Spiral machine tap test suggestions

Z2V said:
Your amp meter might have a peak/ hold feature also. It will lock on the peak amperage.
Click to expand...

I ordered an amp meter today and I think it has a peak hold setting.

I also ordered a set of taps in the following:

M2 HSS: m2.5, m3, m4, m5, m6, m7, m8, m10 - uncoated
M2 properties: http://www.buffaloprecision.com/data_sheets/dsm2hs.htm
Price of set: $30 USD - average price per tap = $3.75

M42 Cobalt: m2.5, m3, m4, m5, m6, m7, m8, m10 - coated in TiAlN
M42 properties: http://www.hudsontoolsteel.com/technical-data/steelM4
Price of set: $75 USD - average price per tap = $9.40

I wasn't able to get any fractional from this supplier quickly enough but will look into this in the future. These are all spiral machine taps from a major tap manufacturer in China. This firm supplies to many of the large CNC plants in China's industrial sector.

I think this will give us a decent idea of the quality of the cheap end and the premium line of Chinese taps.

Paul.
 
Don't forget to check torque on standard taps, 3/8 16 four flute taper, etc, too, for comparison. I was amazed/ thrilled when tapping heads would drive a tap through 3/4" steel without reversing to break the chips.
 
OK folks, I also ordered some Chinese cobalt dies to test as well.

I purchased M2.5, M3, M4, M5, M6, M8, M10, M12 & M14 for a total of $40 USD.

These dies seem to be good quality so I am curious how they will compare to my German, Swedish and English dies.

Paul.
 
Regarding the peak hold ammeter ...

Sorry to rain on your parade, but remember that a motor draws maximum current on startup. So unless there's a way to do a reset on the peak hold function once the motor is running, the function won't do you a lot of good :(
 
Or perhaps just not clamp it on until the machine is idling. Or just hit the reset button if it has one.

Tom
 
higgite said:
Or perhaps just not clamp it on until the machine is idling. Or just hit the reset button if it has one.

Tom
Click to expand...
This was the plan. I was just going to reset the hold function once the machine started up then run the test. The video will be added security in case I mess it up. It's not really an exact science but this is the best I could come up with.

Paul.
 
Hey Paul, remember, anything is advance over nothing. At this point we're just guessing. You're gonna give us percentages of effort. Probably going to influence the purchase of hand taps for the foreseeable future. But not me, my mind is set.
 
samthedog said:
Ok folks, there was a discussion praising the virtues of the spiral machine tap. I have used SKF and Güring in the past but have been more and more impressed with Chinese offerings of late. I will be ordering a range of taps in various price ranges from China for testing so I need your help.
  1. What price ranges for individual taps would you like to see? Keep this based on the price you would pay for a Chinese tap
  2. What tap sizes would you like to see tested? Metric is easiest to find but imperial is also possible
  3. What material would you like the taps to be made from? I can get high cobalt and regular HSS however cobalt will up the price
Let me know what you would like to see and I will try to accommodate this in the order and testing.

Paul.
Click to expand...

I use 10-32 and 1/4-20 every day. If possible I use spiral point rather than spiral flute as they require a lot less torque just based on over all "feel."
 
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