Hand Tapper/ Tap and Die with collets - $90 (Sacramento, CA)

[MrWhoopee]

Hand Tapper/ Tap and Die with collets - tools - by owner - sale

Chinese manufactured Hand Tapper. Comes with collets-see pictures. Cash only/pickup only

sacramento.craigslist.org

 

[C-Bag]

are the two round things with the tap holders die holders? Mine didn’t come with those pieces when I bought it 5yrs ago. I use my tapper all the time and haven’t broken a tap since I got it (knocks on wooden head).

 

[MrWhoopee]

are the two round things with the tap holders die holders?

I believe they are collet holders, at least the smaller one. Does yours have collets or a chuck?

 

[C-Bag]

Well this is where nomenclature always trips me up. Mine was billed as just a hand tapper. The smaller 9 cylinders I’m not sure I’d call them collets because they don’t tighten onto the tap like I’d think of as a collet. More like a tool holder because they have a little set screw that once you mate the correct tap with the right holder and get it set in the square broach inside, you tighten the little set screw and then load it into the spindle. The two larger ones I guess are the die holders. But are very curious as they look to be the same size on the smaller end as the spindle. In one pic they show the smaller holder next to the spindle bore with no spindle in it. So how do you drive the die holder? And the smaller one in that same pic doesn’t seem to have set screws to lock the die in place. Dont know if its just bad pics or not enough coffee on my part.

 

[MrWhoopee]

You are correct that those are adapters/drivers and not collets. I can't imagine how you would hold a part to use a die holder with one of these. (Well, I can imagine it, but it doesn't make any sense). Those holders look like some of the ones that are used on a lathe, which makes more sense for using a die.

 

[C-Bag]

I agree. I like and use my tapping machine often but you’re right, it makes more sense to do it in the lathe. There might be something that is not apparent in the pics. I just bought one of those die holders for the lathe and it’s the stuff. If my lathe wasn’t such a pain to set up for single point it wouldn’t be needed I guess.

Those two die holders don’t seem completely thought out. And if that machine was like mine, there are no instructions. I’ve bought a couple of things as a noob that looked nice but were not truly complete. One was this really cool tap head/holder that Little Machine shop used to sell. It holds the different size taps in like a drill chuck with a separate square adjustable chuck behind it. nicely made, but it was mounted on a standard MT2 arbor. It should have been able to slide on the arbor like my die holder. As it is it’s useless because my lathe the slowest it goes is like 120rpm, way to fast IMHO for power tapping. So luckily I can bore the body of the tap holder out to use the same straight arbor my die holder uses and do it by hand power. Just not gotten around to it yet.

 

[MrWhoopee]

If my lathe wasn’t such a pain to set up for single point it wouldn’t be needed I guess.

Single-pointing things smaller than about 3/8 gets to be a pain because of the difficulty using a center and the weakness of a part that small. I will just use a die unless there is some reason not to. I made a floating die holder, it turns freely on 1/2" shaft held in a chuck. You might just cut off the taper and drill/ream/bore the shank of yours to accept a straight shaft.

 

[C-Bag]

Single-pointing things smaller than about 3/8 gets to be a pain because of the difficulty using a center and the weakness of a part that small. I will just use a die unless there is some reason not to. I made a floating die holder, it turns freely on 1/2" shaft held in a chuck. You might just cut off the taper and drill/ream/bore the shank of yours to accept a straight shaft.

Well that is a good point and doesn’t make me feel so bad. The little adapter was the type I think that is used on DP chucks (j33?). So it pressed out. i was worried it was hardened tool steel and it’s not. Bonus, score. So now just gotta pull it apart and put it in the lathe and bore it to a nice slip fit. I don’t know if I’m going to have to make an extension for the rear end if it’s too short to keep things lined up.