This thread got booted off the Practical Machinist site because it mentioned an import drill press but this would work with any suitable drill press even american!
I thought i would post here as well because I think it works really well and saves acquiring another piece of equipment:
I have a Ryobi import drill press that I use for general drilling and wood. I keep my USA drill presses for metal work.
It is the type with a round adjustable table that clamps to a bracket.
I made a tapping guide that replaces the drilling stage. The stage is easy to remove with a single clamp. The tapping setup is very rigid and can also be used to tap holes at an angle as the bracket is able to rotate.
A 1/2" drill chuck is used to hold the taps. The shaft is 1/2" bar single point threaded on the lathe for concentricity, the boss is reamed 1/2" and turned true also on the lathe.
The weight of the shaft and handle means very little downward pressure is needed to hand tap and the chuck can be tightened to slip before stressing the tap. The pictures show the first successful hole tapped 8mm in steel angle
It was straightforward to machine and cost a lot less than a dedicated tapping setup.
I hope this might be helpful to someone else.
Hopefully no more broken taps
I thought i would post here as well because I think it works really well and saves acquiring another piece of equipment:
I have a Ryobi import drill press that I use for general drilling and wood. I keep my USA drill presses for metal work.
It is the type with a round adjustable table that clamps to a bracket.
I made a tapping guide that replaces the drilling stage. The stage is easy to remove with a single clamp. The tapping setup is very rigid and can also be used to tap holes at an angle as the bracket is able to rotate.
A 1/2" drill chuck is used to hold the taps. The shaft is 1/2" bar single point threaded on the lathe for concentricity, the boss is reamed 1/2" and turned true also on the lathe.
The weight of the shaft and handle means very little downward pressure is needed to hand tap and the chuck can be tightened to slip before stressing the tap. The pictures show the first successful hole tapped 8mm in steel angle
It was straightforward to machine and cost a lot less than a dedicated tapping setup.
I hope this might be helpful to someone else.
Hopefully no more broken taps
Last edited:
