Tap organization

Over time I think you'll be using the larger drawers for taps that won't fit in the smaller ones. As a youngster I started out with a Craftsman set of taps and dies that went up to 1/2". As time went on I had to acquire many many more for personal and business use. I'm sure the number is now well in excess of a thousand including taps in over 2" that have to reside on a shelf in their original boxes because they're too large for any reasonably priced storage cabinet.

Early on I had to buy a 1 7/16-12 tap to straighten out some threads on an old lathe chuck. As time went on, I made half a dozen backplates for chucks to fit that lathe. You'll be surprised the odd sizes you accumulate when odd jobs come into the shop.
 
Tap boxes/cases/drawers never show up used here. Or if they do, you pretty much have to be standing over the sellers shoulder when they list it or someone else will get there first.

Like most, I have a fairly full set of taps, but mostly because you have to buy a full set when you break or loose one. You can buy them seperate, but more than a couple replacements and you’re toying with what a whole set costs (on sale).

That means you’ve always got a couple extra cheap cases around with the tap cut outs in them and varying numbers of taps in the cases.

I wanted to aggregate all the sets together but needed a case that works.

Some of those plastic “case of drawers” showed up at the local hardware store on sale, so I bought a couple and after a day or so of sorting, throwing and labeling:

IMG_3615.jpeg

Surprisingly, the plastic case is actually quite sturdy. Doesn’t bow under the weight at all (yet).
Not bad for 40 bucks and now all my taps and dies are in one place, organized and easy to find.

:)
 
great white said:
Tap boxes/cases/drawers never show up used here. Or if they do, you pretty much have to be standing over the sellers shoulder when they list it or someone else will get there first.

Like most, I have a fairly full set of taps, but mostly because you have to buy a full set when you break or loose one. You can buy them seperate, but more than a couple replacements and you’re toying with what a whole set costs (on sale).

That means you’ve always got a couple extra cheap cases around with the tap cut outs in them and varying numbers of taps in the cases.

I wanted to aggregate all the sets together but needed a case that works.

Some of those plastic “case of drawers” showed up at the local hardware store on sale, so I bought a couple and after a day or so of sorting, throwing and labeling:

View attachment 459139

Surprisingly, the plastic case is actually quite sturdy. Doesn’t bow under the weight at all (yet).
Not bad for 40 bucks and now all my taps and dies are in one place, organized and easy to find.

:)
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Taps in sets are usually garbage unless they are specifically high speed steel from a know maker.

You want hss spiral point and spiral flute to add to your hand taps. I buy lots from the flea market and Ebay for very reasonable prices
 
Batmanacw said:
Taps in sets are usually garbage unless they are specifically high speed steel from a know maker.

You want hss spiral point and spiral flute to add to your hand taps. I buy lots from the flea market and Ebay for very reasonable prices
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Meh, they work fine for my uses so I don’t see a need to spend more money and all the wasted time (and gas) it takes to tramp through yard sales only to sift through mountains of crap to find a few jewels that they probably want too much for.

Flea markets essentially don’t exist here any longer so its yard sales or new. Things like kijiji (Canada's Craigslist equivalent) and fb marketplace are always overpriced junk at best and never have anything (tool wise) worth spit.
 
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great white said:
Meh, they work fine for my uses.
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don't knock it, the spiral / or gun taps are fantastic and so are the spiral flute taps. Full sets are good for those times when you don't have , or haven't bought that particular tap yet. But all of my most popular used taps, I have in spiral, bottoming, and some spiral flutes. The gun taps are my most used. You will break less, cut faster, and easier... I also turn worn out taps into bottoming taps by grinding them down... I prefer 2 flutes on the smaller taps, they are much more sturdy than 3 or 4 flute.
 
woodchucker said:
don't knock it, the spiral / or gun taps are fantastic and so are the spiral flute taps. Full sets are good for those times when you don't have , or haven't bought that particular tap yet. But all of my most popular used taps, I have in spiral, bottoming, and some spiral flutes. The gun taps are my most used. You will break less, cut faster, and easier... I also turn worn out taps into bottoming taps by grinding them down... I prefer 2 flutes on the smaller taps, they are much more sturdy than 3 or 4 flute.
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I’m not knocking anything. What I have works fine for what I do. Why would I spend more money and time for something I don’t really need?

If I ever do need something else, I’ll go looking. Otherwise, its money spent for nothing.
 
MyLilMule said:
I would never advise anyone buy a tap set.
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I have a crappy tap set, every time I use it I wonder if this will be the time when I break one and can’t remove it… I wouldn’t mind replacing it with a HSS tap set- even though I know I’ll probably only use half of the taps.

I’m not quite to the stage where I‘d buy taper, plug and bottoming taps for each size when I need them…
 
StevSmar said:
I have a crappy tap set, every time I use it I wonder if this will be the time when I break one and can’t remove it… I wouldn’t mind replacing it with a HSS tap set- even though I know I’ll probably only use half of the taps.

I’m not quite to the stage where I‘d buy taper, plug and bottoming taps for each size when I need them…
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Don't buy it all at once. Next tap you use go on Ebay and buy a nice spiral point or spiral flute for the best deal you can find. Often it will be pennies on the dollar for new or like new quality taps.
 
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