# Small Tap Wrench



## Seanol (Dec 30, 2009)

So I have hit a snag with my .60 Crusader build. I have also not been able to visit the shop as much as I would like. I have visited here almost every day if not twice a week.

I started on a Rocking engine to take a break from the Crusader and ran into a problem. I have no small tooling! No 2-56 tap, no wrench to hold it, nothing!

So I made a tap wrench. This is in Guy Lautard's "The Machinist's Bedside Reader" on page 35 (this is the first of the Bedside series).






First pic is how I try to start every project. Nice and neat. None finish that way but at least I try! : I use the calculator quite a bit as it helps me avoid mistakes as well as keeping tabs on how much diameter left to turn to size. The small rectangular piece is a diamond hone I use to sharpen my tooling should it get dull. Large black rectangle is a magnifier. At 40 I just can't seem to see things like I used to! :big:





Turning to size. I started with a small cut off of drill steel at .750 diameter. I use collets as much as possible so I try to keep everything turned to a collet size if possible.





Handle turned to shape from .500 diameter. Guy has a 2.5 degree taper on the arms of the handle and 7/16ths section for the middle. My piece was just long enough for this with a little left over. I have learned to listen when someone says "Don't remove part from parent stock until the last possible moment!". I parted it off for the mill work.





This is a cutoff tool I made from a piece of 5/8ths HSS. I broke my last parting tool and was stuck until I could persuade SWMBO to let me make a tool order. This is not going to happen anytime soon... So I decided to make one as I didn't want to stop. This time I read some and found a tidbit in George Thomas' book "The Model Engineers Workshop Manual". He put a small V in the top of the cutoff blade. This lets the chip curl up so it doesn't get stuck in the kerf and jam up the works. I have been using this for a couple months (6 or 7 shop visits ) and it has changed the way I approach parting. I used to dread it and now it is just one more operation.





Milling the 7/16ths section flat to 0.275 thickness.





Drilling the center hole for the tap.





Body roughed out.





Turning Knob thread to size.





Threading 10-32 via single point. This is staged as I was too busy concentrating! This is the first single point thread I have done and it worked out well. I turned the outside diameter for the thread, put in a relief at the knob end and a pin for the far end that bears on the tap. Now all I had to do was infeed until I started to touch the pin and I was close. From here I just followed all the things I have read: 1 or 2 passes with no infeed, 1 pass with cross slide infeed of .001 instead of compound slide feed, 29.5 angle on the compound slide....





Worked well and I was able to part the knob off for the next operation.





Following Bogs thread on tuning up a spindexer I have modified mine as well. Works real well considering I use the collet chuck in the lathe. I can't swap lathe chucks from setup to setup because my spindle is an A1-5 nose and there is not enough headroom in the 6x26 mill. I placed the knob in a piece of .750 stock threaded 10-32 and proceeded to mill 5 notches using a .375 ball mill.





Came out reasonably well. The collar that holds the main spindle tight to the frame had a small amount of play and before I saw it the assembly moved. I was able to clean up the boo boo and made sure the collar was tight. Since this is the first time I used it in anger I made a note in my experience notebook about the collar for the future.





Tap wrench finished with a 6-32 tap in the holder. This is the smallest tap I have and looking at some of the models I want to make (like the aforementioned Rocker) I will need to tool up for smaller stuff! I hardened the body and the knob by heating and quenching in synthetic motor oil (all I had). I polished up the handle and left the knob black for contrast. I noticed some small flaws I missed earlier and went back to try to fix them and the file just slid off. I guess the hardening worked!





All that for this! I would like to thank everyone here and at the other boards for showing the way to make some of these things as well as being so humble about it. It makes someone like me, new in the hobby, take a chance on trying the techniques and ending up with a "nice bit of kit" to boot!

Even though I don't always get the shop time I want I am able to keep learning by watching you guys and reading all the books I have. Between the two I don't think there is much I won't accomplish. Now if I can get Gbritnell to do a tutorial on how he gets his parts to look like they do I will be ready for anything!

I will do a separate write up on the rocker when I get it running. I know you guys like videos but I haven't gotten that far yet computerwise (unless you guys use the camera's video function).


Thanks for looking and good luck to those that try this as I now have a keepsake that I can pass down to my children (one of many to come!).

Sean


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## zeeprogrammer (Dec 30, 2009)

Great post Sean.

You said you hardened both the body and the knob by heating and quenching in oil. But you left the knob black and polished the body.

I've heated and quenched in oil once. For me it turned the parts black. Does polishing the part remove the black?


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## Seanol (Dec 30, 2009)

Zee,
Polishing removed the black. The main reason for polishing was because the body did not have an even coat on it. I tried reheating and quenching but no joy.

Thanks for looking,
Sean


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## Twmaster (Dec 31, 2009)

Sean, that's nice. I recently read Guy Lautard's book and thought about making a couple of those.

Thanks for the photo essay.


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## Seanol (Dec 31, 2009)

Twmaster,
It was a lot of fun and I can tell you I will be building more from the bedside reader series. He has some really neat things in the books and not all tools!

If I am going to make some of engines you guys are showing then I have to start to tool up. The rocker was a real shock. I know what .500 is but when I started milling the aluminum cylinder down I thought I made a mistake. Then I took out a 3/8 endmill for the bore and thought, uh oh, this is small and I am in over my head!

Thanks for looking,
Sean


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## mklotz (Dec 31, 2009)

Sean,

Very nice work. You've made a tool you can be proud of.

With the tiny taps (sizes below #4), the most frequent cause of breakage is inadvertent bending (side to side) of the tap. To avoid that problem, piloted tap holders are highly recommended. You can see some of my examples here...

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=85.msg1594#msg1594


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## Seanol (Dec 31, 2009)

Marv,
Thanks. It is you and others who have helped me get to where I am today.

On your small tap holder, is the guide rod loctited in? I think the tap ios held in by a set screw? This will be one of the next projects as I am going to need to start working with smaller stuff and I want to minimize breakage.

Have you ever made taps in the 2-56 range? I was going to try that next. I know I can buy one but what fun is that? Besides, I have 2 young kids and a SWMBO that do not share the passion I do about shop work (yet?).

Thanks for the help,
Sean


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## mklotz (Dec 31, 2009)

No, the guide rod is free to turn in the body of the tap holder.

Probably 90% of all tapped holes are drilled in a mill or lathe. That means that they're already held in place, properly centered, in a seriously stiff tapping machine. After drilling the tap drill hole, simply replace the drill with the guide rod of the tap holder. Turn the tap holder with your fingertips. You'll have a delicate feel for what the tap is doing in the hole and the guide rod will prevent you from bending the tap to the side and breaking it.

One of the holders shown has (removable) screws inserted to provide a bit more torque. While that might be necessary for #3 or #4 taps in tough materials, resist the urge to use that artifice for taps #2 and smaller.

Use a good tapping lubricant and withdraw the tap frequently, cleaning it with something like a child's toothbrush.

I've made the occasional odd-ball tap in larger sizes but wouldn't think of trying to make one in the smaller sizes. Compared to the time and frustration involved in making them, they're just too cheap to consider it.


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## Seanol (Dec 31, 2009)

Marv,
Thanks for the reply.
I am guessing the tap holder is in 2 pieces with the rod captured in the top? Any chance of a drawing or exploded diagram? I am still learning so some of this is not second nature to me.

Thanks,
Sean


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## toolsrul (Jan 1, 2010)

This is what I use for tapping #00 to #6 size inch taps & M1.6 to M3.5 metric taps. Nice feel & very sensitive.


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## Twmaster (Jan 2, 2010)

Seanol  said:
			
		

> Twmaster,
> It was a lot of fun and I can tell you I will be building more from the bedside reader series. He has some really neat things in the books and not all tools!
> 
> If I am going to make some of engines you guys are showing then I have to start to tool up. The rocker was a real shock. I know what .500 is but when I started milling the aluminum cylinder down I thought I made a mistake. Then I took out a 3/8 endmill for the bore and thought, uh oh, this is small and I am in over my head!
> ...



Hi Sean,

I have Guy's first book. A couple nice projects there. I'm going to wait until I've moved to buy anything else. LEss stuff to drap halfway across the country...


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## Seanol (Jan 2, 2010)

Toolsrul,
Didi you broach the hole?

Twmaster,
I moved a 6x26 mill, a 13 x 36 lathe, a 400 amp Tig and a whole bunch of other stuff from Nevada to New Hampshire and back to Nevada. I know where you are coming from!

I love my tools and couldn't sell them even if I wanted to because of the value I place vs. marketplace value. Luckily I have a *very* understanding wife! :big:

The other 2 books are as good as the first so don't hesitate to get them when you can. I can't wait until TMBR 4! Another way to go is interlibrary loan. I will be doing this for a bunch of books coming up. It takes some time but it will help me avoid spending hundreds of dollars on books I don't want.

Thanks,
Sean


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## Twmaster (Jan 2, 2010)

I'm looking forward to getting those books.

My move is thus far a nightmare. Everything I own must fit on a full sized pickup and a small trailer (or be shipped in advance by UPS).

Because of this I have been forced to shed a lot of stuff.


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## Seanol (Jan 2, 2010)

Twmaster,
I know where you are coming from.

My move was a little better as I had a 35 foot motor home for the 3 year old and the 9 month old driven by the wife. It was towing a car trailer loaded with a full size car.

I rented a 26' truck and filled it 3/4 full with the shop equipment. On a hunch, went to a local scale and found I was overweight by about 3000 lbs! Since I had to stop at all weigh scales from Nevada to New Hampshire I has to rent another truck for the house stuff and have the father in law drive it. 

I also had to leave behind a whole lotta stuff! I had originally planned to have the 26 footer tow a car trailer as well with a full size car and a motorcycle so I had to leave either the household stuff, the car and bike or more shop equipment. Guess who won... :

No scrap, no welding table, a bunch of shelving, a huge granite surface plate, ect.. My friends had a very good time at the going away party!.

When I had to do it again I loaded the entire shop on a 20 foot car trailer loaded to the max at 7500 pounds. Loaded everything else in a 26 footer. Towed the trailer behind a Chrysler Aspen (2007) and made it back to where I belong.

No more moves for a while!

Sean


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## doc1955 (Jan 2, 2010)

Nice job and I'll have to try out your parting tool tip
I have found as you said parting low carbon steal a pain the v notch sounds logical.
Keep up the good work and I must say nice photos. I'm not that good with the camera, me and cameras don't get along


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## Seanol (Jan 2, 2010)

Thanks Doc.

I just use a regular Digital camera. I try to take the pics I would want if I was trying to build it.

The v notch has helped me a bunch. My lathe does not have a mounting provision for a reverse mount tool holder so an upside down parting tool is out unless I want to run backwards on the front side and I just haven't had the need.

Regards,
Sean


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## toolsrul (Jan 2, 2010)

Hi Seanol,

I milled the square which is the same in both tap handles. Broaching produces too much pressure even though it's aluminum.

toolsrul


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## mklotz (Jan 2, 2010)

Seanol  said:
			
		

> I am guessing the tap holder is in 2 pieces with the rod captured in the top? Any chance of a drawing or exploded diagram? I am still learning so some of this is not second nature to me.



The rod isn't captured at all. You could if you wish but there's really no need to do so. Can't help with drawing/diagram. I never bother drawing stuff that simple. None of the dimensions are critical so just wing it.


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## Seanol (Jan 2, 2010)

Thanks, Marv, will do.

Regards,
Sean


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