Spiral point taps

TOOLMASTER said:
View attachment 69386

THESE?


got a bunch many years ago..still tapping like new
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That's a (misnamed[1]) spiral flute tap. Good for blind holes as it throws the chips out like a twist drill. A spiral point tap (also misnamed[1]) has the flutes angled in the other direction (just at the tip) to throw the chips forward out the bottom of a through hole. That also appears to be a bottoming tap.

[1] It's a helix, not a spiral. Twist flute or twist point would make more sense.
 
I tap a lot of 6-32 through holes in aluminum and zinc. I bought a spiral point tap recently and like other folks above, I was absolutely amazed at the benefits. I can hold a 1/2" diameter, 1/2" long object in my fingers and tap it with the other hand because so little torque is needed. No reverse cycle needed. The bottom of the hole has WAY less flash, sometimes none - allowing me to skip a de-burring step that always used to be required. I wish I had known about these little suckers a long time ago!

/Greg
http://www.BlowsMeAway.com
 
Let me just revive this post to say, holy crap.

I was making a fixture plate out of 1" aluminum plate. I tapped 30 holes using my handheld drill and a spiral flute tap in no time. It was so much easier. No backing in and out, just straight through. Left clean, tapped holes.
 
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yeah, they ROCK! I learned something important though. They are not all created equal. I forgot the exact part number I ordered that I love so much and ordered another from MSC - it doesn't work nearly as well. You want one that looks like the lower of the two in the photo. The MSC item number (for #6-32) is 64932627

I routinely tap through holes now with the tap in my cordless drill. One pass. Boom! What a pleasure!


P1010972.JPG
 
I'll jump on board. I just power tapped some holes in some 80/20 extrusion with a cordless drill. Zip-zip, all done. I have never used a spiral flute tap, but the spiral point taps are at the top of my least of "really awesome things that somebody should have told me about sooner".

For those just tuning in, these taps have a lot of other names, so if you hear about people talking about "shooting taps" or "gun taps", they are talking about the same thing.
 
gheumann,
You suggest getting the spiral tap pictured at the bottom of the photo. I see it has a reduced shank above the flutes. Other than that, they look kind of the same. Do you have any idea why it works better? Looking at them, it would seem they would be equally as effective. I have no experience with these. Thanks.
shoeboxpaul
 
I don't know for sure - have to kind of see them and twirl them in your hand to see more differences. All I know is the reduced shank one works MUCH better.

shoeboxpaul said:
gheumann,
You suggest getting the spiral tap pictured at the bottom of the photo. I see it has a reduced shank above the flutes. Other than that, they look kind of the same. Do you have any idea why it works better? Looking at them, it would seem they would be equally as effective. I have no experience with these. Thanks.
shoeboxpaul
Click to expand...
 
gheumann said:
I don't know for sure - have to kind of see them and twirl them in your hand to see more differences. All I know is the reduced shank one works MUCH better.
Click to expand...

The difference I see is that the one with the reduced shank has more "lead in" on the cutting threads than the one above. Just a different design not withstanding the shank.

-Ron
 
I love spiral-point taps. They take hardly any force to tap, by hand or under power. Last week I power-tapped 20 10-24 holes in aluminum with a 10-24 spiral-point tap. No problems whatsoever, even at 250 RPM.

Now, spiral-flute taps... I don't care for those. Hand-tapping with a spiral-flute is a pain in the butt. Seems to me like they take a large amount of torque to turn... could be the shop just has dull taps, which is a possibility. But, spiral-points are amazing.
 
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