Making A Tap Follower 

Hi John, thanks for the comment and feedback. Still need to test this in action but I am very pleased with how it turned out. Thanks for your support. Cheers, Jon

Hi George, thanks for the comment, pretty easy build this one, but so useful. Cheers, Jon

Hi John, thanks for the comment. It is a reasonable solution but please execute caution when using it, it's no good for anything accurate and you never really know if it has got a good enough hold until you start cutting, by which time it's too late! Also, they are only really good to use once or twice, they get fatigued fairly quickly. Cheers, Jon

Hi Terry, thanks for the comment and feedback, much appreciated mate, Cheers, Jon

Hi Jamie, thanks for the comment and welcome to the channel. Cheers, Jon

Hi Carl, thanks for the comment and feedback. You won't have to wait long, that's next week's video (for continuity purposes). I think I will put all 3 vids in a 'Tapping' playlist for completeness. Cheers mate and thanks for your continued support. Jon

Hi Dave, thanks for the comment. They should be 60 degrees, not aware they have been ground differently but I will check next time I am out in the shop. For the coned Cup, it is largely unimportant but you have got me thinking now. Cheers, Jon

Hi Joel, thanks for the comment and feedback, much appreciated. Cheers, Jon

Hi Carl, thanks for the comment and feedback. Still need to test it in action but very pleased with it so far, I think it will endure, and I am pretty positive it will endure longer than that so called knurling tool lol. Cheers, Jon

Hi Tony, thanks for the comment and feedback and for your ongoing support. Cheers, Jon

Hi Paul, thanks for the comment and suggestion. Yes, I may end up getting (or making) an Er32 collet holder for the tailstock. I am definitely going to get a keyless chuck very soon, that Jacobs one on the lathe is not the best, it came with the lathe but its had a miserable life. Either way I will have a holding method. Cheers, Jon

Hi Fred, thanks for the comment and suggestion. Yep, I think you are right. When I need to use it in this configuration I will give it a try. Also means I have an instant 50% solution for the lathe as the pin diameter will fit into the chuck. Cheers, Jon

Hi Stephen, thanks for the comment and feedback, much appreciated. Cheers, Jon

Hi Max, thanks for the comment. Still got your sketch handy in case we need a Mk2 following testing. Cheers, Jon

Hi Del, thanks for the comment and feedback. Hey, the only reason I am doing that well is thanks to the support of all you guys for which I am very grateful indeed. Some (like yourself) have been around since the start, and been kind enough to steer me in the right direction through your very constructive feedback and comments which I appreciate enormously. I have also had a lot of help from Ade of course....... Top man! Cheers, Jon

@@jonsworkshop lol no can't forget Ade. It was he who pointed me to your channel in the early days.

Hi Gary, thanks for the comment and feedback, much appreciated mate. Cheers, Jon

Hi John, thanks for the comment and you are very welcome here. I hope you find the content interesting enough to stick around 😉 Cheers, Jon

Hi Dave, thanks for the comment and feedback. A good suggestion, however if you look back at where I showed the cone and the depth of it to the bottom, I would have had to make the cup body at least twice the length to have enough stock to drill and tap an M5 hole for the stud, this would mean I would have to remove it each time when I was using the pointed end (and lose it most probably). The design I went for was to make the cone cup and knurled section of the threaded bung as short as possible so it will all just fit straight into a chuck without needing to remove bits. Hope this makes sense, hard to explain in summary words. Thanks for your ongoing support. Cheers, Jon

If you don't like undercuts( who does?) , just put a chamfer or a counterbore in the female thread. Just a by the by thought, but how long before thw wokists complain about the binary sexual connotation of female and male threads?😢😢😢

Hi Richard, thanks for the comment and feedback, much appreciated and glad you enjoyed it. Cheers, Jon

Hi Hill Top, thanks for the comment and support. Me too, it will need a slightly modified design, if I beat you to it you will have a design to consider at least. Cheers, Jon

Hi Tony, thanks for the comment, yep, it's a common problem, I suffered from it for my first few years in industry as well. I like simple tools that solve repetitive problems and this one certainly does that. It has its limits and M12 will probably be about as big as I would want to go with it, but it will come in very handy for the smaller sizes. Get yourself one made. Cheers, Jon

Hi Mike, thanks for the feedback and support of the channel, much appreciated, Cheers, Jon

Hi Jim, thanks for the comment and feedback, much appreciated. Cheers, Jon

Hi Paul, thanks for the comment and feedback. Yes, I am rapidly approaching a threshold I once thought was completely impossible to reach for someone like me just messing around in my garage! It's been a great experience, if a little time consuming (which you will relate to) but I have enjoyed every minute! You will very soon be in the same position, and deservedly so. Cheers, Jon

Hi Toni, thanks for the feedback and support of the channel, much appreciated. Cheers, Jon

Hi Lorie, thanks for the comment and support, yep, not long to go now😉Cheers, Jon

Hi Rob, I am late getting to this, apologies. Thanks, Jon

Hi Steve, thanks for the comment and support. Yep, that knurling tool is $hite. It just about copes if you don't need to move the saddle for a longer knurl (as in this case). The moment you do, it's like it's made of plasticine as it all starts waving and wobbling about. Some things require paying top dollar for, let's call it a learning experience lol. I will be designing and making my own replacement. Cheers, Jon

Hi Chris, thanks for the comment and welcome calibration. You are spot on, I could have made life much easier for myself. I have noticed in fact, when you watch any Australian channel, the numbers they work to in their books seem much bigger for tapping drills than we get in our reference material. I am sure this isn't related to the direction of rotation of water down the plug hole! It was drummed into me during my apprenticeship that you "follow the numbers", it's a hard habit to break but you are bang on. Thanks for your unwavering support on my journey to stardom. Cheers, Jon

@@jonsworkshop re apprenticeships and any other teaching should bear in mind, using parting on a lathe as an example, a good teacher will tell you not to use a tail centre when parting. A better teacher will tell you why you shouldn't use a tail centre so you can make your own mind up about when it is ok, or beneficial. Dogma in teaching stifles creativity, teaching should open the mind to what is possible not stop you thinking for yourself. I shall now step down from my soapbox and contemplate sleep.

Hi Chris, thanks for the comment. Yep, this would work. I guess the only downside is to make the cup piece fit to the body to avoid losing it, could be done but would be a bit more involved. In reality, I haven't yet had to change it over, I just use the cup end all the time as I rarely go above M12. Cheers, Jon

Hi Morgan, thanks for the comment, feedback and your ongoing support in helping me make stardom! Lol. Cheers, Jon

Hi Robert, thanks for the comment and feedback. Glad you are getting value out of my ramblings! A tap follower is not the most important tool in the shop, but as I demonstrated when tapping the M12 thread, life can be made so much easier with this simple to make tool. Cheers, Jon

Hi, thanks for the comment, feedback and support of the channel. Cheers, Jon

Hi Graham, thanks for the comment. Yep, dead pleased with the end result, it works great. I use Black OX from Caswell Europe and if you check out my "Making vice clamps for the mill vice part 2" video, I show the bottle and the process I use. Success is all about cleanliness, no skin contact following thorough de-grease. Also depends on the grade of material, the softer and higher carbon content the better. Hope this helps. Cheers, Jon

Hi Walter, thanks for the comment, glad you enjoyed it. I am using Smith & Allen soluble cutting oil (ebay). Cheap end of the range but ideal when you run total loss system as I do. Hope this helps. Cheers, Jon

Hi Tony, thanks for the comment and question. I covered this right at the end of the video, I am going to be making some bespoke tap wrenches based on Joe Pieczynski's design for holding further down the tap shank. This will be next week's video so hopefully it should be a bit clearer then . Cheers, Jon

@@jonsworkshop thanks for the reply, I was watching on the TV and commented on my phone and the vid didn't finish. Thanks again.

Hi Howard, lol, that's probably too polite, but yes in the right general direction! I think if I had said what I was thinking, YT would probably take my channel down. Cheers, Jon

Hi Graphic man, thanks for the comment. Yes, the shoulder inside the tube and the pin diameter that comes out the end of the tube are the two contact surfaces. It works very well with this twin support. Cheers, Jon

@@jonsworkshop aha i got it now, that make much more sense however i think the design could be a lot simpler than this, the screwing/unscrewing is a bit of work, i did make one will show it to u once i make the video, u will be surprised about its simplicity, now there is a much bigger problem with ur design, the concave side, only very small tab does have a cone instead of a 60 deg center hole, for that ur concave side has to be much much smaller because only very little shows out of the tap holder, in ur design this is far to be used IMHO otherwise i dont know what taps/holder u r using thank for ur respond

@@GraphicManInnovations Hi, understand your concern, however this follower was designed to be used together with some special tap wrenches, please watch my "Making tap wrenches" video to see how it all works together. If you also watch my "Making a Flame Licker Part 1" video, you will see me using an M2 Tap with the follower. This unit will work on all taps from M1 up to the biggest tap available when used with the tap wrenches I made. Also, most of the tapping I do is below M12, so the cone end of the follower does them all. If I need a bigger tap, it's about 20 seconds to swap over. Hope this helps explain. Cheers, Jon

@@jonsworkshop yup just saw it now, makes sense now, your channel deserve more views, keep it up and thanks for your responses, one last thing, what exact type of steels/condition have u been turning to make these?