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Walton tap extractor
- Thread starter Batmanacw
- Start date
I know guys that will blow hundreds of dollars at a bar on the weekend and no one really questions it. I might blow $250 on a kit that will pay for itself if it works once. I'm not seeing the downside and I can afford it.
Eta: I appreciate you and your willingness to say what the heck! Lol!
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2018
- Messages
- 6,559
I suppose like a lot of things it depends. They worked for me on 7/16 and 1/4 4-flutes that were near flush. I made very sure to keep the sliding parts as close as possible to the tap. This is in steel and armor plate with plenty of lube/penetrant applied. There are all sorts of factors that apply to how stuck a broken tap is. Smaller taps have smaller gaps, less cross-section on the leafs means less shear strength. The way I see it, it's an arrow in the quiver. I broke a 1/8 NPT tap in a rare and expensive cylinder head a few years back, and wished like hell that I'd packed my broken tap extractors with me. I had to drill it out with a carbide abrasive-doped core bit and use a bolt extractor in the end. I wouldn't write them off without considering all the variables.
Well said. Just another arrow in the quiver. If used carefully, they do sometimes work. I think prep is the key.
You're certainly free to buy what you want, and it's not really about money. I'm just passing on my frustration with them (and I was using them correctly). I get the 'another arrow in the quiver' argument - except that a Walton that shears off (my usual experience) makes matters worse. So I'd think of it as an arrow in the quiver of last resort. A more expensive, but more successful method for me has been 'omega drills' : https://www.penntoolco.com/omega-drill-broken-tap-removal-drills/ Though a lot of the time, as soon as I have a nice centered 'dish' on the top of a tap I'll just get at it with a carbide / carbide tipped drill (faster).
GsT
GsT
I'm going to propose something here in all seriousness and sincerity. When you use a tool like this the prongs are not super hardened steel. They flex some. You can use these tools on a tap that is way too stuck to be removed with an extractor, without breaking them..... you simply stop twisting before they shear off. I know it seems unlikely or impossible, but I've done it myself.
- Joined
- May 7, 2023
- Messages
- 1,402
Same, tried them during my apprenticeship a few times and decided to just not snap taps off anymore.
I haven't broken more than a few in my entire life. I have gotten them out for others many times.
THAT is of course the *real* solution (though it doesn't help those with an already busted tap). A couple of decades ago I went through a rash of breaking taps. In large part because I was still using garbage taps from Irwin and Vermont American. I got fed up with it and made a real study of not breaking taps. That culminated in my acquisition of a number of tapping devices to get taps started perfectly straight, better tapping fluids depending on material, and most importantly quality taps. I can count on one hand the number of taps that I've broken since then. One, perhaps 7 years ago when I got careless power tapping over 100 1/4"-20 holes to make a tooling plate and two or three a year or so ago that were #2 taps in 17-4PH. On that one I eventually switched material to 4140 because I just couldn't make it work.
GsT
I totally agree.
I might be buying the tap burner edm off my buddy for the stuff I can use it on.