Since buying and later modifying a tap follower back in 2023 I have used it many times and I wouldn’t be without it. However one thing about it is a bit of a pain, or perhaps I am just bit lazy. That is swapping the piston over end for end depending on whether my tap has a point or a dimple.

As a rule of thumb most of the bigger size taps have dimples whereas the smaller sized ones tend to have a point or at least a tapered end.

To get around this I dedided to make a second smaller tap follower with lighter springing that could be dedicated to the smaller taps that I seem to use a lot.

I decided to make it from a couple of pieces of rod recovered from a printer drum unit. The main barrel being 8mm in diameter which will fit in all my Jacobs drill chucks without issue and the piiston end made from some 5mm rod, again from the drum unit.

Springs from my spares box and an M6 grub screw and away I went.

I chose M6 because the tapping size is 5mm which meant that my piston could be a 5mm rod with the end turned down to pass through a smaller hole in the end. So it was a case of drilling the main body 4.8 mm and then reaming to 5mm with a 2.9mm hole in the other end reamed to 3mm. Sadly all didn’t go as planned because in a moment of inattention I broke my 3mm reamer in the hole. After trying a couple of pins to knock it out and a 3mm carbide end mill I turned a little off the length until I exposed the broren end of the reamer then using my vice as a press I managed to push it part way through. Then I found in my bits box a short length of rod with a smaller stub which fitted in the 3mm hole. Using this as a drift I managed to push the reamer a little further in, then I turned the small stub end a little longer and repeated the process it took turning 3 more sections down before the reamer popped out. Then I ran another 3mm end mill through the hole to tidy it up and get it concentric before finally turning the small end of the piston to be a tight but sliding fit in the hole.

A fun little project that had I not broken the reamer would have only taken an hour or so. I’m sure that it will see much use in the future