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SHop made Tapping Head

If you're talking about something that just holds a tap vertically, yes I've seen plans for more than one.

If you're talking about reversing heads, then no, I've never seen plans for a DIY. That's a level of detail and precision best left to manufacturers with experience.
 
Actually, the Hardinge TT releasing tap head (for turret lathes with reversing spindles) would not be a hard shop project.

If you had a source for an appropriately sized planetary gear set, you could reproduce a Procunier E-style reversing tap head (for drill presses withough reversing spindles) without too much difficulty, too. But that would require a much wider range of operations (forming the shell, making a cork-lined clutch cone, etc).
 
The reversing gear does not even have to be planetary.
I've got an old 1/2" (at least) tap capacity, factory made unit that is sloppy as heck after a century of use. It does not have a friction clutch, just a cross-pin dog clutch. Moves the gear up or down when you lift or apply down pressure to the machine quill. The reversing gear is offset to one side.

smt
 
i find a tapping head not so usefull, btw. i use a set of "tapping inserts", one for every size and the mill does the reversing. i can really rely on the torque setting without having to mess with it. i regularly tap full power into a blind hole.
 








 
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