How to drill & tap, move pocket clip?

fulloflead

fulloflead

Joined
May 3, 2002
Messages
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I want to learn to drill and tap tiny holes in order to move pocket clips by using my small home workshop and home-tools.

I don't have anything close to a drill press and I've never drilled and tapped a hole in my life, but I'd like to be able to move pocket clips on my knives. Am I dreaming?

Is it possible to do with a regular drill or dremil just by buying a few inexpensive tools that would fit into a tiny bedroom workshop?

Here are some projects I'd love to accomplish:
Convert a Timerline Wortac from tip-down to tip-up. (Steel liners)
Convert an old Microtech LUDT from tip-down to tip-up. (No liners. Annodized aluminum handles.)
Convert a Benchmade Pinnacle from tip-down to tip-up. (All-Titanium framelock.)

1.) Can I do it without a drill-press?
2.) If so, what tools do I need beside a good drill or dremil?
3.) How do I do it?

4 1/2.) If not... On the (VERY) off chance I can borrow the drill press from work how do I do it?
5. In what ways can I really screw up a job like this and what should I look out for?

Don't pull your punches if I'm dreaming! Tell me so. Don't send me down a path that will lead me to phucking up some good knives. (But, I'd definately experiment first on a cheap-o knife.) I don't want to go willy-nilly into this. That's why I'm asking.
 
It takes a fairly stable drill press to make a hole without the bit walking all over the place. My Dremel drill press couldn't possibly make perfect 1/16" holes, so I had to get a "real" drill press from Harbor Freight. It was a cheapy, running around $50, but it was much more stable.

The problem with all of this is that it all depends on the material of the handle to be tapped. It's rather a lost cause to attempt to tap a hardened steel liner or blade. I ruined a $20 tap myself doing just this. Even if you've got the carbide or cobalt bits to put a hole in the steel, it might be rather difficult to find a tap that's hard enough to cut the threads. Maybe, just maybe, if you could drill a perfectly sized and slightly larger hole, you could tap the hole without having to apply too much force that would tear up the tap.

I'm not sure about tapping titanium. There's quite a number of opinions behind why or even whether it's difficult to work with. A search in the Shop Talk forum would be useful.

I would be most optimistic about tapping the aluminum handles.

So you've got to find a stable drill press, the right drill bit for the material, plus you've got to make sure that you're putting the right size hole for the tap. I recall finding on the Internet a table of recommended hole sizes for different sized taps. You might want to google or ask at Shop Talk.
 
i've never done drilling and tapping for anything as small as knife screws, but i can tell you that on bigger workpieces, like grinders/other machinery, that it can be done with a hand held drill. just keep your hand steady and go at a steady speed. keep in mind that even minor mistakes will have much greater impact on such small-scale projects like knives. on a big hole, a tiny slip with the initial drilling can be made up for, even ignored as the hole would just be a tiny fraction off. on the smaller scale, a slip could result in the hole being off by as much as its own diameter, rendering it useless. drill press would probably be the way to go for things such as knives. and remember to post pics when you're done.:)

Kenny
 
Oh yeah, just thought of one more thing. You could also try embedding and tapping a softer material (like brass, aluminum, or unhardened steel) rather than directly tapping a hardened steel liner. You might be able to pull it off if the knife has scales which are thick enough to hollow out a bit. It's still a lot of trouble, swearing, money and time on your part, so you might want to send it out to a knifemaker instead.

I also just remembered that one forumite here offered to drill and tap Camillus Mad Maxx's for a fee. So I guess that means that it's possible to do titanium.
 
You can do whatever you want. It's a function of determination, desire, planning, layout and set-up. Your task would be easier with a drill press and a small desk top model can be had for no more than a dremel moto tool. A little reading at the library or on a couple of home machinist forums can be quite illuminating. Precision work was being done long before all these fancy modern CNC tools were developed. To drill and tap a hole requires a few specialized, but not necessary expensive tools. Just remember that generally drills don't make round holes, reamers do. And a hole for a 1/16" screw doesn't take a 1/16" drill bit or a 1/16" reamer. There's plenty of sources of charts for this sort of thing available for the curious.

A couple of good sites are:

www.practicalmachinist.com and

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/ubbs/Ultimate.cgi

I can't recommend highly enough a little good reading on the subject. Many of the good textbooks were written in the 40s when the country needed a lot of good machinists quickly (WWII). A copy of Machinery's Handbook will answer most questions about how to do things with metal. A new copy is pretty expensive, but even an old one will cover an amazing amount of information.

Be careful, this metalworking stuff can get addicting from what I hear.

jmx
 
It can be done but its not easy. Your best bet is on the aluminum handled LUDT, the hardest to do will be the Pinnacle. You'll need the appropriate sized drill bit (forget which size) and it used to be 2-56 tap. Now-a-days clip screws are all over the place in terms of thread but 2-56 used to be the most common for clip screws. Imported knives will have some kinda crazy metric size. But it won't matter if your not going to use the original screws.

If you insist on doing it w/out benefit of a press then mark off one hole, drill (as straight as possible, practice on something non-critical but similar helps) and tap w/either a bottoming tap or regular depending on whether you care about "breaking through" or not. For tip up on a LUDT "breaking through" shouldn't be that critical. Use tapping fluid or something similar even wd40 or tri- flow is better than nothing. Be very careful when hand tapping w/a small tap its very easy to break.

If your successful w/one hole then screw the clip on w/just the one hole. Pivot the clip into the angle you want. And use the rest of the screw holes on the clip as a template for drilling your next hole and so on. Dissassembling the knife before hand and working only on the appropriate handle will probably help too.
 
I have done it both ways. Aluminum is very easy and only requires a steady hand. I have not worked with the steel used in the Timberline. If it is properly hardened to make a good liner, forget it by hand and it is extremely challenging with the right tools for the novice. Titanium difficulty is there with the steel liner. I have had Ti that was cake to drill and tap. No binding, no problems. I have had Ti that would do nothing but bind and break new sharp taps. Didn't matter what I tried. That was an expensive project. I did learn a lot.

Suggestion/ By a cheap drill press from Harbor Freight. On sale they go as cheap as $35. You can also use it to chuck your tap in to keep your tap stable. Don't turn it on to tap. Just open the top and turn the pulley by hand. This will require you to secure the work piece and use two hands, one to turn and one to apply mild downward pressure on the work piece.

No matter which way you try, make sure taps are sharp(new), use lube, keep tap very stable and perpendicular to the work piece. Tap are extremely brittle when working with small sizes and break easily. Take your time.

Oh, by the way. Get a drill press. :D
 
Hmmm. I have some homework to do and a drill press to buy. Thanks for the help, everybody.
 
Originally posted by fulloflead
Hmmm. I have some homework to do and a drill press to buy. Thanks for the help, everybody.
Click to expand...


... buying a drillpress just to move clips... that is a true knifeknut!
 
Usually, things are impossible for the ignorant, hard for the student and easy for the master.

By asking here you are learning, good, now get whatever you need and learn some more, that means some research and buying not just tools, but also some spare aluminum, steel or whatever and practice till you feel confident.

When you can put a clip on a spare slab of aluminum, then you should be able to put it on an aluminum handled knife.
 
Titanium is tough to tap, recommend hole that is at least 15% larger than call out. Use good quality tap, and tapping fluid. dont buy cheap stuff you will only ruin your handle.
If you are not using the machine itself to Tap with, highly recomend tap holder that has a center in the handle, or a tap with a center in the end. this is used to keep the Tap straight into the hole. Tapping by hand can be hit and hiss otherwise.
Dont forget there are thousands of inserts available as well, pre tapped. You drill out the hole larger, tap larger( some are press fit) and then pop or thread in the insert. the Inside of the insert has the thread you require. This also eliminates double threads, stripped threads, etc.
 
... buying a drillpress just to move clips... that is a true knifeknut!

Or the first step to being a knifemaker...


jmx
 
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