Free 186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook:  
Get 2,000+ tool plans, full site access, and more.

User Tag List

Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: Modification of Commercial Hand Tapper

  1. #1
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    Prescott, AZ
    Posts
    53
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 96 Times in 24 Posts

    Shelly142's Tools

    Modification of Commercial Hand Tapper

    Purchased a commercially manufactured Hand Tapper a couple of years ago and overall it is a well-constructed unit. The only complaint was the way the tap was held in the adapters and the way the combined adapter and tap was held in the spindle. Installation of adapter and tap in the spindle went well, the removal was the problem. Every time the machine was used regardless of the size tap used it was a fight to remove the adapter. First the tap slipped out of the adapter and then the adapter would not come out of the spindle without disassembly of the spindle, spring clip and steel detent ball. Occasionally I ended up chasing the ball around on the shop floor. Replaced the slotted set screws with more traditional hex socket set screws with minimal improvement.

    The modification I eventually used came about after Tony Foale’s thread on building a Homemade hand thread tapping machine. His use of two Irwin Tap Adapter’s was an excellent solution to the problem. Tap installation was accomplished with simple hand tightening or loosening.

    The Spindle was modified to accept a machined adapter with a set screw spring plunger to act as the detent and then drilled and pinned to the spindle.
    Modification of Commercial Hand Tapper-new-spindle-adapter.jpgModification of Commercial Hand Tapper-oringinal-adapter.jpgModification of Commercial Hand Tapper-new-irwin-tap-adapter.jpgModification of Commercial Hand Tapper-spring-plunger.jpg
    So far so good.

    186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook

  2. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to Shelly142 For This Useful Post:

    Alan Purdy (Mar 23, 2019), Altair (Mar 19, 2019), Scotsman Hosie (Mar 26, 2019), Seedtick (Mar 18, 2019), tonyfoale (Mar 19, 2019), Toolmaker51 (Mar 24, 2019)

  3. #2
    Supporting Member metric_taper's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Marion, Iowa
    Posts
    584
    Thanks
    226
    Thanked 256 Times in 153 Posts

    metric_taper's Tools
    I have this exact same complaint with my Phase II hand tapper. The collets were made very poorly, and most will not fit the tap without filing to correct size.

    2000 Tool Plans

  4. #3
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    Prescott, AZ
    Posts
    53
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 96 Times in 24 Posts

    Shelly142's Tools
    The main issue for me was removal of tap and adapter without a fight. Otherwise I would have been a happy camper from the get go.

  5. The Following User Says Thank You to Shelly142 For This Useful Post:

    mbsilvia (Mar 28, 2019)

  6. #4
    Content Editor
    Supporting Member
    Altair's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    11,722
    Thanks
    1,353
    Thanked 29,236 Times in 9,716 Posts


    Thanks Shelly142! We've added your Hand Tapper Modification to our Tapping and Threading category,
    as well as to your builder page: Shelly142's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:




  7. #5

    Join Date
    May 2017
    Posts
    13
    Thanks
    7
    Thanked 5 Times in 4 Posts
    This is brilliant. I consider myself to be an outside the box thinker, but I actually almost bought a whole new hand tapper just to get new collets.. Thank you for the simple yet very effective idea!

  8. #6
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    Prescott, AZ
    Posts
    53
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 96 Times in 24 Posts

    Shelly142's Tools
    mbsilvia,
    You're welcome, happy to share solutions. I will have to admit that this was not entirely my idea. I borrowed and incorporated this idea from Tony Foale’s thread. He was the first (to the best of my knowledge) that utilized the Irwin Tap Adapter's when he built his machine from repurposed parts he already had. Glad to share just the same and so far this modification is working without any problems.
    Shelly142



    186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •