A quick tap to save the day and keep the mites away

Since we can only have 10 photos, understandably, I will submit two tools today so please also look at the Bee Mite Vaporizer tool that I built this tap for. Long story short I needed a 10x1MM tap for a Glow Plug in an aluminum block for a Varroa Mite vaporizer that I was building. Here is how I did it when now could be found close by. I bought 2 10x1x40MM Hex headed bolts when the Hardware Store did not have the tap I needed. I used an old trick to make a single flute tap from a bolt

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Quickly setting the bolt in the Mill/drill vise, I cut a groove down right hand side, The raised letters on the head were causing me trouble so I went to the lathe and machined the head flat and while there also tapered the thread end.

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Back to the mill and deepened the groove, changing the angle so that I had more than a 90 degree opening for a flute.

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I filed off the secondary edge of the groove and then using a 17MM ratchet wrench started the thread. It took a mild blow on the tap head with a mallet for the tap to catch well enough to start the thread. We went right down the whole 5/8 of an inch that I needed. The threads looked and worked well. This is an easy way out of a bind that can stop a project. Grade 8 bolts can be used for a couple of threaded holes in mild steel.

Hope this will help some of you get your project done.

Lowell

Thanks Eagle_view! I've added your Tap to our Tapping and Threading category, as well as to your builder page: Eagle_view's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/tap"><img src="http://www.homemadetools.net/uploads/125176/tap.jpeg" /></a></div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/tap">Tap</a> <span> by <a href="/builder/Eagle_view">Eagle_view</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/tap-die">tap & die</a>, <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/adaptation">adaptation</a></div> </div> </div> </div>