Tapping Head

[woodchucker]

I saw a video , I think doubleboost, maybe someone else. They used a Speeder (English for reducer). The English ones are way nicer than the American units. But I'm too cheap to get one and ship it over. At the price I could buy a tapmatic. I bought this one on ebay for $6 a few months ago.
Anyway, the American unit is big, and does not lend itself well to conversion. Right now starting to consider my options. I will use red loctite to secure the reversing feature which does not work as expected. So I'll use my reverse to operate.
I am considering an ER11 or ER16 for this. The shaft is hardened and bored, so its not a good fit for the collet chucks available. I am considering annealing it, turning it, welding a plug in to mount the collet chuck.
I have no experience with the ER11 or 16, looking for opinions, on which way to go. Thinking the 16 would offer me upto 1/2 tapping.. BTW you let go of the ring and it stops tapping, so no need to worry like tapping and waiting for the inertia to stop rotating.

 

[T Bredehoft]

The tapping heads I remember using, (20+ years ago) you feed the quill down until the tap stopped, then hand cranked the quill up, the pressure on the tool reversed rotation and it unscrews. Wish I had one, I'd be using it all the time.

 

[Silverbullet]

I have one of those that's made to tap with. It was my job to use a hand drill with it to tap holes missed in valve bodies back around 1975. Cast iron and brass mostly . It works well and reverse is great . Ridgid I think maid them two models I know of one for screwdrivers and the other with collets . Mines out in my giant snap on summer home . I take care of my tools and it's complete box and all adapters. They work on drill presses you grip half of the machine to go one way or the other. The stronger your grip the more power to tap or reverse.

 

[woodchucker]

The tapping heads I remember using, (20+ years ago) you feed the quill down until the tap stopped, then hand cranked the quill up, the pressure on the tool reversed rotation and it unscrews. Wish I had one, I'd be using it all the time.

Yep, typical tapping head. $$$$$ I figured it would be a good project. Didn't expect the hardened output shaft.

 

[mmcmdl]

I have a couple tapmatics , Procuniers , Hardinges . Brown and Sharps etc . As Tom said above , the automatics are reversed with an upward pressure on the spindle . The releasing heads are fed to a stop which will pull the head out slightly before it releases . Reverse your spindle direction and the tap backs out . Both types work great if you have some serious tapping .

 

[woodchucker]

Finished work on the head. Red Locktite didn't hold the threaded hardened shaft, so I wound up silver soldering it. Seems to work well now.
I have to make more tap holders which load into the tap holder barrel. The keep the tap centered, rather than using collets, I opted for simple holders. I need a couple more for 6-32 8-32... right now I have 1/4-20 , 5/16 - 18... considering 3/8 and 1/2 I allowed them size wise. Not sure if I can hold the bottom ring to drive them. I forgot to take a few pics. I had to mount my toolpost grinder to reduce the fully hardened shaft that goes into the 1/4 collet. I had to make a collar for it, and grind it down until it fit. it had 3 flats for a drill chuck, but was slightly oversize for a collet.

 

[woodchucker]

video of it in use

 

[Ray C]

Nice Jeff! Also, good catch keeping the drill chuck from hitting the ground!

I've got a about 150 holes to tap and made a gizmo to help. It's in post #57 of the " PROJECT OF THE DAY --- WHAT DID YOU DO IN YOUR SHOP TODAY? " thread.

Ray

 

[woodchucker]

Nice Jeff! Also, good catch keeping the drill chuck from hitting the ground!

I've got a about 150 holes to tap and made a gizmo to help. It's in post #57 of the " PROJECT OF THE DAY --- WHAT DID YOU DO IN YOUR SHOP TODAY? " thread.

Ray

I saw that. I might actually use that to hold the taps. But the reason for the tapper, is that my 8520 is a pain in the A to change speeds on. So this offered me a way of keeping speed for drilling and dropping it down for tapping w/o having to play with the pulleys. Also to stop the tapping immediately (will take some getting used to). Because the motor takes a few secs to wind down. So maybe I can power tap and feel more comfortable. When I was changing speeds I would leave the belts loose so I wouldn't break a tap in low gear. I may loosen the belts to do the same, but at least I can let go and let it free spin.

 

[Ray C]

I saw that. I might actually use that to hold the taps. But the reason for the tapper, is that my 8520 is a pain in the A to change speeds on. So this offered me a way of keeping speed for drilling and dropping it down for tapping w/o having to play with the pulleys. Also to stop the tapping immediately (will take some getting used to). Because the motor takes a few secs to wind down. So maybe I can power tap and feel more comfortable. When I was changing speeds I would leave the belts loose so I wouldn't break a tap in low gear. I may loosen the belts to do the same, but at least I can let go and let it free spin.

Oh, hey, I like your gizmo and believe me, if tapping heads weren't so darn expensive, I'd get one. Actually, I do own one but, it's for smaller taps up to 1/4".

But like I said, your gizmo is pretty spiffy! Like it a lot.

Ray