out of 4 taps i have 1 left lol.

m3 tap didnt work to bad, but trying different things i broke two.

m2 tap broke within about a second

was using g95

oh and adding spindle feedback is possible but a right pain in the arse

Just looked at your denford data question and looks like you could add a disc to the motor shaft. All it would then need is an opto going into your parallel port. Even if the motor is not direct drive that wouldnt matter as you can tell Mach to divide the index signal by whatever the gearing is.
Hood

in the long run yes i could, but it would be nice to get the tapping head up and running now.

need to order some more taps.

only got one m2 tap left

MAKE sure you are optimum on the hole size for tapping and are using the correct H# for the tap application.  SUper tight fit toleranace on threads do not always make the best thread, usually all you get it is broken taps in an expensive part to fix.

(;-) TP

im using a 1.6mm hole for an m2 thread and 2.5mm hole for m3 thread

this is what someone has recommended

http://www.cncdoctor.co.uk/index-pulse_62.html

Yes looks reasonable and I am sure it will work well. I just used an OPB916B opto and a 220 Ohm resistor and it worked great but suppose its not that much cheaper. http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/photointerrupter/4550896/?searchTerm=opb916b&relevancy-data=636F3D3226696E3D4931384E4B6E6F776E41734D504E266C753D656E266D6D3D6D61746368616C6C7061727469616C26706D3D5E5C772B2426706F3D313326736E3D592673743D4D414E5F504152545F4E554D424552267573743D6F7062393136622677633D424F544826
Heres a link to the way I had it set up on the Bridgeport.  http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,17032.0.html
Hood

is there no non contact tachometer set up i could use?

a hand held unit is mega cheap

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Digital-Laser-Photo-Tachometer-Non-Contact-RPM-Tach-/220972093324?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Test_Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item3372f68f8c

You could use a manual tach but it would mean to be sure you would have to measure each time you were about to tap to make sure the spindle was turning at the speed your code was telling it to. I would say it would be much simpler connecting up a spindle sensor of some sort, that way you would have a constant true speed reading in Mach and G95 moves would be based on that RPM rather than what you have coded.
Hood