Tap Holder Uses Old Drill Chuck

lathe_tapThere are lots of designs floating around for tap holders for lathes.  This one uses an old drill chuck and  looks easy to make.  In addition to ensuring that a tap gets started straight, it can be used to drill holes with very small bits.  By gripping the knurled body you can get a feel for how the drill bit is doing and control the torque so you don’t break it.

Software – Model Engineers’ Utilities


Model Engineers’ Utilities is a free, easy-to-use Windows program that has a very useful suite of calculators for machinists and engineers. There is too much to list here, but it includes one of the best cutting speed and feed calculator I’ve seen.  It also includes thread cutting data, a spring designer, a unit converter, information for setting up tapers, a sine bar and gauge block calculator, sheet metal bending information and calculator, a gear cutting calculator, and much more.… Read the rest

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