Wrong tap in the package? Has anyone had it happen?

[Cadillac STS]

Today I needed to tap an 8mm 1.25 thread. Went to Lowes and bought one of those Irwin taps, yellow shrink wrap packages with the tap and drill. So I put the stock I needed to tap in the lathe, center drilled it and popped open the new yellow pack and used the drill to drill the hole. Took the tap out and tapped it with my lathe tapping setup. Then I put the mating part in to check the tap and it didn't thread in. I think it is debris so I run the tap in and out again to be sure. No fit still with the threaded shaft I was needing to make a nut for. I looked at the tap and it was a 5/16 - 18 tap! Pack is clearly for the 8mm 1.25 tap and drill set. I thought maybe I picked up a 5/16 - 18 I might have had lying around but the shop is in good shape right now and nothing set out. And I recall opening the package right at the lathe and using it.

Luckily it was a piece of stock I could just remake with little cost.

Has anyone had that happen?

 

[pdentrem]

Many times!
Pierre

 

[pebbleworm]

Yes, even some are marked incorrectly on the tap itself. Sometimes that is why they ended up on eBay...

 

[Ulma Doctor]

:banghead:
:angry:

 

[herbet999]

Hey.. the sizes are close.. it's Lowes.

 

[Cadillac STS]

I wonder if I should contact Irwin about it. Maybe there is a lot number on it and they can track down the exact person who did it. Like the old story about the line worker at GM who welded a pop bottle into a car panel, tracked him down and let him go.

 

[4GSR]

Over sized drill in the drill set I bought

Had a similar incident a couple years back with a set of cobalt number drills I bought. If course they are a import brand, guessing Korean, maybe Japan, but not sure. Anyways, while transferring them from the container they came in and putting them in my upright stand for easy access. One of the number drills would not fit in the drill stand. What the heck? It was stamped the correct size, but when I checked it with my super high precision Chinese calipers, it was about .004" too big! Looking at the wall chart, it didn't match the next size up. Wouldn't fit the drill stand but did fit the drill index they came in. Call the supplier, had a new replacement in the mail, which I received a couple days later. The replacement drill checked good. The rest of the drills in the index checked to be reasonable correct.

 

[george wilson]

Mistakes can happen with the best of brands. Back in 1960(or so),when I was taking a machine shop course in college,the teacher told this story: A student was milling gear teeth with a BROWN & SHARPE index head and kept coming up with a thin tooth at the end. This was WAYYYYY before cheap imports. The teacher got to checking around,and found the Brown and Sharpe index plate had the wrong number of holes in it.

 

[WesPete66]

Actually I'd suspect some previous customer at the store. Probably took both taps out of the package thinking, "Gee they sure look close, do I really need both?", then put the wrong tap into each package.. Kinda like, NEVER trust the label on the store display/hanger, always read the package in your hand..

 

[Bill C.]

Today I needed to tap an 8mm 1.25 thread. Went to Lowes and bought one of those Irwin taps, yellow shrink wrap packages with the tap and drill. So I put the stock I needed to tap in the lathe, center drilled it and popped open the new yellow pack and used the drill to drill the hole. Took the tap out and tapped it with my lathe tapping setup. Then I put the mating part in to check the tap and it didn't thread in. I think it is debris so I run the tap in and out again to be sure. No fit still with the threaded shaft I was needing to make a nut for. I looked at the tap and it was a 5/16 - 18 tap! Pack is clearly for the 8mm 1.25 tap and drill set. I thought maybe I picked up a 5/16 - 18 I might have had lying around but the shop is in good shape right now and nothing set out. And I recall opening the package right at the lathe and using it.

Luckily it was a piece of stock I could just remake with little cost.

Has anyone had that happen?

It is possible the packaging was out sourced. I remember hearing of a local handicapped work group that do contract packaging services for manufactures. I hate what you bought was not what you wanted or needed.