![]() This is handy for tapping, but really nice for light milling with a cross-vice, or even for simple hole drilling. I used a concentric “choke cable” to operate the oiler from a foot pedal, so I can have both hands free. I have an older, belt-driven press, and I open the top, remove the belt, and and hand-turn the pulley, which also gives some mechanical advantage over turning the chuck.Īlso not mentioned is oil - use it! I have a customized squeeze oil can mounted on my press - the sort with a flex tube that you can easily position. I have a large fishing weight (probably a kilogram) that I attach with a string and a hook to the quill handle.Īlso, as noted, it’s troublesome to hand-turn the chuck, as it tends to come loose. Turn tap handle while pulling down on quill handle. There’s some crazy stuff in the tap world, and that’s not even going into form taps really, which work differently than cutting taps. ![]() I found these from a man who probably has the only supply of these left in the US, who owns the equipment used to originally make them. ![]() Standard watchmaking taps from Hammel Riglander and Bergeon often come in sets of 3- there’s a starter tap, then a middle tap that does most of the cutting, and then a third finishing tap that takes the threads to final size, often as a form tap, I believe. Think something the size of a sewing needle. They actually are triangular in cross section, and very tapered- extremely small for only the smallest of watch threads in the balance wheel. I recently discovered a truly unique kind of antique tap that was only used in watchmaking factories over 120 years ago. There are actually many kinds of taps, but the shank is always round, except for the small square shank at the end of the main shank. I am a tool and die machinist, I’m quite certain I know taps better than most. Posted in Tool Hacks Tagged diy, machining, mill, tap, threads Post navigationĪndy above is correct. Of course, the need to tap a hole can be sidestepped by using threaded inserts in the right material, instead. Cutting threads into wood is also done, and be sure to check out this simple method for making your own surprisingly effective wood taps in the shop with a threaded rod, or a lag screw. The result? A tap that’s hand-operated but certain to be orthogonal to the work piece, making the job of cutting a lot of threads much more pleasant. Instead, he converted a cheap tap into a tool that could be held in the chuck of his mill, with the freedom to slide up and down as needed. The usual tool to help keep a tap straight and pressed gently downwards is called a tap follower, but had a lot of M4 holes to tap and no time to order one and wait for it to arrive. It’s one thing to tap a few holes with steady hands and a finely calibrated eyeball, but when a large number of holes need to be tapped it can be worth getting a little help. A tap’s cutting bit works by going into a pre-drilled hole, and it’s important to keep the tool straight as it does so. Need to cut threads into a hole? A tool called a tap is what you need, and a hand-operated one like the one shown here to the side is both economical and effective. ![]()
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