Bench Drill Tapping Attachment

[ruxu]

At some point I got tired of misaligned threads and broken taps and started to search for a suitable tapping stand design. At the same time I am also fully aware that the free space in my garage is starting to get limited.

Then I got the idea to make a tapping attachment to my bench drill that could be permanently fitted to the bench drill always ready for use and not requiring any additional storage space. The attachment is clamped onto the bench drill pillar above the ring that guides the table height adjustment rack-and-pinion.



The center of the drill chuck and the thread tap chuck are at the same distance from the center of the bench drill pillar so after drilling you can just swing over the drill table to the tapping attachment.



I made the whole attachment from scrap metal and only bought a used Röhm chuck for 5 euros. Below a picture of the parts before assembly. The handle bar can be slided in the mounting hole to increase torque for bigger threads. It has a spring loaded plunger to keep it in the set position.



The tapping attachment was simple to make and gives a much better control of the thread tapping process.