spring loaded tap follower

[squandt]

hello all,I am looking for a drawing for a spring loaded tap follower,have looked on line, all I get are sites wanting to sell me one,I have a shop in my home and a big box of drop of all kinds of metal,so all I need is a drawing. Thank you for your time.

[whateg0]

I didn't have a drawing for the one I made. Mr Pete 222 has a video of making one. He also doesn't work from a drawing, but he might have made a sketch on a napkin that you can work from.

If you are working from scraps, you're probably better off taking inventory of what you have and working around that.

Dave

[pete]

Only 3-4 simple parts to make and the machines you'll use it on will dictate the maximum lengths and diameters. It also depends on what machines you have available to make and use it on. One male shaft with preferably a hardened 60 degree point sized to a smooth sliding fit for a reamed hole in the female shaft. A short length of spring, a slot milled in the side of the larger shaft with a pin press fit or threaded pin into the sliding pin to act as a retainer. There's other designs using a stepped pin and internal female step and generally a threaded plug to do away with that cross pin though. Some very small taps may not have a female 60 center used when they were ground but instead have the reverse, a 60 degree male point. If you have a combination of both types then either having a reversible double ended pin for both types or making two would be needed. The only main requirements are that the two parts have that close but smooth siding fit and that the internal and external dimensions are concentric to each other. For anything like this I'd do all the internal machining first, bore 60 degree female centers at each end of the pin holder and turn the O.D. between centers to assure that concentricity.

Using the search term Building a tap follower pulled up multiple videos and web sites about making one if you need the extras those provide.

[SteveM]

Many tap handles, the ones that have a chuck with a sliding rod handle such as the Starrett 93 series, have the 60 degree center in them, so even if you are using a tap without one, you will still have a center.



My tap follower has a point and I don't have one with a reverse point, but I have never needed one.

Steve

[whateg0]

I made mine so that the pin is reversible. One end is a 60 degree center. The other is the opposite for those taps that are pointed on the end.

Dave

[whateg0]

Here's the thread on the one I made. All designed in-house, but there are no drawings.

http://chaski.org/homemachinist/viewtop ... 4&t=105031


Dave

[armscor 1]

Blondihacks on YouTube made a combination tap follower last week.

[Bill Shields]

i push on my tap wrench with a spring loaded center...

[tornitore45]

I got a MT2 end mill holder with a 1/2 hole. A handy accessory to have anyway even if not used to push taps.
Then chucked a 2.5" length of 1/2" drill rod and placed a male cone on one end and a female cone in the other.
Hardened both ends
Found a suitable spring in the junk box
Assembled and placed a mark on the plunger where the spring is bottomed out. The mark serve as indicator, never let the mark approach the mouth of the holder for obvious reasons.

[earlgo]

Being old and clumsy, I never failed to shoot a part or spring across the floor when changing just one from a 60°point to a 60° socket, so I save time by having two. One is set up with the 60°out and the other with it in. And Pete is right, the sliding pin had better be both smooth and tight to prevent the tap from oscillating and cutting oversize. Like SteveM, my Starrett tap wrench has a 60° socket and when used with the tap follower is quite handy.
--earlgo

[neanderman]

Many tap handles, the ones that have a chuck with a sliding rod handle such as the Starrett 93 series, have the 60 degree center in them, so even if you are using a tap without one, you will still have a center.

Good point!

[RSG]

Thanks for posting this Squandt! Until now I have just used a piece of 01 machined to a 60 deg point and chucked it in the drill chuck but this little tool is perfect. Today I made one from the video by mrpete222....hardened it in my shop too.

Fun fun!