Tap and die recommendations?

[savarin]

dont forget left hand versions, its surprising how often you need one of these.
I can only advise on metrics so I go 2,3,4,5,6,8,10,12 in both standard and fine.
with left hand in 4 6 8 and 12.
All dies are split with left hand also in 4 6 8 and 12.
I did purchase as required rather than a set and added spiral point in 4,5,6,8.

 

[ezduzit]

Buy a complete set of HSS. Avoid Asian imports. Look for adjustable, round dies.

 

[C-Bag]

dont forget left hand versions, its surprising how often you need one of these.
I can only advise on metrics so I go 2,3,4,5,6,8,10,12 in both standard and fine.
with left hand in 4 6 8 and 12.
All dies are split with left hand also in 4 6 8 and 12.
I did purchase as required rather than a set and added spiral point in 4,5,6,8.

That's interesting you mention LH. Am I the only one on here who's never done a LH thread?

Were you doing a lot of LH on your telescope and mega binoculars?

 

[ezduzit]

Never needed a LH tap. But had a special job for Larry Elison's 288' yacht, Asahi, which required a large LH metric die, which I purchased to get the job done.

 

[DavidR8]

Never needed a LH tap. But had a special job for Larry Elison's 288' yacht, Asahi, which required a large LH metric die, which I purchased to get the job done.

Wait. What? Larry Ellison’s yacht?
How did that job come about?


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[ezduzit]

I work on yachts. When Asahi visited Marina del Rey they needed some unobtainable replacement zincs for their European refrigeration. I fixed them up right away. Ordered a LH M12 x 1.75mm die.

 

[savarin]

Yep, quite a few left handers and also for lead screws for the cross slides and vertical slides and for some turnbuckles I had to make.

 

[ELHEAD]

I buy taps as needed along with 2 properly sized drill bits, from a local machinery supply house. Never been disappointed.

 

[C-Bag]

Thanks all!
This forum is an amazing source of knowledge!


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Just for giggles I looked on our local CL and then down to LA and up to SF for tap and die. Then on DavidR8's local CL. It's quite a contrast. Even in our little podunk area there is over 800 ads in tools. In LA 3,000! The sets and quality was the best in LA especially old machinist boxes full of tools. But there were several sets exactly like my old sets of Craftsman and BluePoint and especially ACE for around $80. Decent deals IMHO.

Not until this thread did I notice that all those boxes had great sets of measuring tools etc but never sets of tap and die or drill bits. Is this because the typical machinist box is 1/10th size of a mechanic box or? Personally it would drive me crazy digging through a pile of mixed taps and drill bits but I guess you get used to what you are used to.

When I looked around Victoria it's a different story with way less ads and mostly low end sets but crazily enough somebody selling a hand tapper for $100!

 

[RJSakowski]

................. Oh yes, if you can, opt for Spiral point taps, they push the chips out the entry hole.

Tom, I think you meant to say exit hole. The are normally used for though hole tapping. I like to use the spiral point taps but if tapping a blind hole, there has to be enough room below the tap to clear the chips.

I prefer to buy taps in sets of three; taper, plug, and bottoming. I start with the taper tap and on blind holes finish with the bottoming tap if bottom clearance is an issue. If I were to buy only a single tap of as given size, it would be a plug tap.