Lesto Tapping Gun

We have a job to do a lot of tapping, my maintenance guy brought this in and though we could use it. For our M4 taps on the job this would be overkill. But it is a totally sweet tool!

I have never seen anything like it. You just keep your finger on the trigger and once you are done tapping you pull back and it automatically reverses. I had a 1/2-13 tap in it and this was a bit too much for the clutch, we originally drilled .421" holes. I just opened the holes up for demo purpose. If you were running 1/4" or 3/8" taps it would probably be fine.

I did a bit of searching and found nothing on this exact tool. It appears Lesto is/was a mfg in Switzerland for drills and hand tools.

https://instagram.com/p/9rWbMzM6-F/

A tool like that calls out for a carefully placed bubble level on the top surface.

I have personally used a Bosch version of the same thing several years ago. Trigger just like a typical drill but pull back and it reverses out, the bosch had a real nice clutch on it, if you could keep them aligned well enough, you could easily have dialled its torque down low enough to make sure you would not snap em by bottoming out accidentally!

There the kinda tool on the right job that is worth its wait in gold, its very similar in function to a tapping head on a pillar drill.

Lesto was a brand of Scintilla-Bosch; something to do with Bosch and Scintilla names being pre-empted or banned in some markets. At some point in the '60s the Lesto name was replaced with Bosch although the tools remained much the same; early Lesto jigsaws had grey cases before becoming blue.
Scintilla developed the jigsaw and torque limiting clutches for power tools and IMHO make some of the best power tools, both in function and build quality.

Greenwud said:

Lesto was a brand of Scintilla-Bosch; something to do with Bosch and Scintilla names being pre-empted or banned in some markets. At some point in the '60s the Lesto name was replaced with Bosch although the tools remained much the same; early Lesto jigsaws had grey cases before becoming blue.
Scintilla developed the jigsaw and torque limiting clutches for power tools and IMHO make some of the best power tools, both in function and build quality.

Click to expand...

I read somewhere, eons back, that Bosch had Scintilla make a lot of their stuff post WW II something to do with the Bosch name being after the war.

Scintilla had the reputation for being about the best magnetos money could buy.

I've two Bosch branded Scintilla made jigsaws one 40 years old and still going strong - with only a set of brushes and couple of roller assemblies and that thing has had some real hammer.

I've used the Lesto tappers- amongst several others, and always rated them head and shoulders above the rest.

IIRC Lesto also did a ''skilsaw'' with the power unit resembling a drill motor set up at about a 30deg angle from the sole plate. I remember using such a tool as a lad and that it had a slip clutch on it to prevent overload.

" Desouter " made a similar electrical " tapping brace " as we called them over here in the UK. They were very good. Another firm I worked for had a compressed version made by " Ingersoll- Rand ". They weren't so good and I didn't really like using them too much.

" Lesto " made really good jig saws.

Regards Tyrone.

Tyrone Shoelaces said:

" Desouter " made a similar electrical " tapping brace " as we called them over here in the UK. They were very good. Another firm I worked for had a compressed version made by " Ingersoll- Rand ". They weren't so good and I didn't really like using them too much.

" Lesto " made really good jig saws.

Regards Tyrone.

Click to expand...

Lesto also made pneumatic jigsaws, one of those good ideas that never caught on.

I have a tapper kind of like that,mine was made by Black &Decker,
mine has a regular drill chuck on it, I found it on Ebay.
It is very old, the exterior is all alum.
Push and chuck spins cw,pull and it spin ccw..
Very easy to use ., it ran a brazillion 10mm tapped holes that I know of.
Gw

it just appears like there is nothing NEW made like this anymore?

Looks as if Fein still do one Tappers, Tappers - All industrial manufacturers but hand helds seem to be pneumatic these days. The electric Desoutters seem to be bench or a mchine mount these days, http://www.wainbee.com/suppliers/cp_desoutter/AFD_UK_LT1212.pdf.

I imagine that the huskier breeds of battery drill could come close as a replacement for off base or out of air hose range work. Especially if the chuck were swapped out for a proper floating square drive and alignment collet assembly as used in proper tapping heads.

Now there is a business ideas for someone. Tap drivers for battery drills either as chuck replacements or hex drive plug-ins. Never found the usual keyless style chuck on a battery drill to be really up to the task of driving a tap. All the ones I've tried will do it after some sort of fashion but there is always some tendency to slip. That said hard steel chuck jaws on hard steel shank is not a good drive combination. One of my No 2 Pollard tapping heads has had a decent Jacobs key type chuck bunged on instead of the proper drive head. Its not up to the job and slips on a regular basis unless the tapping hole is oversize. No 2 doesn't take monster taps either. Battery drill chucks seem to start at 'spose it will have do and ranging downwards to total crap.

Battery drills could probably use a bit of attention to balance if made a basis for a tapper. My 9V Makita is pretty handleable but 5 mm is about its limit, 18 and 24 volt ones heve too much mass floating around which destroys feel.

Clive

Old thread but I just bought a Bosch tapper drill. I can not figure out the collet. the manual online has no information about how to load a tap just how to tap once it is in the tool. From other pictures of ones for sale it looks like it needs a square drive chuck key. It might be a Robertson taper? The clutch seems to work. I though it was worth $5.00.
Bill D.

Bill
The two I have Fein and porter cable both have a similar type chuck. They are both like a Jacob's / Supreme tap chuck. The collet just holds the tap centered and the tap flats are held to drive. An allen wrench is used on the flats and either open end wrench or your hand on the collet.
Not much help sorry
Andy

I think it looks like this one on Amazon.
Bill D.

https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-Parts-2608573004-Tapper-Chuck/dp/B00Y9OVAPM

I had one of those Bosch Tappers. What I thought was cool was that the tap ran backwards helping to center on the hole until you actually pushed it forward to engage the clutch and get forward rotation.

So we had a drill press with a VFD on it so we didn't need to change belts so often. I rigged a foot switch with toggle switch that stopped the motor in the center, ran forward when you pressed the foot pedal in one position for drilling and holding parts with both hands. In the other position the motor started in reverse and you pushed the tap in a hole and pressed the foot pedal and it would spin down to zero and back up in forward. Release the pedal and the tap reversed and backed out. The drill press had a MT2 spindle and McMaster sells MT tap sleeves that hold very well, no chuck needed and change pretty quick too. This drill press did 1/2-13 in steel and we did lots of 1/4" pipe tapping with it.

Metabo still makes a cordless version of this. A buddy of mine has one, and he loves it.
Metabo GB LTX Bl Q I (603827890) Cordless Drill / Tapping Drill

Cash:

Metabo lists one in their catalog:

ttps://www.metabo.com/us/enus/tools/cordless-tools/cordless-tapper/gb-18-ltx-bl-q-i-603828890-cordless-tappers.html#attributes

Never used one, but should be high quality.

Regards,

DB

your missing the H in front of that link in above post, just put it ( h) in front and the link works fine. here

GB 18 LTX BL Q I (603828890) Cordless Tappers | Metabo Power Tools

i have a milwaukee one that operates the same way. it’s handy if your doing a lot of holes