Tapping Two (or more) Holes at Once
(The head shown can be used for drilling or tapping by simply removing the Tapmatic tapping heads. This was a custom build and not how we typically do dual hole tapping-only machines.)
When tapping two holes at the same time, a multiple spindle head is often a simple solution. It is also a solution when tapping many more holes at the same time.
This page details a semi-custom solution for a head that can be used for drilling or tapping. To tap 2 holes simultaneously with a dual spindle head, AutoDrill replaced each collet with a self-reversing tapping head. This enables simple machinery, such as a drill press or a Bridgeport vertical milling machine to tap more than a single hole at a time without reversing the motor, etc.
If the customer wants to drill two holes at a time, they simply remove the Tapmatic components and install standard drills as on any other AutoDrill Multi-Drill Spindle head.
One advantage of this set-up is that a customer can pre-drill hundreds or even thousands of parts, switch out the drills for the tapping components and then tap all of those parts very reliably. The thread pitch is not important since a self-reversing tap head is in use. The set-up shown could be used for inch, metric or even pipe threads.
These drill and tap heads can also be used on drilling machines that automatically reverse without the additional self-reversing Tapmatic heads installed. We make adapters for competitor’s machinery!
AutoDrill also offers self-feeder tap and drill units if you do not wish to use an existing drill press or Bridgeport mill style set-up. Below is a photo of the typical drill press tapping set-up where the singular tap head is used to tap two or more holes at one time.