Here we go again . . . MK4

[Neale]

I cheated a couple of days ago when I needed to tap some M8 holes in a slab of Ecocast I had just drilled. I held the M8 spiral-point tap directly in the drill chuck, and took off the drive belt on the mill (Warco VMC with multi-speed belt drive so easy to do). I could then turn the drive pulley by hand. Light down pressure on downfeed handle, and this was enough to get a good thread started, finished by hand later. For small taps, I have lightly guided them in the chuck jaws and tightened a tap wrench on to the shank (not square) of the tap to turn them. Especially with these easily-driven spiral-point taps, this works ok to get a thread started. But I'll have to have a look at the RDG tap holder the next time I see them at an exhibition - thanks.