I'm a total noob to the site. I just found it and it seems like a happy home for me since I'm a little obsessive about modding my tools -- although not nearly as much as others. Not being able to weld is a double edged sword...
I'm sure I'm way past the active feedback time window this thread but...
Nice job on a simple but elegant tapping stand -- my two favorite features of a mod. Can you provide a little more info about the chuck like how it grabs the tap and how it grabs the shaft? It looks like there's only one screw on the tap which would lead me to believe that the tap would often sit off center. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding or maybe it's not a problem since the work seem like it can kind of "float" in X/Y which would give it the freedom it needs to move around.