Tap wrenches

[Benny AvelinParticipant @bennyavelin86238]

I have long tried to find nice tap-wrenches at flea markets, but have come short on the small sizes. I decided therefore to build one, well actually two, since one is for my father.

So far I have made the adjustment nut.

[Benny AvelinParticipant @bennyavelin86238]

[Anonymous]

Pretty darn neat knurling.

Andrew

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Neat knurling Benny; did you use scissor type tool or push on style ?

​George.

[Benny AvelinParticipant @bennyavelin86238]

Thanks for the nice comments, I am quite happy with the knurling. Knurling has been fairly simple since I built my clamp style knurling tool. I also put some build images in an album.

Tonight I will start on the body of the tap-wrench.

Edited By Benny Avelin on 23/02/2017 12:59:13

[Benny AvelinParticipant @bennyavelin86238]

Before dinner progress.

[Benny AvelinParticipant @bennyavelin86238]

This is where I am finishing for today. Not so much turning left, next I will be milling the center part and the hole for the tap.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

A tap wrench is a ideal tool to make for someone starting out in any sort of lathe work, it's not too taxing on dimensions, but it will out last you in the workshop.

Ian S C

[Benny AvelinParticipant @bennyavelin86238]

Hopefully they will last me a long time, regarding dimensions, I really need to get better with dimensions of length on the lathe, the diameter is fairly easy to hit.

[Benny AvelinParticipant @bennyavelin86238]

This is the drawing I am using, but for some reason not following very well.

This is the setup I was using for support when drilling the center hole, worked well. I like my starrett adjustable parallel.

[VicParticipant @vic]

They're coming along nicely.

[vintagengineerParticipant @vintagengineer]

I was taught hatched knurling was for knobs that needed pulling and straight knurling was for knobs that need twisting.But straight knurling seems to have gone out of fashion.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Milling the flat part on a tap wrench(first milling job on my new mill)was where I learned that you DON"T use a Jacobs drill chuck for milling, the chuck fell out of the #3 MT taper, oh dear, the tap wrench has the nick out of it to remind me every time I use it.

Ian S C

[Benny AvelinParticipant @bennyavelin86238]

Regarding diamond pattern or straight, I agree completely that straight is for knobs that need turning since they won't be that good for pulling On a serious note I would consider the pattern for a rotating knob to be cosmetical as you can choose either one or the other. However maybe you have some knob that you don't taunt to get pulled then straight would be a better choice. I chose diamond knurling for two reasons, one is that I don't have any straight wheels here as I have left them at my fathers place, second I don't want to drop this tool with oily hands.

Anywho I always refer to this document when designing a part to check how much torque I can apply,

**LINK**

Here is some more great information about knurling and computing diameters and such.

**LINK**

Ian, I would have loved to do this project long ago, but I have gotten by on newly manufactured cheap tap wrenches and at some point I got fed up with the quality and decided to look for vintage tooling, when that failed I decided to make my own. I have also designed a bigger version with movable jaws that I will start making fairly soon.

[fishy-steveParticipant @fishy-steve]

Hi Benny,

They look very nice.

I have a few tap wrenches to this design that I have acquired and they all have the same annoying problem. The pin that acts on the tap stems have all burred up. This isn't a problem when using smaller taps. The problem arises when you try to use it on taps that are at the maximum size for the tool. The burrs stop the pin retracting into the handle. At this point I usually throw the tool down in disgust and have to rummage around for a bigger tap wrench.

As you will own the tool from new you might not have the same problem. The guy that owned mine before I acquired them must have been an ape. 😉

You could make the 4mm pin out of silver steel and harden the tip. Just a thought.

Steve.

[Benny AvelinParticipant @bennyavelin86238]

Ian I remember a long time ago when I also tried to mill with a Jacobs chuck, but in a drill press

I was a kid back then and it was my fathers drill press, thank god he is a forgiving man.

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

I had to use a file when I made mine but then I was an apprentice @ 1950

Roy

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Benny, nice work on your tap wrenches. On the question of whether the knurling should be straight or not, I can't say that I've seen any tap wrenches with straight knurling, all the ones that I have are diamond pattern, including this one below.

This is No. 111 in the 1949 Moore & wright catalogue, it is about 5" long and can accommodate up to 3/8" taps.

Regards Nick.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Benny Avelin on 25/02/2017 08:22:49:

Anywho I always refer to this document when designing a part to check how much torque I can apply,

**LINK**

Here is some more great information about knurling and computing diameters and such.

**LINK**

.

Useful links. Benny

Thank You

MichaelG.

[Benny AvelinParticipant @bennyavelin86238]

Posted by roy entwistle on 25/02/2017 09:05:29:

I had to use a file when I made mine but then I was an apprentice @ 1950

Roy

I would have loved to be an apprentice and learn how to file. Since I started this hobby on my own I did not start with filing since it seemed boring, however I constantly curse my crappy filing skills, which gets better and better but I should really force myself to file for a month or so.

In fact I really love old school machining and do not really like carbide tooling, I see the benefit from I time perspective but the slow cutting speeds with sharp tools and cutting oil and the silent cutting action is like music to my ears and candy to my eyes. Once I get more space I will immediately get a shaper and a horizontal mill, beautiful machines…

[Benny AvelinParticipant @bennyavelin86238]

Posted by Nicholas Farr on 26/02/2017 07:51:54:

Hi Benny, nice work on your tap wrenches. On the question of whether the knurling should be straight or not, I can't say that I've seen any tap wrenches with straight knurling, all the ones that I have are diamond pattern, including this one below.

This is No. 111 in the 1949 Moore & wright catalogue, it is about 5" long and can accommodate up to 3/8" taps.

Regards Nick.

Pictures like this is the inspiration for my tool (obviously), isn't it beautiful?

[Benny AvelinParticipant @bennyavelin86238]

I decided to knurl also the other arm of the wrench, this is the tool in action.

The finished result, I am really happy with the smooth action of the adjustment screw.

Steve, I had thought about that issue actually and the plan was to make the 4mm push-pin out of silver steel and harden it, but I doubted that I could harden the tip and keep the pin straight enough. For this reason I decided not to harden it, but still made it out of silver steel since thats a bit harder than cold-rolled, but after reading your comment I went ahead and hardened and annealed the tip (thank you for this), without problematic distortion I might add. Again my filing skills could have been better and I struggled a bit filing the bottom vee grove to get it perpendicular and flat, but eventually it was passable

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Very nice Benny,

Neil

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Well done Benny; very nice clean knurling on both pieces.

George.

[Anthony KnightsParticipant @anthonyknights16741]

Here's one I made earlier (more than 50 years ago). No problems with burrs, as the parts which grip the tap are case hardened.

More recently I made a miniature tap wrench to use with small BA and metric taps.

This shows it with a 12BA tap fitted.

[Author]

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