Easy peasy, spot drill a cone in the center one so it looks like the one on the right.
Just remember, carbide, low speed and lots of down feed pressure .
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Tool POS Tap Guide
- Thread starter thestelster
- Start date
Tool
Just remember, carbide, low speed and lots of down feed pressure .
I have two whole sets like that - old Craftsman HSS metric & imperial. Do they even make a 60 degree carbide drill?
Just remember, carbide, low speed and lots of down feed pressure .
Too funny. That was on a forging! Prolly not at all the same as 70s Craftsman HSS.
The UPT?
The UPT is a classic British home shop project by the venerable George Thomas. It's a drill press, number/letter stamp guide, staking tool and tapping guide with different accessories and uses. Great project and very useful ..... two of the tapping heads on mine shown below. I also included a shot of the overall kit, should give a sense of how it has many functions and can put together in several configurations.
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ChazzC
Well-Known Member
Don't have a Universal Pillar Tool, but have seen articles & ads for many years. The castings (and George Thomas's book which captured the build articles from The Model Engineer) are available from MartinModel:
I do have a MicroMark/MicroLux Tapping Fixture (mine is the older, #83146 version, basically the same item):
I also have a commercial version of the guide block described by @Mcgyver:
and a range of Big Gator V-DrllGuides® (these are just a sample, but but I don't have all of what are available:
These are nice because of the V-groove on the back, but are sometimes a challenge to use on in-place Machine surfaces when drilling & tapping mounting holes:
I do have a MicroMark/MicroLux Tapping Fixture (mine is the older, #83146 version, basically the same item):
I also have a commercial version of the guide block described by @Mcgyver:
and a range of Big Gator V-DrllGuides® (these are just a sample, but but I don't have all of what are available:
These are nice because of the V-groove on the back, but are sometimes a challenge to use on in-place Machine surfaces when drilling & tapping mounting holes:
I understand now. Never saw anything like that before. I can see now why your situation is so different. We have totally different tapping paradigms.
The vast majority of my work is on full size machines, and full size tools. Not models, clocks, and tiny things. My work is also often in the farm yard or out in a plowed field. How would I get a farm part onto that gizmo? Sometimes I can't even get the parts on my mill!
For my needs, a drill press, or a mill, or a lathe, are the best platforms to tap things IF I can swing it. I can only wish they could be used out in a plowed field on a 3000lb plow frame too.
That UPT looks like an amazing little tool for its intended purpose, but prolly out of its element and not well suited to my needs. Not saying I'd never use it, just that it wouldn't be my goto tapping platform.
For sure, everyone's requirements are different. I only mentioned it in the context of the POS Tap guide or a way to guide taps with the 60 degree point on the end, i.e. no need for them with one and it is only used for small stuff. Large stuff gets power tapped in the mill or hand tapped with a guide (hunk of whatever material faced square with a bore to fit the tap). The latter is so simply and works so well, The UPT is for very tiny taps like 0-80 and/or when there many holes to tap
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I have a guide block like that and an assortment of drill guides just like those.
I won't say that they don't work, but I will say that they usually don't work very well with my two hands and tools. You can clamp them and adjust them and get it to work, but I'm just not patient enough. I end up setting them aside and just Gettin it done.
Even for those times where they would be perfect, the mill or drill press is almost always better. The mere fact that I have them is a testament to how much I need their functionality, but sadly, they mostly gather dust in a drawer in my shop.
MrWhoopee
Active Member
MrWhoopee
Active Member
I've never had a tap follower, I bought a set of piloted spindle tappers early in my apprenticeship.
![2335013.jpg]()
But, lacking power knee lift, I'm always looking for ways to reduce the required z clearance. I stumbled upon this idea,
which I like a lot when combined with 1/4 hex tap drivers.
But, lacking power knee lift, I'm always looking for ways to reduce the required z clearance. I stumbled upon this idea,
which I like a lot when combined with 1/4 hex tap drivers.
Dabbler
ersatz engineer
Those look nice. Does the tap holder slide on the part that goes into the drill chuck? Is it spring driven? If so, the only downside is the short leverage on the handles. Presumably, that is easily fixed.
MrWhoopee
Active Member
Yes, the shaft is just a dowel pin. No spring, the tap handle just floats on the shaft. All too often the shaft falls out between toolbox and machine and rolls under something. The same is true of the handles, I put some plastic caps on mine to keep them from sliding out.
A standard tap handle of this style could probably be modified like this.
Even found them on Amazon. Thank you! Think I'll get some carbide drills and then drill them as I need them. Too much to do all of them at once. Might drill a 1/8 pilot and then a small 60 chamfer. Just needs to center.
60 degree carbide drill bit arrived yesterday. They really do exist! Thanks @MrWhoopee !
Should be interesting to see how well it will drill the end of a HSS tap.......
I was looking at how the 60 degree carbide drills could be used on blank tap heads (just the square drive with no center), and I found some small hex drives (1/4, 3/8, & 1/2) that I already had in my socket driver drawer.
If I drill 60 degree centers in these, they will work perfectly with my follower and allow me to use a wrench, the spring in my follower, and the drill chuck or spindle of my mill or lathe to maintain perfect alignment. Maybe not quite as good as that fancy contraption that @Mcgyver has, but plenty good enough to meet my modest tapping needs.
This is just a cheap set of hex drivers, so I might look for something of higher quality. I might even drill them to take an optional rod instead of an open end wrench.
The question now is: Can this all be combined into one or two flexible components that do everything? It isn't necessary, but it would be nice.
If I drill 60 degree centers in these, they will work perfectly with my follower and allow me to use a wrench, the spring in my follower, and the drill chuck or spindle of my mill or lathe to maintain perfect alignment. Maybe not quite as good as that fancy contraption that @Mcgyver has, but plenty good enough to meet my modest tapping needs.
This is just a cheap set of hex drivers, so I might look for something of higher quality. I might even drill them to take an optional rod instead of an open end wrench.
The question now is: Can this all be combined into one or two flexible components that do everything? It isn't necessary, but it would be nice.
Hey, @Susquatch you might have to blunt the tip of your tap follower if you use that carbide cutter to cut your center, otherise the tip will bottom out. (hence the use of center cutters, which you can get in carbide).
This is my favorite tap follower. Someday I'll make an even better one but I can't really complain about this one. It has always worked just fine. It does require taps with a 60 degree center or a 60 point at the drive end. You just use a regular tap wrench or an open end wrench on the top of the taps.
For taps that don't have a center you can either drill a center yourself, or use a tap driver with a square drive socket cap that has a center.
Here are my tap drivers. They are worth their weight in gold and I highly recommend them. I have not yet encountered a tap between a #4 and 1/2" that one of them doesn't fit. Smaller and bigger prolly need something else anyway.
Lisle LI70500 Tap Socket Set
Here are some square drivers. They are not the same as mine but can't imagine it would make any difference. They just need to have a 60 degree center drilled into the top of them for the follower to fit into.
3 PC Square Drive Socket Caps, Hex 7/16", 9/16" & 3/4" with 1/4", 3/8" & 1/2" Drives
Note that the tap drivers have a fairly tight fit with an internal retainer. The assembly is quite stiff so you don't need to worry about any misalignments stacking up. Basically the tap, tap socket, and driver act as one unit that can be centered and held vertical directly by the tap follower mounted in a drill press or mill or lathe. It works really well.
For taps that don't have a center you can either drill a center yourself, or use a tap driver with a square drive socket cap that has a center.
Here are my tap drivers. They are worth their weight in gold and I highly recommend them. I have not yet encountered a tap between a #4 and 1/2" that one of them doesn't fit. Smaller and bigger prolly need something else anyway.
Lisle LI70500 Tap Socket Set
Here are some square drivers. They are not the same as mine but can't imagine it would make any difference. They just need to have a 60 degree center drilled into the top of them for the follower to fit into.
3 PC Square Drive Socket Caps, Hex 7/16", 9/16" & 3/4" with 1/4", 3/8" & 1/2" Drives
Note that the tap drivers have a fairly tight fit with an internal retainer. The assembly is quite stiff so you don't need to worry about any misalignments stacking up. Basically the tap, tap socket, and driver act as one unit that can be centered and held vertical directly by the tap follower mounted in a drill press or mill or lathe. It works really well.