I have NO fancy Machining Equipment, BUT I have this!

 SHOP TALK ....

This Manual Tapping stand, securely holds a tap bit at perfect perpendicularity to the metal work piece that you are tapping and NO wobble.  You have high sensitivity tactile feed-back in your hand while you are tap-threading, especially with the mini-tap bits such at #0-80, #1-72, #2-56 tap sizes (USA, not metric). Absolute control and minimizing tap-bit breakage.

These are available at specialty industrial suppliers and the prices can vary. My hand tapper unit is not the best quality. It is an imported brand and has worked reasonably okay for many years..

Before I acquired this tapping unit years ago,  I previously used a common bench top drill press to manually tap by hand: I removed the drill press belt from the pulley & motor. I then insert the tap bit into drill chuck, and you have the metal work  piece in the vise ... then firmly grab the drill chuck with your hand and turn it. It works for medium size taps, but with mini size taps, it is difficult to 'feel' using the drill press tapper method.

Note: I do have a Mini-Mill and a small precision Lathe ... but ... NO costly CNC set-up, NO humongous size Bridgeport Mill, and NO massive turning Lathe.

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