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Thread: My First DIY Tool - Spring Loaded Tap Guide

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    Sith Warrior darth_chasm's Avatar
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    Lightbulb My First DIY Tool - Spring Loaded Tap Guide

    So I was a bonehead and bought a tap guide that does not fit my drill press chuck. My chuck only has a max capacity of 3/8 and the tap guide I got is 1/2. Soooo, rather than return the thing and look for a 3/8 shank tap guide, which I could not find anyway, I decided to make myself one.

    I used a piece of 3/8 aluminum rod, drilled the 3/16 hole for the repurposed pin from the guide I bought, then drilled a 9/32 hole all but a 1/4 inch from the tip for the pin stop and finally tapped the 9/32 hole with a 5/16-32 tap. Since that is the largest size tap I have (I usually use it for 5mm led bezels) I am using a spare bezel as the set screw until I can pick up a proper screw.

    I used a similar method to this for drilling the rod. https://youtu.be/2_JjJ0-mStY. Only I used a mini 3 jaw chuck to hold the drill chuck

    The finish is pretty crappy, but it's aluminum and it'll be going in and out of the drill chuck so I'm not too concerned with the finish. As long as it works I am happy.

    Here's the purchased guide.



    Here are the salvaged pin and spring, the new housing, and led bezel.



    And here is the final product. Not pretty, but it works.

    Last edited by darth_chasm; 01-28-2017 at 01:04 PM.
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