tapping guide thingy

[jim]

well i've made it!

and a selection of collets to fit a few taps


you put the plain dia shaft in the drill chuck after drilling the hole, the tap is then exactly inline with the hole!
then i'll just start the thread by turing the body.

i got the idea after using one of the die holders on my lathe.




what do we think

[Darren]

I think it looks good, looks easy to use, looks like it will make threads perfectly in line......brill......

[sbwhart]

Nice one 

Have you used hex bar for the body ?

Have fun

Stew

[jim]

thanks for the feed back.

yes the body is hex bar 1" , theory being i could use a spanner if need be!

only disadvantage is i'll run out of room on my mill with the drill chuck on bigger jobs, i'll have to hold it a morse collet then.

i was going to harden the collets, but it'll be another of them jobs that don't get done

[CrewCab]

Nice job Jim

CC

[Mike K]

Nice.  Is the top bit spring loaded?

Mike

[Stilldrillin]

That`s nicely done Jimmy! 

I`m just idle. I tap the same way, with a small drill chuck, fitted with a 1/4" shank......

David D

[arnoldb]

Nice Job 

You might have to be careful with smaller taps though...  You'll be able to put a lot of torque on using the handles.

Cheers, Arnold

[bogstandard]

That is a very good point Arnold.

For my tapping attachment for the lathe, for small taps I use a knurled holder, but for my larger tap holder, up to 16mm, I have made the handle just 3" long from the centre point of the tool. This is so that if the thread is going to attempt to break the tap, I can't hold the tapholder handle any longer because of the short moment forces, and it is snatched out of my hand (safely may I add).
This is of course for power tapping, not hand tapping as this is. But handle length is critical for both, to prevent tap breakage because of lack of 'feel'.

Bogs

[NickG]

Looks great, esp for larger stuff.

Do you just let the tap pull the quill down as you're tapping? For small taps that can be too strong a spring in it sometimes too. Suppose you could just lightly grip it in the chuck and let it slide in and out of the jaws. That's how I tap at the moment, just grip the tap with the wrench on the round shank and put the protruding bit in the drill chuck lightly nipped to allow it to slide up and down.

Nick

[jim]

Looks great, esp for larger stuff.

Do you just let the tap pull the quill down as you're tapping? For small taps that can be too strong a spring in it sometimes too. Suppose you could just lightly grip it in the chuck and let it slide in and out of the jaws. That's how I tap at the moment, just grip the tap with the wrench on the round shank and put the protruding bit in the drill chuck lightly nipped to allow it to slide up and down.

Nick

a good point, i didn't explain it properly the smaller dia bar in the hex body slides, gives me about 1" of travel . for really small taps i'll just remove the handles.

[NickG]

Oh that's good then!

[chuck foster]

wow another project to add to my long long long list of things to make 
does it ever end 

chuck