Starting a tap with a drill press

A little tap-starting trick I picked up from Bryce Larrabee at Harvard Machinery.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• electric
• motorcycles
• taps
• tapping
• threads

[ElectricChronicles]

It is, it's called a blind tap- but I think it takes a special tap with a shorter point.

[Orcinus24x5]

Hmm, good idea! I'll have to try that. Have you ever broken a tap doing this?

[superdau]

I usually just leave the tap in the chuck and continue to turn the chuck by hand. So the thread will definitely be straight.

Or if you got an drill stand just put a cordless drill in. It should provide good speed control and going in reverse saves you the annoying part where you have to "uncrew" the tap by hand. ;)

[rainbowsalads]

i wonder, is it possible to go only half way into the metal so that there is a hole only on the one side?