- Joined
- Jul 19, 2019
- Messages
- 116
So another tool that has been a life-saver for me is this tap & die holder for the tailstock on my lathe. The plans for the main body I got from Clickspring, who does absolutely amazing work. I stayed pretty close to his plans with the exception of a die adapter that I decided to make for versatility purposes.
I started off with a piece of 1.625" 6061, turned it down to 1.500" and then drilled and reamed the center .500". I bored one end 1.000". This would allow me to use the round 1", split-style dies or the adapter that I would be building to hold the hex shaped dies that are more common (Craftsman, etc).
The other end I bored out to .810" to hold an Irwin adjustable tap socket. Once done on the lathe, I mounted the body in the dividing head and milled (24) .062" deep grooves for a nice grip. After that I drilled and tapped holes on both ends at 0, 45, 90 and 180 degrees for setscrews.
Then I turned a small piece of 01 Drill Rod for the handle and added some grooves.
For the tailstock, I bought an MT3 x 1/2-20 threaded drill chuck arbor and turned, bored and threaded a piece of 4140HT to mate up to it.
The adapter was turned from 1.500" 6061 and then drilled and reamed .500". Inletting the hex socket in the face was somewhat interesting, but it worked. I used the DRO to drill the holes and then used a small endmill to cut the flats from one hole to the next. Once the outer diameter was done, I finished up the center with a 3/4" endmill. From there I drilled and tapped holes for the setscrews that would secure the die in place. All in all a very fun project and is proving to be one of the most used tools on my lathe.
Thanks for reading all! Be safe.
I started off with a piece of 1.625" 6061, turned it down to 1.500" and then drilled and reamed the center .500". I bored one end 1.000". This would allow me to use the round 1", split-style dies or the adapter that I would be building to hold the hex shaped dies that are more common (Craftsman, etc).
The other end I bored out to .810" to hold an Irwin adjustable tap socket. Once done on the lathe, I mounted the body in the dividing head and milled (24) .062" deep grooves for a nice grip. After that I drilled and tapped holes on both ends at 0, 45, 90 and 180 degrees for setscrews.
Then I turned a small piece of 01 Drill Rod for the handle and added some grooves.
For the tailstock, I bought an MT3 x 1/2-20 threaded drill chuck arbor and turned, bored and threaded a piece of 4140HT to mate up to it.
The adapter was turned from 1.500" 6061 and then drilled and reamed .500". Inletting the hex socket in the face was somewhat interesting, but it worked. I used the DRO to drill the holes and then used a small endmill to cut the flats from one hole to the next. Once the outer diameter was done, I finished up the center with a 3/4" endmill. From there I drilled and tapped holes for the setscrews that would secure the die in place. All in all a very fun project and is proving to be one of the most used tools on my lathe.
Thanks for reading all! Be safe.
Attachments
Last edited:
