Home Built Tap Wrench Project

[compsurge]

At least you know the design inside and out

 

[Navy Chief]

Ouch!

 

[afreeland]

Ok, just when I think I'm getting the hang of thing machning lark, it slap me in the face and calls me an idiot.

I harden the jaws and reassembled the tap handles and all was good until I used then. Seemed fine until the tap started to bind and then snap.

View attachment 115120

Should of tempered them after hardening, but didn't. Well as long as I learn from my mistakes - or even better someone else learns from my mistakes and doesn't repeat them.

New plungers to be turned

Aahh nooo, those were looking great too! Been eyeing the Starret tap wrenches and thought I might try my hand at some when I stumbled across these, which look awesome. Appreciate you posting this even though I'm sure this was probably pretty frustrating. Did you ever remake this and if so how did you go about hardening this to hold up? I am new to machining and never tried any heat treating, so any advice is appreciated.

 

[Todd3138]

Aahh nooo, those were looking great too! Been eyeing the Starret tap wrenches and thought I might try my hand at some when I stumbled across these, which look awesome. Appreciate you posting this even though I'm sure this was probably pretty frustrating. Did you ever remake this and if so how did you go about hardening this to hold up? I am new to machining and never tried any heat treating, so any advice is appreciated.

I'm new to machining as well but have been blacksmithing for a little while. Heat treating and tempering is a big part of making functional tools for use in the shop and involves heating your steel to its critical temp (varies from alloy to alloy), quenching in the proper medium (oil, water, or even air hardening steels) to achieve your hardness, then tempering. Tempering again involves finding the correct temperature and holding the piece at that temp for the necessary period of time to take just enough of the brittleness out of your hardened steel that it's still very durable, but has enough give to avoid breaking. There are a lot of charts online for these varying temps and they are great to have. Most of my smithing work involves critical temps in the 1725 - 1750 degree F range followed by two one hour cycles at 375-425 with complete cooling in between. Many properly tempered alloys will take on a straw color at the correct temperature but, again, that varies from alloy to alloy.

And I'm with you - those wrenches were absolutely beautiful work and it would be great to know how they eventually turned out if that gent is still an active member here.

 

[T Bredehoft]

Cold water time. Beautiful job of knurling, but those same knurls are going to tear up some skin as you wrench on them to get the tap through the work. Starret products are smooth for a purpose.

 

[Winegrower]

I like this style of tap wrench, but I can't see how to use a tap guide with this. I generally have to/ want to use a guide for good alignment.

 

[Todd3138]

I like this style of tap wrench, but I can't see how to use a tap guide with this. I generally have to/ want to use a guide for good alignment.

The last tap job I did on a lathe chuck key (drilled a hole in the top of the key, tapped it, and used a set screw to lock the T handle in place) was done on my lathe. I used a live center snugged up to the center of the tap in the wrench and just kept adjusting the live center along with the tap as I advanced it manually. I ended up with what I believe is a pretty straight threaded bore and it was just a makeshift method of aligning the tap. You may already know about doing that so I apologize if I'm sharing my own newbie experience with the choir!

Todd

 

[Winegrower]

I used a live center snugged up to the center of the tap in the wrench

I see. The issue for me is that some taps have a centering hole as a reference, but others don't. In fact many of my taps, especially the smaller sizes actually have a pyramid, just the opposite of what I'd like.

Well, maybe I need all new taps.

 

[Todd3138]

I see. The issue for me is that some taps have a centering hole as a reference, but others don't. In fact many of my taps, especially the smaller sizes actually have a pyramid, just the opposite of what I'd like.

Well, maybe I need all new taps.

Hey, buying new stuff is always fun! I got really lucky and picked up a beautiful and very lightly used complete set of taps and dies by Wells Bros./Greenfield/Little Giant in the original wooden box at an estate auction. The best part - I paid $10! That had to be my best value score ever as far as I'm concerned. The taps are pretty well flat across the top although they do have a very slight crown. Still, using the live center to hold it steady when I was tapping the other day worked out really well. I get your point, though, about the shape having a big impact on being able to use this technique. Could you chuck your taps up in the lathe and use a center drill to put just a little detent in the top that could be used as a secure placement for a live center on the lathe or in your mill?

 

[Winegrower]

Could you chuck your taps up in the lathe and use a center drill to put just a little detent in the top that could be used as a secure placement for a live center on the lathe or in your mill?

I think not…these taps are pretty hard, many with a small pyramid on the end. My center drills wouldn’t be able to drill into them.

Congrats on a great find at a staggering price!