Mega Tap Handle

I hate those things--I probably have at least 1/2 dozen of them with galled up "jaws" that I've picked up over the years--even in good condition they are only capable of ( insecurely ) holding taps that are within a fairly narrow size range....

--only reason I keep them around at all anymore is for the occasional emergency where one of the higher quality ones temporarily has been misplaced.

Much better are the ones made by General or Starret that have separate hardened chuck jaws instead of slots.

My personal favorite=

I have a couple of Stanley ratchet types that work well, but once you get above about 5/16" in steel, you can't beat a dogbone. Here's a high-end one:

Most of mine have come from auctions, nobody wanted them, so cheap. Downside is that they take a lot of room to swing, but not a real problem when using one on a lathe. Most of the larger taps already have centers, so supporting one from the tailstock isn't a problem.

Stan

Yup. Unless I tighten it significantly, this one loosens in use.

I was doing an experiment so the 'disposable' tool would not have been much of a loss had I scrapped it. Now that I know this works, I may adapt a quality tool.

I don't care for that type as much as a 'dogbone'. The ratchet mechanism just slows me down.

--Winston

(...)

Nearly 15" long. Very Nice.

That 24" hand wheel gives me *lots* of oomph for very little effort. I like it a lot.

It *is* difficult to carry in a hip pocket, though.

--Winston

Adapting a drill press to an unpowered/manual tapping fixture is a relatively easy project. The method I used doesn't require disassembly of the DP to machine it's parts (then re-assembly).. just a fairly simple bolt-on solution.

Step 1 for each use.. pull the power cord plug from the receptacle.. that way, there's no need to mess with the drive belt to prevent accidental power-up with the spindle crank in place.

A Dremel or similar rotary tool can be used to grind shallow flats on common small taps, so they can be held securely in drill press chucks (flats don't interfere with other holding tools).

For my inexpensive benchtop drill press, I cut a 3" diameter hole in the belt cover above the spindle, then turned a hub to fit on the top step of the spindle pulley on the lathe, with the recess just deep enough to accept the top nut and the first edge of the top belt groove. Then drilled/tapped 3 holes around the edge of the recess to accept 3

1/4"-20 screws (spaced exactly 120.0000 degrees apart so as not to adversely affect the perfect balance of this fine piece of precision equipment). On the top surface of the hub (approx 2-1/2" diameter x 1-1/2" thick) I drilled 2 holes (opposite sides of the center line) to accept pins about 1/4" in diameter x 3/4" deep.

The 3 holes in the bottom side of the hub are for using 3, 1/4"-20 bolts with washers to hold the top edge of the top pulley groove into the recess, and the thickness/heighth of the hub just extends about 1/2" from the top of the closed belt cover.

The crank consists of a ~12" section of 1" x 1/4" flat stock with a crank handle on the end, and 2 pins welded to the other end, to engage the 2 top holes in the hub.. friction holds the crank in place, no tools required. The bar section of the crank could be double-handled or even adjustable lengthwise, but this length works well for me.

The quill return spring housing is a cup to cover the spring with a little tension applied (about 1/4 turn of the cup) to hold the quill in the fully upright position (and seat belt on).

So, to do some tapping, all I gotta do, is.. Step 1 - remove the power cord plug from the receptacle.. remove the spring cup nut and cup from the shaft by hand, and it's ready to put the crank on top and start tapping.

Having the DP table and vise (or other holding device) makes for very simple tapping with the absolute precision that only a fine piece of precision equipment as this can produce (Ryobi 9" benchtop).

To convert back to a powered DP, the cup and nut can be reinstalled by hand, holding the quill in the fully upright position, by turning the cup just a quarter turn to apply just the right amount of quill return tension.

Attaching the hub in the manner described eliminates the top belt groove on the spindle pulley (for the highest spindle speed) as a trade-off of being a dual-use machine.

My son got me a tap wrench that is a cross, not a T handle. Drill the tap hole in the mill or drill press. Remove drill and loosely put the top of the tap in the drill chuck without moving the table. This is great for those real small, break when you look cross eyed at them, taps.

Karl

"PrecisionmachinisT" wrote in news:8OydndEJ5bEQN_fQnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@scnresearch.com:

The General looks nice. One question: Does the top knurled bit have a well centered hole you can use with a tapping guide?

Doug White

The small spring loaded pins have male and female centers. On mine the big end has a hex setscrew that retains the spring.

jsw

(Snip elegant dual - use tool.)

Cool! I hope manufacturers are looking at RCM for ways to make their products more appealing to hobbyists. I'd've happily paid extra for a lever that disengaged the retract spring and motor pulley and perhaps some kind of side crank for tapping.

--Winston

Get a squared up block of metal and drill a hole through it and drill and tap through the drilled hole to keep the drill and tap straight.. You will need two holes in the block one for the tap drill and one for the clearance drill. In an emergency you could crazy glue the block to your work. A little heat or acetone will break it loose.

John

That is almost exactly what I do. The only difference is I use a short piece of 2 by 4.

Dan

Jim Wilkins wrote in news:4893b825-9adc-4104-8c4e- snipped-for-privacy@z3g2000prz.googlegroups.com:

Yes, but it doesn't answer the question of whether one will work with the General rachet handle.

Doug White

Don't have it handy at the moment but pretty sure it's dome shaped at the top with no center but has a nice chrome plate.

I have several generic ratcheting tap handles with the 3-position slider and the lift and turn knob. The top end holes are drilled straight, not conical.

jsw

(...)

I never would have thought of that.

--Winston

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Mine (decades old, with a recent acquisition of a very similar one from Germany which handles larger tap shanks) has a domed top with a center drilled hole.

I've got another by General (even older, I believe) which looks more like the rigid T-handled tap wrenches, but has a two-piece jaw chuck, and a ratchet in the handle. That ratchet has as bit more torque to the click, but I still use it by preference with 0-80 taps and similar.

I wonder who made them for General? Two different makers I have to believe.

Enjoy, DoN.

One of the General ones I've seen is a very close copy of one of hte Stanleys I have. Has the ratchet slider on the side and a dome with a centering hole. One other has a dingus on the top you have to lift and turn to change ratchet direction, Don't care for that one. Both have separate jaws, not spring fingers.

Stan