Tapmatic on CNC mill?

[Muzzer]

>>> Main ballache will be restraining the reaction arm.

I planned on using a tall stud from a clamping kit mounted on the bed? Maybe with a bit of tube over it for lower sticktivity.

Alan

I was up Dawn's crack this morning before the Domestic Manager got up and as a result managed to get some workshop time in.

In fact I find there's enough of the quill nose poking out in the parked / homed position to get a pinch collar on there. I bought a spindle speeder from JohnS a few years back that fitted his Beaver mill. I haven't used it yet, as it's imperial (NMTB40) rather than the metric of my power drawbar (ISO40). However, being a speeder it also has a reaction arm and came with a pinch collar thing for his machine. Turns out his quill was a couple of mm smaller than my Shizuoka quill, so I was able to bore it out on the lathe and Bob's your auntie - I have a solution. John must be smiling on us from his workshop up there.

I bodged a short length of steel strip into a reaction arm and I screwed a short pillar into the collar to pick it up. So I can remove the pillar when not in use and the tapping head is otherwise self contained. The pillar is made of loominum as it was ready to go but I may change it for steel at a later date if this works out.

Scarily, I have now got a tapping head ready for action and have come to believe that the CAM might be reasonably straightforward. That requires less talking and more machining. I'll think on that as I waste the rest of the day failing to be a plasterer and perhaps give it a go this evening on a piece of scrap.....



Oh good. The photo has rotated during upload.