "experts", machinists, and old timers. Finally I bought a new die set, not the Harbor Freight junk, the expensive high speed steel ones. For hand threading the major diameter is the key, along with lubrication and slow threading with small advances. It's not brass! This metal is really hard. It heats up and sticks if enough care isn't taken. I wasn't sure at the outset that I could cut decent threads in stainless steel shafting but it worked. I'm threading the ends for SS knobs and using SS gears on it. This is all going on the camera I'm building. X2, front and rear drive shafts, bearings, gears, and knobs. One never stops learning.
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