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Looking for a tapping machine??

cuervo

cuervo

Runn'n down a dream!
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Hey,

I'm not even sure what I'm looking for in a machine, but I need to tap a large number of 1/4 steel plates with 3/8-16 and doing them by hand is just, well let's say not making me happy, so I need a machine.

I don't have 5 grand to spend on it either. Is there an option for me?
 
Drill press...but you need a very slow speed. The air powered tapping arm machines are ideal, but spendy for sure.

Most belt driven drill presses don't go slow enough, which makes that option much less affordable.

I'd be tempted to find one of those cheesy drill press things for a hand drill, if you know the one I'm talking about. Clamp up a cordless drill/driver to it and set the clutch feature conservatively for the first hole or two. 3/8" x 16 is reasonably hard to break, but better to be safe then to have to extract a busted tap. The drill press should get the cordless driver square and true to the plate, which is the most important part.

Rene
 
tRustyK5 said:
Drill press...but you need a very slow speed. The air powered tapping arm machines are ideal, but spendy for sure.

Most belt driven drill presses don't go slow enough, which makes that option much less affordable.

I'd be tempted to find one of those cheesy drill press things for a hand drill, if you know the one I'm talking about. Clamp up a cordless drill/driver to it and set the clutch feature conservatively for the first hole or two. 3/8" x 16 is reasonably hard to break, but better to be safe then to have to extract a busted tap. The drill press should get the cordless driver square and true to the plate, which is the most important part.

Rene
Click to expand...


Got any recommendations or links on the air powered tapping arm machines?
 
This is similar to ones I've used a lot in the past.

http://flexarminc.thomasnet.com/viewitems/pneumatic-tapping-machines/s-36-pneumatic-tapping-machines?

S-36%20Tapper%20CatNav.jpg


I seem to recall a pricetag in the $3K range...but they may make a cheaper version than what we had. Easily the biggest money maker in the shop though, one guy could tap hundreds of holes in no time, all of them dead straight and no busted taps (or blisters)

I don't see it on this particular machine, but ours had an air regulator so you could reduce speed and tq for the smaller stuff.

Rene
 
What we mostly did was anything that had a lot of tapped holes would get drilled to tap size on the CNC, then tapped with the tapping arm instead of on the CNC. CNC time is valuable, and to be honest the tapping arm was way faster.

We used to keep an air drill near the tapping arm with a selection of 4 flute chamfer bits. All the holes got a small chamfer, then start tapping. A guy could do twenty 1/2-13 holes through 5/8" plate in less than 15 minutes.

Another thing to be aware of is they make different taps for power tapping, and of course certain brands cut better and lasted longer. Pretty much all our taps were 3 flute. Bottom holes we used spiral taps as they extract the chips upward rather than driving them into the hole. The only sketchy part is they were more fragile, so we'd turn the tq down a fair bit with those.

Rene
 
tRustyK5 said:
What we mostly did was anything that had a lot of tapped holes would get drilled to tap size on the CNC, then tapped with the tapping arm instead of on the CNC. CNC time is valuable, and to be honest the tapping arm was way faster.

We used to keep an air drill near the tapping arm with a selection of 4 flute chamfer bits. All the holes got a small chamfer, then start tapping. A guy could do twenty 1/2-13 holes through 5/8" plate in less than 15 minutes.

Another thing to be aware of is they make different taps for power tapping, and of course certain brands cut better and lasted longer. Pretty much all our taps were 3 flute. Bottom holes we used spiral taps as they extract the chips upward rather than driving them into the hole. The only sketchy part is they were more fragile, so we'd turn the tq down a fair bit with those.

Rene
Click to expand...


All good info, thanks.

The only issue now is, is it worth $3100 bucks to tap 520 holes with the idea of some repeat business or just keep plugging away by hand. :eek1:

Well see if the orders keep coming, then it will be a must.
 
I'd consider that worth it...You could tap that amount of holes in one day with that tapping arm, and be able to lift a few cold beers at the end of the day.

Seriously, if there is repeat business possible I think it's a good investmant. From a business standpoint there is another thing to factor. It takes almost no skill to use the tapping arm, you could hire a teen and have him dialed in on that thing in about 10 minutes tops. It's that idiot proof and easy to use...and leaves you or someone else to do the things that require more skill, or training.

Rene
 
Ever looked at Etco, Tapmatic, Procunier, etc? I like the Etco mostly because they are pretty bullet proof (IME), and don't require multiple collets for different size taps. Mounts (usually) in a standard MT taper, so doesn't require a dedicated machine. I've got the 3 smaller (typical) sizes, but don't recall model numbers.

But mostly I just just need a few, and so I use the mill to power in and out.

Not sure if you are aware, but you really can't use hand taps effectively when power taping. You generally need spiral point (for through holes) or helical taps (for blind holes). Also use a good cutting oil appropriate for the material. For steel that would be heavy dark sulfer threading/cutting oil (for me anyway).
 
I got the arm installed and I'm reading up on the operation of it. I'll post results once I give it a test run.

taparm.jpg
 
Looks like you have it in hand....

But, if I had dropped by sooner, I might have suggested a rocker switch hand drill.
I think the one I used to use was a Sioux.

Chuck up a tap, if I was going to be doing a lot of holes, I would put a small cup of oil next to or on the work.
Wide base, so I would not knock it over.

Dip the tap, put it on the hole, hit the rocker switch. When the tap was through, let go the switch wait a beat, hit the other side of the switch and back the tap out.
Dip in oil, repeat.

Once I got a rhythm going, I got pretty fast.
I think a guy timed me while I was not looking, and claimed I was hitting around 10 holes per minute or better.

But your system is better now. Just costs more.
 
You'll never get holes as true and accurate with a hand drill, and the air driver on the tapping heads I've used had a paddle trigger and a thumb switch. Depress the thumb switch and the paddle for forward, release the thumb switch and instant reverse.

The best feature IMO is the ergonomics of the machine. It's so easy to use, and easy on you when you're using it. Got 500 holes to tap...call me for lunch. ;)

By far one of my favorite machines to use.

Rene
 
Use to work with an arm like that at a place back in the day. Good set up. Very fast and easy to the point of boring. That's exactly what you want when tapping holes. Boredom.
 
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