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Neale,
Thread preparation can help a lot.
We are all in a hurry to assemble our new gear when we get it - but an extra few minutes at the start can save you hours or days later.
As has been mentioned keep it clean, but also make sure its freely moving when its being threaded on.
Some threads can be cut poorly - either speeds and feeds not correctly optimised for the particular material, insufficient or inapprorpriate lubricant used when cutting or cutting tools that arent sharp enough or have the wrong geometry for the material being cut - and so the surface roughness of the two threads causes binding and worse can cause galling.
Cutting metal is a actually a shearing and tearing process - the idea is to tear it as nicely as possible !
With the least amount of additional damage and secondary burring.
By screwing up the two sides with either a small amount of a suitable lubricant or even some fine grinding paste (eg the abrasive brasso) you can polish of the roughest surfaces and ideally polish the two surfaces so they slide against each other with no extra resistance.
You will want to thoroughly wash off any abrasive polish off completely before putting into use.
You can usually tell if the threads arent well matched or good quality - they feel either scratchy or resist being tightened up - you want them to feel slippery smooth if possible and virtually silent.
Avoid using clamps, vices, multigrips etc - once the threads or the material body has been damaged or otherwise forced out of round or with dents in it - you have a much bigger problem than a locked thread.
Even the tiniest amount of lubricant can make all the difference.
Always wipe off the excess - one drop can be too much inn some cases and it will creep over the surfaces over time - minutes, days, months years and eventually creep or evaporate and recondense over the lens optics etc.
Cheers
Rally
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