is there such thing as a high quality machine tap SET?

[strantor]

Most tool manufacturers sell a tap and die set, all the common sizes neatly arranged, in crap quality hand taps. Does anybody sell a similar set in high quality MACHINE taps (spiral fluted or otherwise machine-capable)? Seems I can only find individual taps (hard even to find just those singles) or maybe a 3 or 4 piece set but nothing like what I want (all sizes/pitches, sae and metric). Do I really need to go out and cherry-pick my own set together? That's fine if I do, but I'd rather not if I have a choice.

 

[Rbeckett]

Yup you will have to Cherry pick what you need. But I would wait to order a tap or die till you have an actual need for it. Cherry picking a whole set is not going to be cheap and the multiple freight charges add up pretty quick. Just my humble opinion.

Bob

 

[Falcon67]

X2. I have a bunch of good USA sources taps and dies, but then I got in trouble for spending mom's $20 on such at the hardware store when I was 12. So I've been at it a while (that would be 46 years ago). If I have a need for any precision tapping, I'll buy that good tap/die. Usually try to lump something else in with it as the best Enco deals are usually $25 or $50 min for free shipping. Or buy from Amazon. For non-critical metric, I have a crap set from HF that is good for light work. There are many styles and pitch diameters so it'd be hard for somebody to really put together anything called a "complete" set. My go-to taps (used often) are a box that has coarse and fine from 1/4" to 1/2" in typical bolt sizes, a very old box with a few small machine screw taps and three pipe taps.

If it make Mom feel any better in heaven, I still have the taps and dies I blew the cash on. And I do think of you when I use one.

 

[darkzero]

There are quality tap sets but they are expensive, IMO they're still only just good for general all around use. I have an old Craftsman metric set & believe it or not a cheap set from HF for occasional general use. When I know I'll need to tap a certain hole more often than just twice I'll go and buy a nice tap. I'll mostly buy spiral flute or spiral point. I love spiral flutes for tapping blind holes but they can be a bit more fragile than straight flute taps. Buying a tap specific for the application & material makes a night and day difference. I'll never power tap using a general hardware store tap.