Stress-free Tap/Drill guide (Parametric) for Extrusions

What is it?

Tap guide to be mounted on aluminium extrusion.

Contains a grip for the tool, and open area for seeing inside. Which is diameter size plus clearing.

Why make it?

Most of the time while tapping threads you have only one shot. Breaking the tap or ruining threads while moving all over the place is something most of us did.

It an essential tool for tapping aluminium profiles.

Total effort

- CAD time - 1h - 3D printing - ~1h per piece Instructions

Just add couple drops of cutting oil and start tapping.

It includes 4 different designs. Single (square) shape, double, any longer shape and C-shape.

All pieces should be printed upside down. PLA works just fine, for other materials might need to adjust tolerances a bit.

Parametric names explanation

tap_tool_dia

Hole diameter that will hold the tapping bit. Must include tolerances.

tap_height

How much clearance you have to hold the tapping bit. The larger the more stable it will be, but too large can cause not being able to attaching to a handle or a drill.

extrusion_height

How much the extrusion needs to be gripped. depending on the depth you need to tap. If tap all the way your tool allows it should minimum it's length.

extrusion_width

type of extrusion, 2020 or 2040 use 20 mm

3030 - 30 mm

4590 - 45 mm

wall_thickness

wall thickness of the component. For larger extrusion might be useful to make it thicker to around 5 mm

tap_top_dia

Diameter of the top part. It should be printed upside down so it sits on this flat area. If you make it too little it might not have enough area to support the print and you need to use the skirt/brim. The larger it is the more wasted material you make, it should be large enought to support the print and ensure that angle it creates should be less than 45 degrees.

tolerance

Increases spacing from extrusion

Latest revision

Designed with FreeCAD 0.21

Feedback

Let me know if you need files with different tolerances or sizes.

Thank you!