Drill / Tap Guide Jig - Finished!

A while back I posted an RFQ about getting one of these made to help me with drilling and tapping into the edge of 15/20mm aluminium plate:

http://youtu.be/9hmka_-7LgQ

It became a bit of a pet project, tweaks were made here and there and Dom contributed massively with a few refinements of his own whilst machining it for me. Anyway, after cutting the acrylic set distance guides along with the case foam this weekend, I think it's near enough finished - here's a pic:

Attachment 9013

...and here's a vid of it in use:

http://youtu.be/mWMDELbldoc

It can be used to drill/tap M6, M8 AND M10 into 15mm and 20mm plate.

Yeah - I know, I know - it's a bit over the top for what it is - the number of people who've told me they'd have just used a pillar drill... The whole point of getting this made was down to the plates not being able to fit under my pillar drill, or the length of plate meant that clamping would have been cumbersome and a bit hit and miss (the usual response to the latter was along the lines of "well, in that case I'd make myself a clamp...") Anyway, it's made now. It works well, it's accurate and it should save me a bit of time in the future!

Thanks to all who offered design suggestions/encouragement at the start and a huge thanks to Dom for creating it. It really is a lovely thing!

Wal.

Looking good and professional with that box:)

Two things:

- wouldn't it be better to make the drill guide and tap guide taller so that the drill bit and tap bit are held more securely and wobble less?

- does the grub screw go straight through the guide, chewing into the side of the ali plate or is there a bit of SS which the grub screw pushes from the side and in effect presses against the ali plate?

Regards,
dsc.

Hey dsc.

I wouldn't make the guide any taller due to M6 taps generally not being that long - in its current state I'm already losing 2cm of plunge off the taper tap - although for the depth I'm tapping it's not really an issue. Any deeper and it probably would be. The boss bores are a smidge over the diameters of the drills/taps so there really isn't that much flapping about.

Yep, in its current state the grub screw leaves a little crescent shaped mark on the plate, but I have some nylon tipped grubs on order to solve that problem!

Cheers.

Wal.

Looks very neat ad professional. Well done. G.

Cheers Geoffrey,

Once again, all credit to Dom for his top notch work.

Wal.

Nice job Wal

Good stuff Wal, haven't thought about the taps being short.

Also glad to hear some one else discovered Dom!;)

Regards,
dsc.

Looks great, good job guys !

.Me

You probably know this already, but a nice spiral flute tap will lift the swarf out the hole which is good for blind holes. If it's a good one, you should be able to use it in a cordless drill too, which makes things faster.

Wal, that's a brilliant tool. Would be useful even with a pillar drill. Well done.
Mike :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wal

Anyway, it's made now. It works well, it's accurate and it should save me a bit of time in the future!

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Yes, industrial quality.
In my former life as miller in a machine shop we suffered with the bigger plates and did similar solution (not so nice just slot). Struggling stimulates to do thing better and easier . Reeling on Ariadne' thread if I had a bunch of this type of job I would do one of that way as shown in the pictures. The vertical version does not seem good for a router generally because of the too long lever. On a better router one can make quite good offset for parallel pin too. (sorry just thinking
out loud if you do not mind)

http://www.mycncuk.com/attachment.ph...id=13975&stc=1
http://www.mycncuk.com/attachment.ph...id=13976&stc=1