# Tap Sets



## Bamban (Nov 26, 2015)

Thinking about taking advantage of the Enco 25% off and free shipping. I need to replace some of my old Craftsman taps, looking at the price difference between Interstate and Hertel tap sets, are the latter 2x better as the price reflects?

The use is just for general purpose.


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## wawoodman (Nov 26, 2015)

I would go with the better ones. If a tap breaks, there goes all the money you saved.

If you are doing through threading, you should consider the spiral point type.


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## TommyD (Nov 26, 2015)

I have no personal knowledge of either brand BUT buy hss, high speed steel, almost anything over tool steel. I buy Made in USA cutters, I have some experiences with foreign made tool steel cutters break new compared to some old Butterworth and Cleveland taps that I've had for years.

Buy the best you can afford.


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## RJSakowski (Nov 26, 2015)

Many of us have fixed budgets to work with.  My personal position is that I would rather buy a lower cost tool than blow my budget on higher cost if the lower cost tool will do the job.  I have a very long list of tools on my wish list.  If I were to buy top of the line every time the list does not get any shorter. 

Note that I am not machining as a business.  That would put an entirely different spin on things.  I can't write off tools as a business expense or charge them directly or indirectly to a customer.  

I have used the Interstate brand end mills, drills, and taps and generally not had a problem with them.  I have had tap breakage but can honestly say that it was due to my misuse rather than the quality of the tap.  Running a $30 end mill into a work clamp will destroy it just as quickly as a $6 end mill.

That said, I don't buy taps or drills from the local DIY unless it is an emergency and never from HF.  

Bob


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## David S (Nov 26, 2015)

I buy the low cost carbon steel imperial and metric sets for casual, unanticipated weird projects because they are low cost and can't afford the huge assortment of HSS taps that they represent.

Then for all the small sizes that I use frequently from #1 to about 10-32 I buy good quality HSS in both taper and plug.

David


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## joshua43214 (Nov 26, 2015)

I am an advocate of getting a cheap set of decent carbon steel taps and dies. You never know when you might need some odd ball tap or die. I recently replaced my Snap On sets. I purchased the big Interstate set that had both metric and imperial, and sent it back right away unused. None of the taps had a center point in the back, the writting was almost impossible to read, and the storage container did not have the taps sorted by size. They where fit into the case in some way that made storage more efficient. I am sure they cut threads just fine. I then ordered two sets from McMaster Carr (they sent me Irwin).
http://www.mcmaster.com/#tap-sets/=zzefxl
Irwin are not exactly what I consider to be quality, but they are cheap enough.

I buy good taps from OSG or similar for holes I need to be quality. I usually get the 3 tap sets, and I prefer plain old 4 flute hand taps over the fancier ones. I usually know what taps I will need weeks or months in advance, so I just wait for a sale to get them.


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## royesses (Nov 26, 2015)

I've purchased a ton of Interstate taps and dies from Enco and MSC. They are very nice and cut just like the Hertel's. Either one is good quality but the Hertel is a bit better. The Interstate taps and dies are so much nicer cutting than my Craftsman USA carbon steel taps and dies.


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## 4GSR (Nov 26, 2015)

TommyD said:


> I have no personal knowledge of either brand BUT buy hss, high speed steel, almost anything over tool steel. I buy Made in USA cutters, I have some experiences with foreign made tool steel cutters break new compared to some old Butterworth and Cleveland taps that I've had for years.
> 
> Buy the best you can afford.



Correct me if I wrong here.  I thought HSS was tool steel???


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## John Hasler (Nov 26, 2015)

4gsr said:


> Correct me if I wrong here.  I thought HSS was tool steel???


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_steel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool_steel


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## Uglydog (Nov 26, 2015)

HSS vs Tool Steel?
To many pages to copy/paste all of them nonspecific to the question. 
But, the Machinery Handbook identifies Tool Steel as a broader category.
HSS is an subset within that broader category.

Daryl
MN


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## gi_984 (Nov 26, 2015)

I have tap sets ( taper, plug,bottom) from 1 inch NC & NF down to the real tiny stuff.   All are quality older US brands except for a few sets of the Hertels.  I bought the Hertel sets from Enco during sales to fill in the missing sizes.  They seem to cut as well as my other US made brands (Cleveland, Greenfield, TRW, etc).  I used cheap sets when that was all I could afford as a young guy just starting out.  Broke stuff and had some poor results.  My  first real set of tap and dies was a Craftsman brand combination inch/metric.  Came in a little gray plastic case.  Still have it.  Now a days I would use them on non-critical things or something that might damage one of my good ones.  The difference in the quality of the cut between them and say a Greenfield or Hertel is very noticeable in my opinion.


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## Bamban (Nov 26, 2015)

Thank you all for the responses. 

The old Craftsman combo in a grey box I intend to replace are the ones I bought "slightly used" on eBay, they were more like slightly abused. Not one tap is sharp enough to dig/cut on a finger nail. Lesson learned.

Most likely whichever one I get would be a magnitude better. At this time I am only getting the 3 tap set of the sizes I anticipated on using.

Thanks again for sharing y'all's experience.


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## 4GSR (Nov 27, 2015)

John Hasler said:


> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_steel
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool_steel



John, Daryl,

I agree with what you guys are saying that HHS is one of many in the "tool steel" category.   That's what I'm getting at.

But to say HHS is better than TOOL STEEL is not a true statement.  We all know there are several grades of tool steel, including HHS, that are more superior than HHS is by itself.  

Ken


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## John Hasler (Nov 27, 2015)

Traditionally "tool steel" has referred, in common parlance, to high-carbon, low-alloy steels intended for metal cutting while "high speed steel" has referred to high-alloy steels intended for metal cutting.


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