As my Dad told me, there is something to learn every day. If there wasn't, you weren't paying attention.

Next project if you haven’t already started it yet is a tap follower. 😉

That little bauer portable band saw makes short work of aluminum.

Great project, get yourself a sharpie Magnum, I prefer blue, you won’t regret it

Taps are a consumable, it gives you a chance to replace the busted cheaper ones with a quality tap, one at a time, helps the pocket😅 I made up a point on the lathe from bar stock, a bit of light pressure on the quill handle gets them started straight. Taps have a hole in the end for centering, and try and do all the ops on each hole with the X and Y locked, then move. You know your centered then. You do have a DRO, so you can drill all the holes in one go, just make sure you locked back in on your hole centers for tapping. Cool project 👍👌🇦🇺(On my last project I broke 2 spiral taps, 2 carbide endmills removing said taps, carbide won over HSS until the end when they bound up and shattered. It's called learning😉)

admiring your work a little bit were ya? hehehehehe

You need a fly cutter, make one,I did years ago still use it ,and with about as much equipment as you have, your doing great thanks for the videos

You can take the safety arm off. Take the clip off the top pull the arm down. And it will work fine. It's always in the way.

oh SNAP! i hate when that happens!!!! sorry bud for the 8,, and smaller stuff, i invested in the Irwin self aligning taps and they have saved my goose more than once! totally worth it! just FYI.

Deez, I dont know how much of a hassle you think tightening and loosening the draw bar bolt is when you change out the collets or the drill chuck but i got tired of it quick. So I ordered a 10mm square socket with 3/8 drive and i bought a small Ryobi 3/8 drive 4 volt ratchet to tighten and loosen the draw bolt. This little ratchet doesnt have enough torque to break it free on its own but once i break it loose it spins it loose real quick. Same thing when tightening up a tool, spin it up and i give it a final hand tighten.

Hi Deez, When you chose your drill size you went to a smaller size than the guide. You should go to the larger size . It is much easier to work with a slightly oversize hole than a undersized hole when tapping. When you can afford it you really need to buy a number/letter set of drills . You can go with a relativelycheap set to start. You will have to 'mike' each drill before you use it as the accuracy of cheap sets is poor. That said , it doesn't really matter as long as the sets progress up and down in diameter and you measure the size beforehand. Drill your hole with a regular drill underside with your regular drills then , complete the hole with a measured drill from you letter set. Another way to gain some accuracy might be to purchase a fractional set in the range that you use most often Good luck.