Harold,

Chuckle! Sorry about the tap, but if you think having experience exempts
you from breaking taps, you're never going to feel like you have
any-------(experience, that is). They break, and usually at the worst
time, although I can't imagine when a good time might be.

A good time would be before I inserted it, or better still after I took
it out having made good threads Obviously, that's not going to
happen. I was able to grind/mill away the burr, and then simply drilled
a new set of holes. It was no great loss, but annoying. The choices
were to live with the blemish or waste time and metal.



It might be worth a mention-----if you're trying to power tap with a hand
tap, breakage is almost guaranteed. They don't provide proper chip control
without reversing them at the most, every half turn. Make sure you do
all your power tapping with power type taps.

I was doing this by hand, though after a couple of rounds of tapping, I
have a better understanding of why the power tools exist.



If you have a good vise, say a Kurt, the jaws are usually thick enough (and
generally straight) that they're not a problem, but if you have any doubts,
place a parallel in your vise before dialing in the fixed jaw. The
parallel should really be one---something that's hardened and ground, so if
the fixed jaw is slightly warped, the clamping pressure will straighten it
and load the jaw against the back support. That way the vise will be
parallel when in use.

It'a a clone. What I have been doing is letting a parallel stick up
above the jaws, and indicating on it. Are you saying to clamp a "short"
parallel, and let the indicator run in the slot between the jaws? I
have not tried that yet.

I am also thinking of removing the fixed jaw to run it under a plunge
indicator on top of the table. Something almost has to be out of whack
given the comparatively steady reading I saw indicating off of the thing
that ate the tap. There was some bounce from the flycutter finish, but
the needle was otherwise much more steady than I've seen to date.



There is an intermittent vibration that either gets cleared up by
adjusting the gibs or is randomly coming from the motor. Given the hour
and what I still need to do, I have made a note to describe it separately.


You see that occasionally when running an end mill under heavy
load -----there's a harmonic of sorts where the end mill feeds effortlessly,
and makes a serious chattering sound, but a low pitched one, sort of a
rumble.

I will keep that in mind the next time I notice the vibration. I am
tempted to say that it happens under no load, but won't swear to it. My
best guess has been that it is either a one-phase power and/or slightly
inadequate wiring problem, or that I'm not keeping up with the gibs.

There is a slight change in the sound of the machine, but the most
obvious symptoms involve the dials. The handles chatter slightly, and
the dials will sometimes rotate within backlash. It is intermittent,
and I have done some fairly ugly cuts w/o these things happening.

I mention the gibs because I am not completely certain how often to
check them, and because I am fairly certain that early on, I missed some
slop in the table due to the resistance from the feed. Since I have to
remove the feed to lube the table's left port, I try to check the
resistance at the same time. My feed is aligned fairly well now, but my
most recent order included some import machinist's jacks. I plan to use
them to adjust the height while the gears are meshing (unpowered of
course), and hopefully get it really right

With that said, I would just as easily believe that I am being tricked
by oddities on the power grid. It might not hurt to look at line
voltage when it happens, and I should also check for appliances that
might be running at the same time.

Bill