This short video will show you a great attachment for manually tapping small holes. This easy to make tool, greatly reduces the break potential. Its a must have for all toolboxes. Take a Look.
Joe you truly amaze me with all the little gadgets you come up with to make life easier. I can see that you can get a better feel for the tapping process over a T handle. It's great and thanks for sharing.
I've removed a broken tap from aluminum with Nitric Acid - About 6N, if I remember correctly, and only on an aluminum part with a steel tap. The acid doesn't bother the aluminum but it chews the tap up over the course of a few hours.
Excellent idea. All these years I have been driving small taps with the smallest T-handle I have and sweating breaking the tap practically every time. Thanks for making the video.
As usual a fine video but if I was doing it I would tap the holes at the beginning to avoid problems like this at the end. Saves hours in the event of a broken tap.
Hey thanks Joe! I watched this vid a couple days ago and happened to have a job today that required some hand drilling in the bottom of 1/16” holes, made a similar tool out of aluminum and it worked great, took all of 15 minutes but it will probably come in handy a thousand more times this year! I drill and tap a lot of 4/40 holes so the ID was made for that rather than a 16th bit, excited to try tapping with it tomorrow!
What a terrific idea! Thanks for ALL of your videos! I’m just a beginner, self taught machinist and I’ve learned so much from you. God Bless you for sharing your knowledge
Thanks Joe, I am presently tapping a series of 2-56 and 4-40 holes; this is the ticket. I have been down the road of breaking a small tap in an 'almost' finished part.
The depth stop on the tap guide is a great idea. Most of the time I have thru holes that have allowed me to tap as small as 2-56 on my old drill press running at 100 rpm. If I have a blind hole, I tap about 3 threads and finish with a tap handle. I need to take time time to make tap handles for my smaller common sizes.
I like this wheel idea better than the very small size T bar I saw in another YT video. Easier to use with just one hand position and finger manipulation. And it's these "simple" but not always obvious ideas that makes your channel stand out. Keep 'em coming I say ! ! ! !
Hi Joe , I watched your video on setting up & using a fly cutter to create a Radius , it worked , i got a perfect Radius , fit like a glove . Thank you so much . Bill Twiss
Thanks Joe for a great tip. I well remember many years ago having to tap several M3 threads in a VERY elaborate and costly stainless steel part - the thought of the taps breaking off still makes me break out in a sweat! I found that a slight countersink prior to tapping the hole was beneficial in the appearance of the finished job and chip clearance when the job was underway.
I am loving all of your videos and learning a lot. I am glad I stumbled across you just as I was getting into machining. Prior I was an airframer in the U.S. Navy as an AMS3 (aviation structural and hydraulic mechanic) and learned how to do a lot of aluminum work in making aircraft wings, body panels, structure, and flight surfaces by hand with simple manual machines. Except for a pneumatic hammer as a rivet gun and a bucking bar. I really miss those days, but the knowledge is great. We also learned hydraulics and flight controls. My wife was an avati9n Electrician in the U.S. Navy as well, I couldn’t imagine chasing one with wire the length of the aircraft through bundles as thick as your thigh, and ALL WHITE wires. We both worked on the truly amazing F-14 Tomcat, in different squadrons of course. ANYTIME BABY!!!!
Joe, thanks for demonstrating this useful little tool for driving small taps. I've never seen it done exactly this way before but well understand the effort to avoid broken taps. I've tapped many small holes (even in 17-4) under power with slightly oversize tap drills and new spiral point (gun) taps with plenty of oil. This only works well if tap hole can be deep enough to contain chips at bottom without binding the tap. Even this is risky and impossible if client requires holes to be bottom tapped. Your tool will save many expensive parts and keep your clients very happy.
Thanks Joe, that's very useful! I have several 1.6mm holes to tap and figured I had better just get a dozen hand taps, 'cuz you know... This looks really helpful and I'll give it a try.
Years back I wrote a macro that would allow me to step down (like step drilling) a tap a variable distance and reverse a variable distance until the final depth was reached. The only time a tap would break was if the drill got dull and pushed up into the chuck. We were machining cast stainless steel that was gummy , and tended to work harden as the drill dulled. a constant air blast cleared the chips but it was tricky. Nice job on the tap holder.
Thanks. I just couldn't bring myself to loose this part, this late in the game. Hand tapping was the only way to go and these little wheels give great feedback for elevated confidence.
Nice one yet again Joe Have started to keep a book and will be calling it Joes hints and tips Thanks for taking the time in making and sending your vids to us Pete UK
Nice!! Please can we have a vid on countersinking holes, which type to buy for which material etc please. I always seem to get very uneven ‘chattery’ finishes in my holes. Thanks Joe
Hi Joe. I have evolved a simple method, with just a small tap wrench, and power drive my M3 and smaller taps. Method: alignment cap with a hole on top of tap wrench. One of mine just has a 4mm hole. I have a 4mm pin in the spindle chuck. Just place a rubber grommet on the top and it does the driving. Push down, more torque and the tap goes down and away from the grommet magically reducing the torque. Backing out is the opposite problem, so I just reverse manually with the grommet not touching. After very carefully breaking a M5 tap solid tapping I decided not to go solid below M5, 3/16" any more. I am using small cnc syil SX3 mill with a manual quill, so it is easy to control.
Anything under 3/8 I've gone to a powder metal form tap. In aluminum I run them about 120 sfm, in SS about 50 and in HTSA about 15. I've yet to ever break one in a CNC and it's been approximately everyday for almost 10/12 years now. One shot, to depth, and never a problem. I've actually had more problems with thread Mills (in larger holes mainly) tbh. Love your videos Mr Pie, you're very knowledgeable.
I'm sure you're probably aware joe, but a great tip I've heard for getting broken taps out of aluminium is by dissolving it chemically, pretty slick. I don't recall exactly what is used, but I have seen it done. EDIT: I did some quick googling, the stuff you want is alum.
I don't know how to do that, but I removed galled aluminium from step drills the other day with caustic soda (lye). It worked great. Would be kinda funny if someone got confused and tried that, only to come back in the morning to find a broken tap and the workpiece gone...
A technique we use for a big production of SS304 with 4-40 thread 1/4 deep around 2000 parts with one tap and it doesn't break, is we grind relief all the thread of the tap except two full dia thread. Try it!
Brilliant, I'm just about to do that exact size and was panicking about breaking the tiny tap. As Dave Poxson says below, better than the drill press. Thanks Joe, Stewart, south west Australia.
I run a part frequently that has about 27 m2.5x.45 threaded thru holes and 16 or so m3x.5 threaded blind holes running about .3" deep. tapped in the mill with tension compression tapping head and using cut taps for the m2.5 and roll taps for the m3. We run about 100 of these parts at a time with no issues with the taps.
your vids are an enormous help but there so many and i cant find a list so i keep seeing ones to watch later but cant find them, the sprung loaded tap guide is a good example, i soo need one now!
Subscribe or like one to set a book mark. Once you can re-find the channel, hi the video's button for a list. the playlist option breaks everything down ever farther.
Great videos, Joe. I have learned much from you. THANK YOU! I tend to use spiral point taps even on blind holes - much less torque required and taps snap off less often. I would rather waste time removing debris from a tapped blind hole than trying to remove a broken tap.
Hi Joe. Great video. I used a similar technique when tapping 12 BA threads (tapping size drill .0413) in the steel smoke box of my model steam loco. During winter I found it a distinct advantage to slightly warm the tap and the work piece. Big Pete.
Joe For us novice machinists a sketch or diagram with dimensions would surely assist with our ability to make these tools ourselves. Thanks Joe from Down Under Australia
Hi Joe. Have watched all your latest videos and all good stuff. Useful tips in a watchable format. Keep them coming. I did A video along similar lines with a slightly different tool. I can't post a link or it will put this comment in your Junk messages folder but it was called Tapping Small Holes. Cheers. Crispin
Will have to make some of those. Thanks! I usually thread mill holes that I'm scared to break off a tap in. Have to have a small enough thread mill on hand of course.
Great tool Joe. Combined with roll form tap it would be even better. I stopped using cut tap on aluminum for anything smaller than M6. Your tool works great for both types. Thanks for the videos you posted. I still don't get it why there are so many dislikes for your videos.
A neat tool for sure. For tapping smaller holes. under 2mm and down to about 0.3, I use a small pin vice ; great feed back and control, but ensure your clearance hole is large enough--- check the recommendation in the tapping tables, they're a smidge more for smaller holes generally. Keeping the threading true and perfectly aligned is tricky, but having the work accurately jigged in a vice enables you to cue off of its square dimensions. There must be tool for this too...?
This is going to make drilling small #10 (I think) holes in the back of an AR. It is for the rear takedown pin retaining pin and spring that goes under the receiver end plate and always goes flying when taking it off for any reason. Tap that hole, cut the spring in about half, give or take, then put the pin and spring in followed by a headless machine scree. You’ll never loose the screw AND one can now also adjust how much pressure it takes to pull out the rear takedown pin.
Great video - as always. One thing to add is the choice of tapping fluid to assist with this operation. My current project at Rolls-Royce is to tap a series of M4 holes in Titanium. I use a tapping fluid called Hangstefers, I believe it originates from Germany. It has a slight pink tinge to its colour but it really does the job. Having said that, due to a CNC program error (my fault) I managed to break a tap and have to have it spark erroded to remove it!
Hangsterfers is a US co located in Mantua, NJ. I first used their cutting fluids back in the early 70's. We use one of their water-solubles in our CNC's now. Back then they had a very interesting logo (long gone) comprised of a human-skull with bat-wings a-la Dracula, hovering over the letter " H ". Last image, bottom-left. www.trademarkia.com/company-hangsterfers-laboratories-inc-539230-page-1-0
Have made one before months ago and have used it. Will have to add the turning wheel now. I think I made one because you were using one on some earlier video. Anyway THANKS!!
Great video as always Joe! I would really like to see a video on how to get the slop out of the X axis on a lathe. The lathe we have at work has about .200 backlash.
Nothing is worn that much. Something is loose. the leadscrew nut probably came loose from the cross slide. Check all the cap screws you can see in the middle of the cross slide.
Hi Joe, I would use a " roll tap " (X-Press, thread-forming, fluteless etc) for your job in this video. They don't produce chips and produce a much stronger and smoother thread. I use them virtually exclusively except for non-malleable materials such as cast iron, bronze and plastic. For your viewers - it is imperative to note that the tap-drill size for roll-taps is larger then the tap-drill used for equivalent size cutting taps. Below is the tap-drill chart for roll-taps. www.balax.com/catalog/thredfloer-taps/ansi-thredfloer-hole-size-chart It's best not to use any lubricant other than one specifically formulated for tapping. I don't know what type CNC you have, but we routinely spindle-drive, and back-out taps as small as 0-80 in alum, with 25 hp spindles, achieving 75% thread depth. We use Mazaks exclusively. Roll-tapping blind holes in stainless requires filling the hole from the bottom with a syringe and hypo-needle with MoS2 - Moly Dee or equivalent - which does not breakdown up to some 400,000 psi. Nothing else comes close. Small taps can be held in a straight-shank drill chuck, with the shank held loosely in the collet. The body of the chuck then rotated by hand. The weight of the chuck will provide adequate thrust for the tap to engage the drilled hole. You can also insert the " handle " of the chuck-key into 1 of the 3 chuck-key holes and obtain more torque for larger taps. This can't be done with keyless chucks, since when you try to withdraw the tap - the chuck will become loose.
As much as I appreciate your input on threading, the limited quantity of holes to be done and the critical nature of this job, combined with a ship date less than 24 hours from when this videos was shot, and the immense amount of time that went into the part before tapping made the hand tapping an easy choice. I machine tap all the time, just not an option for this part.
CNC awesome! nothing like the 'feel' of a tap as it shines the cutting edge and knowing how fare it can be pushed. (rotated) ;- ) I was taught that theory to turn and back out a 1/4 to break the chip and all. I find backing just barely enough to release the chip from the cutting edge and allow a micro amount of fluid (sauce) to sink to the heated edge keep the 'feel' pressure uniform all the way down. Shop. Such an under paid profession. I need a million dollars for this stuff or a vacation lol. You all are metal surgeons. Tx Joe
Tapping holes by hand especially in hard to reach places is added and abetted with a socket set designed to hold inch and metric taps (available from SnapOn).
