# Made a tap guide



## mickri (Aug 24, 2018)

I have a lot of holes to tap on my qctp project.  The thought of tapping all of these holes without a guide was not good.  I looked at my taps and tap holders and none of them had the 60 degree indents for a spring loaded tap guide.  And to be honest to me at least it still seemed like you needed a couple of extra hands to get everything started even if you used one of the spring loaded tap guides.

The other day while looking for some bolts to bolt down my bench grinder I came across some door hinge pins (hardened steel) and wondered why did I keep these and what would I ever use them for and set them aside.  Back to my tape guide.  One of my tap holders has a solid round body about 1/2" in diameter.   The hinge pins were 35/128 in diameter.  What if I drilled a hole in the body of the tape holder to 17/64 and then turned the pin down for a press fit.  I also had a spring left over from the last time I replaced the cap on my weed eater.  So I went for it this morning and this is what I ended up with.




To use it the pin is loosely held in a chuck or collect so it can turn easily and go in or out but still kept in alignment.  The spring is compressed and holds the tap against the work.  The collet or chuck keeps the tap aligned with the hole and as you turn the tap holder the spring forces the tap to thread into the hole.  I'll post a picture when I use it in a day or so showing the set up.


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## brino (Aug 24, 2018)

That looks simple and effective.
-brino


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## aliva (Aug 24, 2018)

Sometimes the simplest things work the best, great idea


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## mickri (Aug 31, 2018)

Put the tap guide to use today.  Discovered that I didn't need the spring.  Light downward pressure was all that was needed to get the tap started.


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## MSD0 (Aug 31, 2018)

I typically just chuck up the tap (after drilling each hole), engage the back gear on the lowest speed and then run the mill while applying downward pressure on the quill. You have to be careful not to bottom out on blind holes, but thru holes are easy.


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## jdedmon91 (Aug 31, 2018)

Well I know this is about a tap guide however on my boring bar build I just used my tapping machine to do my tapping 


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