Any DIYer will find years of usefulness for an array of gear and home projects, repairs and maintenance out of Big Gator Hand Drill & Tap Guides. They can be used on flat surfaces (like skis & snowboards), corners and round items (like ski poles and bike frames). With or without clamping, these handy guides should be in every DIYers toolbox.
Big Gator Tools was established in 2005 and is now marketing the most universal patented drill and tap guides ever sold. Guides are made from a special nickel alloyed steel that is heat-treated and ground along bottom surface to assure stability and accurate perpendicular alignment on flat surfaces. All guides have a 90 degree V-groove along the bottom that allows perpendicular alignment on round parts as well as corners.
DRILL GUIDES:
Standard V-DrillGuides are made for 17 standard drill sizes: (1/8 to 3/8 in 1/64 increments) Covers all the drill sizes in a standard 3/8 drill index except drill sizes smaller than 1/8”. Heat treated for durability like drill bushings. It’s like having a portable drill press anywhere! Straight perpendicular alignment wherever you go.
Metric V-DrillGuides can handle drill sizes: 3, 3.3, 3.5, 4, 4.2, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5, 6.8, 7, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 9, 9.5mm
Here is a video from Tom Hintz, owner/publisher of NewMetalworker.com made this video as part of an independent review of the Big Gator Drill and Tap Guides. (Please note that the tap guides do not need to be clamped in place like in the video to hand tap.)
For additional information also see: Drill and Tap Guides for Hand Drilling
There are a lot of similarities to drilling skis to audio installations as shown in this video. It also shows a few examples on the versatility of this ‘must have’ shop tool:
Drill Press VS V-DrillGuide®
TAP GUIDES:
Holes are sized for ANSI Standard and Metric Ground Thread Taps.
Standard V-TapGuides can handle tap sizes: ( 0-80, 1-64, 1-72, 2-56, 2-64, 3-48, 3-56, 4-36, 4-40, 4-48, 5-40, 5-44, 6-32, 6-36, 6-40, 8-32, 8-36, 8-40, 10-24, 10-32, ¼-20, ¼-28, 5/16-18, 5/16-24, 3/8-16, 3/8-24, 7/16-14, 7/16-20, ½-13, ½-20, 5/8-11, 5/8-18)
Metric V-TapGuides can handle tap sizes: ( 1.6mm, 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 3.5mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 16mm)
STI TAP GUIDES: (Screw Thread Inserts)
STI-UNC V-TapGuides can handle standard ground STI hand tap sizes: (Unified Coarse Threads: 9/16-12, 1/2-13, 7/16-14, 3/8-16, 5/16-18, 1/4-20, 12-24, 10-24, 8-32, 6-32)
STI-UNF V-TapGuides can handle standard ground STI hand tap sizes: (United Fine Threads: 5/8-18, 9/16-18, 1/2-20, 7/16-20, 3/8-24, 5/16-24, 1/4-28, 10-32, 8-36)