# Homemade Tools >  Hand Tapping Machine

## rossbotics

I built this little tapper for the sole purpose of tapping a hole at 90 deg. Everyone knows how easy it is to tap a hole by eye and be a little out of perpendicular, I don't do a lot of hand tapping but this will take the guess work out , Most of the holes I tap (about 90%) are drilled and tapped in the mill or lathe.

I put a 0-3/8" Jacobs chuck on the spindle to accommodate taps up to 3/8" but I seriously doubt I tap anything larger than a #10, In fact I built it for smaller taps specifically, You can also put a countersink in the chuck and chamfer holes, you can put reamers in as well.

There are 3 rows of .257" holes for inserting 1/4" dowel pins to rest the work against while tapping, There is a 7/16" hole in the center for chips to exit and tap clearance and two 1/4" counter bored holes for mounting purposes.

Click here to purchase a set of these plans http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/t...-machine-51083

Below are some photos

Thanks for looking and happy machining

Doug




Above photo shows all the parts machined and ready for assembly



Above photo shows the column attached to the base by means of a 1/2"-13 SHCS, The base is fabricated from a piece 1" X 5" X 9" 1018 CRS which after I precision ground, The column was made from a piece of 1" O.D. 303 stainless steel.



Above photo shows the yoke mounted on the column with it's locking knob in place. The yoke was made from a piece of 1 3/4" O.D.X 7/8" I.D. D.O.M. tubing 2 1/4" long, this piece fits over the column, the other piece which supports the spindle was made from a piece of 1 1/4" O.D. CRS 2 1/2" long, the flat piece was made from a piece of 1/2" X 2" X 2 1/2" CRS



Above photo shows the spindle in the yoke with the Jacobs chuck and it's locking knob, Both locking knobs have a piece of 3/16" round delrin under them to prevent scoring the shafts, The spindle was made from a piece of 5/8" O.D. 303 stainless steel



Above photo shows the handle fully assembled and installed on the spindle, There is custom made acorn nut on top of the handle along with two custom made flat washers, one washer under the handle and one under the acorn nut, the two washers and acorn nut have been blackened



Above photo shows the machine fully assembled with a piece of material drilled and ready for tapping resting against a dowel pin



Above photo shows another view of the machine ready to tap

Click here to purchase a set of these plans http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/t...-machine-51083

----------

Christophe Mineau (Dec 2, 2014),

kbalch (Dec 1, 2014),

Paul Jones (Apr 14, 2015),

PJs (Jun 16, 2015)

----------


## Hotz

Wow. High quality finishing. congratulations.  :Clapping:  :Clapping: 

Friend  :Welcome:  HomemadeTools.Net

 :Hat Tip:

----------


## Altair

Nice work Doug. Looks store-bought.

Al

----------


## kbalch

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





 






Hand Tapper  by rossbotics 

tags:
tapping

----------


## DIYer

Wow, that's amazing work!

----------


## Christophe Mineau

Very nice and well made !

----------


## Wild Willy

Lookin' Good!

----------


## Jamman

need somthingm like that for my barrel reamer wana help me on my Rifiling project maybe we could come up with a new tool

----------


## rossbotics

Hi Jammin
You want to make a barrel reaming tool or a rifling tool ? or both ? Anything can be made, what caliber is it ? how long is the barrel?

----------


## Jamman

:Brick Wall:  :Brick Wall: got a .22 home made barrel its 1/2 od and 5/16 id x 18in long see my rifiling machine build I want to make a home made button thinking of using a spiral end mill and either pulling it through or pushing into the barrel using your set up or a modified verson I think it could work I am new at this and I figgure you would have some Ideas???

----------


## rossbotics

Hi Jamman
Looks good man, your doing a good job from what I can see, I'm not up to par on rifling a barrel, I have made allot of gun parts though, and have made some custom rifles from scratch, but I always bought a chambered and rifled barrel, I would though do the outside contouring of the barrel,threading etc. I'm afraid I wouldn't be to much help to you on your project, but do keep me posted on your progress, I would love to see your work when you finally get it all together, 

Good Luck 
Doug

----------

Paul Jones (Apr 5, 2016),

PJs (Apr 5, 2016)

----------


## Jamman

thanks bud

----------


## Frank S

HI Rossbotics; I really like your taping fixture A chuck removed from a "T" handle tap wrench might serve better than a 3 jaw Jacobs I'm not thinking of a Starrett 93c but a Vermont American 21916 T-Handle might do well. Or if you have an index fixture you could hex grind the tap shanks. My luck with trying to hold taps in my drill press always slip in the chuck no matter how tight I try and tighten them. 
Jamman I don't want to hijack this thread but a .22 rifle has a bore of .22/100 nominal 5/16" is .312" I trust that you are going to sleeve this with a tube that will press fit in the 5/16" bore then ream and hone before attempting to rifle the bore. Do you know what grain bullet you plan to fire through it? because this will also determine the amount of twist you should target for. 
the twist in the riflings are all over the board ranging from a 1 in 14 for 48 to 50 grain to 1 in 7 for a 60 or higher with the 1 in 9 or 10 being quite popular in small bores 
Spiral end mills the diameter you would need to regrind into a button would need to be at least a 6 fluted mill an odd numbered flute would be better for centering in the bore but I've never seen a 7 fluted end mill that small which would also have a very tight spiral of around 1 in 1.5 to 1 in 2 far too tight to be reground into a button. but if very careful attention was paid to the regrind of a .250" end mill there might be enough material in the cross section of the fluted to yield the features of the button when the grinding was completed. 
I suppose you could do this with a 2 fluted mill but it would be very difficult if not nearly impossible to hold it perfectly centered as it finished forming the groves additionally you would still need a fixture such as one I started designing for my Clarkston tool grinder which I no longer have
this 5 axis tooling fixture that I hope to one day build and perfect would probably be what would be needed to make a proper button 
 
My apologies for the hijack

----------

