2018 POTD Thread Archive

[Hukshawn]

so it keeps the tap centered in the chuck, if you stop the feed, it will pull itself out of the holder and disengage. The hole is drilled not all the way through, then a swipe is taken with an end mill to create the flats and expose the hole as a through hole. if you dont' feed at all, as soon as the tap moves enough to release from the flats, it stops turning. simple
or as Ray says pull back on the quill and it stops.

That’s quite smart.. certainly helps if you don’t have a motor with a brake and means you don’t have to hand brake the mill when you want to reverse - which is my biggest pet peeve and source of anxiety when power tapping (the motor spin down). Just lift up, let the motor spin down, reengage and reverse. Nice.

 

[Brento]

I think im just confused with how the tap is being driven to start and keep going? Im am a more of a see and learn how it works then trying to read it. Bear with my little head lol.

 

[Ray C]

I think im just confused with how the tap is being driven to start and keep going? Im am a more of a see and learn how it works then trying to read it. Bear with my little head lol.

This should clear it up.

Ray

 

[Ken from ontario]

Just made a simple tap driver that fits in a drill chuck on the mill. It could be used in a drill press too with the speed turned down low.

I just made 2 of these but as tap handles(horizontal rod with a hole in the middle),mainly for my small metric M3 ,M5 taps, you actually can feel the taps when bottoming out or getting hard to turn. I was tired of breaking my small taps.

 

[Brento]

Ok i got it now. Deff need to make a few of these for taps. So you bore the hole out to a slip fit the mill the flat?

 

[Ray C]

Ok i got it now. Deff need to make a few of these for taps. So you bore the hole out to a slip fit the mill the flat?

I used a scrap piece of 4140PH and turned the OD to 1/2". Drill a hole a few thou larger than the body of the tap (for 3/8 tap, I think it it was .380"). When I made mine, I made an undersize bore and reamed it to the closest +size. Then, cut the piece with an extra 3/8 to 1/2" of stock longer than the bore you made. Put the piece in the mill and make a centered slot the same width as the flat part of the tap, thru the solid part of the round stock. The slot has to extend down far enough to cut into the bored hole.

All done.... I also made them for 5/16 and 1/4" taps also using roundstock that is 1/2" diameter.

If possible use a slightly hardened piece of metal to prevent the flat part from getting butchered-up with extended use. Optional of course.

I cut 50 holes in roughly 1/2" thick stainless steel. -Easy Speasy!

Ray

 

[Brento]

Yup im deff making 2 of each for each tap from 1/4 up

 

[Boswell]

nice job Ray.

 

[Ray C]

nice job Ray.

Thanks. In all honesty, I don't recall ever seeing this used to drive taps but, somewhere along the line, I think I've seen this type of drive mechanism for other things so, it's not really a novel concept.

Ray

 

[ACHiPo]

Made a couple special clamps for reassembling the Albrecht chuck I'm rebuilding. I added a 1" "vise" to one so I could remove the 1" shaft on the Criterion 202 I bought. I still needed to heat up the shaft to remove it (guessing someone thought Loctite was a good idea). Got the 1" shaft off and the R8 is on, so now I've got a couple boring heads
!