Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey guys I was just wondering you guys drill and tap if you have several holes do you put a tapping head on a drill press, do it by hand? Or do any of you use a drill press with a 3 phase motor and just switch direction with a drum switch?

Thanks,
Jason

I did once have a tapping head that fitted a mill - current one has a different spindle so I've not used it in years - generally I like to use either the lathe or drill press to ensure it starting straight but turn it by hand - once started carry on with regular tap wrench -I don't like or trust threading under power - it works OK in easy material with a sharp tap & the exact tapping size drill - but even a few thou off size - or hard spot etc & your doing like Jody's latest video trying to remove a broken tap - always with one hole left to go & you find you don't h3ve a spare that thread - only exception I had several hundred holes to tap in tube - I had the correct drill ordered just for that with a brand new tap - material thickness only gave about 4 threads depth & I used an air pistol drills as it was a very fine shallow thread - worked like a charm.

I use 3 phase motor drill press in my workshop with reversing switch at the lever (it automatically reverses when you release the down force of the spindle) I put the tap directly in the drill chuck after i made the hole but did not tighten it so much so the tap would just slide from the chuck if jammed. It works fine with me, though i never do this if the tap size is smaller than M4.

Glad to see im not the only one that puts the tap right into the chuck

I have to drill and tap a lot of holes from time to time and it was a big time waster doing it by hand, so I found a Rockwell Model 15 Tapping machine on Ebay for $250. It works great! It has speed and torque adjustments and you can set the auto reverse for any depth. I will usually buy spiral pointed or spiral fluted taps for it, they seem to work much better in the machine.