Hello,
Well, I'm in a pickle. I bought a DRO to mount on my Logan Powermatic 12x36 lathe. I made a couple of spacers to get the scale out away from the cross slide easy enough, but tapping holes to mount them to is a nightmare. I put the cross slide in my mill so I could keep all the holes on the same line and bought some #36 stub drills to drill for the 6-32 holes. I broke 4 bits drilling two holes and broke the tap off in the first hole. I'm guessing the cross slide is hardened cast iron and it doesn't like to be poked at. So now I have a hardened tap in a hole in hardened iron that I may never get out. I'm not sure tapping these holes is even feasible. I'm thinking of abandoning the DRO project altogether, which is going to hurt my pocketbook. Does anyone have any ideas on how to: A) get that darn broken tap out and B) how to tap at all. Even if I get these done, I have to do the same in to the saddle, which can't get mounted in my mill to drill, so I'm not sure that's doable at all.
Thanks guys,
Dave
Well, I'm in a pickle. I bought a DRO to mount on my Logan Powermatic 12x36 lathe. I made a couple of spacers to get the scale out away from the cross slide easy enough, but tapping holes to mount them to is a nightmare. I put the cross slide in my mill so I could keep all the holes on the same line and bought some #36 stub drills to drill for the 6-32 holes. I broke 4 bits drilling two holes and broke the tap off in the first hole. I'm guessing the cross slide is hardened cast iron and it doesn't like to be poked at. So now I have a hardened tap in a hole in hardened iron that I may never get out. I'm not sure tapping these holes is even feasible. I'm thinking of abandoning the DRO project altogether, which is going to hurt my pocketbook. Does anyone have any ideas on how to: A) get that darn broken tap out and B) how to tap at all. Even if I get these done, I have to do the same in to the saddle, which can't get mounted in my mill to drill, so I'm not sure that's doable at all.
Thanks guys,
Dave