How did you design the springs and what was the source?
Some of you may recall about two years ago I designed a tension/compression tapping head, and built one prototype. The prototype was mostly ok, but had a runout problem, due to the way I made one of the parts on my crappy lathe. I ran out of time, and haven't gotten back to it until now. A few days ago, I made some design changes, and updated the prototype, resolving the problem. I am now in the process of making 6 more, so I can have all of my commonly used taps permanently mounted in ATC-friendly TC heads.
Here is a Fusion360 rendering of what it looks like:
And the on-line viewer for the design: A360
And the Fusion360 design file is below, in case anyone wants to make their own. Just remove the .zip extension, and import into Fusion.
I sacrified some cheap Chinese knock-off TTS ER20 chucks to make these. I first cut then in half, at the top of the ATC groove, then bored precision 0.495" holes in the center of the two halves. The 303 stainless "top cap" of the tapping head presses into the hole in the TTS shank, and has the remainder of the ATC groove machined into it. This cap has a 0.500" dia. x 0.500" high boss on top, making it a VERY tight press fit into the hole in the TTS shank. The ER20 chuck is attached in exactly the same manner to the 303 stainless 1/2" Hex shaft that provides the required sliding motion. The "housing" is just a short section of 1.5" thin-wall tube, and houses a set of springs that provide the tension and compression force, with +/-1/4" of travel from the rest position.
I should have all 6 heads up and running in a few days, once the springs show up...
Regards,
Ray L.
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How did you design the springs and what was the source?
The springs are P/N 9657K285 from McMaster-Carr. Six per head, they go on the three screws, one on either side of the "Spring Disc". I didn't put them in the model because I couldn't figure out how to get them positioned properly.
Regards,
Ray L.
How is the female hex made? Is it broached?
Don't have to be too bright to be me :)
bluehandsvideo on youtube
Yes, I have a 1/2" Hex broach I use on both the PDB and ATC. If you don't have a broach, you can instead use a round shaft, and mill semi-circular slots using a ball-nose endmill, then drill radial holes in the end cap, for ball-bearings backed by set-screws, with the balls riding in those slots. Or just cut a keyway, and use a long square key.
One tip: Whatever you do, make it a slightly "loose" fit, so the ER20 has a bit of radial float, so you don't stress the tap if the hole is not perfectly centered under the spindle.
Regards,
Ray L.
Last edited by SCzEngrgGroup; 06-09-2017 at 11:11 AM.
Awesome!! Thank you Ray!!
Don't have to be too bright to be me :)
bluehandsvideo on youtube
Making good progress. between "Honey-Do's" and other interruptions. I hope to finish the six TC heads perhaps tomorrow. At least the worst is over - I've got the housing assemblies all done, just need to make the (simple) bottom caps and shafts. The ER-20s are already machined to accept the shafts, so that whole job should not take very long.
Regards,
Ray L.
Woo Hoo! I've got all six new TC heads, plus the original prototype, all ready to go, except for the springs, which should arrive by about noon tomorrow!
Regards,
Ray L.
Video of tapping a hole or it didn't happen.
Video, drilling and tapping 6 1/4-20 holes in some 1/4" 6061 scrap:
Regards,
Ray L.