Comprehensive tap and die set

Thank you all for your input. I guess the thrust of my question is that I'm looking for a comprehensive set that covers what is most likely covered by the home shop. By comprehensive, I meant a set that included the tap and the matching drill bit. Why don't sets come with the bit as standard, considering that the correct bit may be fractional, numbered or lettered bit? The taps I do have, I try to store with the matching drill bit.

Irwin/Hanson sells such a set. The asking price is around $400 and includes a LOT of pieces I do not and will not ever need. Like Bill, I have very seldom used a die. I'd be much happier if sets came with the matching drill bit instead of matching dies.

I'm looking for GTD and GearWrench to see what they have.

This is the closest thing that I'm really looking for. If this could be expanded to include a wider range of sizes and thread pitches, with metric as well as SAE, I'd be happy.

 
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Or, build your own, both Irwin and Hansen sell packages which have a tap and matching drill, select the sizes you want, and tune it for your needs.
 
For "cheap" starting point the large, letter, number and fractional drill set at harbor freight or TSC if you get a coupon and get the better one will give you every size you will likely need "For now".

Avoid the HF cheap tap and die sets as not too good.

Older craftsman sets okay, greenlee better.

Watch estate sales as you can get good deals, have snap on metric set for 5 bucks and a good craftsman set for 6, many odd boxes with loose taps and dies for toss in the deal price.

That gets you started...

If you need something that you do not have and can order or you have a well stocked industrial supply near you then as needed you buy those, by buy well, meaning pay the couple bucks more for the good stuff.

Many folks make custom kits as personal project starting with chunk of base material and drill holes to store the taps and matching drills, look nice and organized but takes too much space.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
I think I'm going to run with that idea, tq60. I've got some 1/4" aluminum plate. I'll mark out a grid and label for all the sizes I'll ever likely come across. As I build up my set, I'll drill three holes for each size, and tap two. The bit goes in the untapped. The tap goes into one of the tapped, and a screw goes in from the back of the last. Then the die can live on the screw. The whole thing can then be hung on the peg board behind the mill. As a bonus, I have a way to check the size and pitch of my random set of nuts and screws.

I guess I have my next project.
 
pontiac428 said:
I have a Craftsman Kromedge master set from the '80s that goes all the way up to 3/4", fine, coarse, and metric with dies that has been just wonderful. The tap handles are really good, so I haven't had to break down and order the Starretts yet. The case takes up a whole drawer in my tool box. I think I paid $130 for it on eBay and the taps didn't have a speck of metal or dirt on them. The hard chrome coating seems buttery smooth as the taps cut. So that's my "favorite" set... I have a lot of other sets. If I were building up a set, I'd consider getting good US loose taps from GTD or similar. Then you can build your own kit now or later.
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I also have many of the old Craftsman sets, most removed from the "set". Funny that the old sears "trick" of adding to the tool count by including sizes "no one needs" has benefited me. With my Moto suspension business I needed weird sizes at times and have even used the M7x1.0 tap for a set of Italian forks. They have never cut as nice as a premium individual tap or die but they have held up for going on 50 years so, thumbs up!

I have a couple tap sets from McMaster (Chicago Latrobe I think) that come in an index with the correct drill bits and I find them to be worth the money.
 
I'd buy one of those large fractional/letter/number drill sets and then the taps you need as you need them. Spiral point in 6-32, 8-32, 10-32, 1/4-20, 5/16-18 and 3/8-16 will do you for most uses, unless you do alot of work on bikes or cars and need metric taps. Then as time goes on you can fill in the gaps and get spiral flute for blind holes in the sizes you use the most.

I'd steer away from the "keep tap drill with taps" idea - each tap size needs at least 2 if not more drills; one for 70-75% thread in alu, one for 50% thread in steel/ cast iron. An extra one if you use form taps. And then I often play around with tap drill size depending on no. of threads needed (thick vs. thin material) and how hard/ miserable the material is to work with.

You'll probably end up spending the same amount, but end up with far better results, just spread over a longer period of time.
 
mattthemuppet2 said:
I'd steer away from the "keep tap drill with taps" idea - each tap size needs at least 2 if not more drills; one for 70-75% thread in alu, one for 50% thread in steel/ cast iron. An extra one if you use form taps. And then I often play around with tap drill size depending on no. of threads needed (thick vs. thin material) and how hard/ miserable the material is to work with.
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I never heard that different sized bits would be used for different materials. Is this another standard practice that I've never heard of?

What got me started on this was remounting the DRO to the X-axis on the mill the other night. I pulled a couple of screws from my bucket-o-screws, and it seemed to be the same 3/16-32 thread, but was apparently metric as the screw twisted off after going most of the way in. Couldn't find a metric tap to match.

I think an old lawn mower blade will work for the "rack", and I can have one for metric and one for SAE. A hole on one end will make it convenient to hang on the peg board.
 
Would you guys consider this to be a comprehensive list of sizes to have readily available?

SAE: 4-40, 6-32, 8-32, 10-24, 10-32, 12-24, 1/4-20NC, 1/4-28NF, 5/16-18NC, 5/16-24NF, 3/8-16NC, 3/8-24NF, 7/16-14NC, 7/16-20NF, 1/2-13NC, 1/2-20NF, 9/16-12NC, 9/16-18NF, 5/8-11NC, 5/8-18NF, 3/4-10NC, 3/4-16NF.
Metric: 3mm-0.50, 3mm-0.60, 4mm-0.70, 4mm-0.75, 5mm-0.80, 5mm-0.90, 6mm-1.00, 7mm-1.00, 8mm-1.25, 9mm-1.00, 9mm-1.25, 10mm-1.25, 10mm-1.50, 11mm-1.50, 12mm-1.50, 12mm- 1.75, 14mm-1.25, 14mm-2.00, 16mm-1.50, 16mm-2.00, 18mm-1.50, 18mm-2.50
 
I wouldn't call that a comprehensive list, but I would call that a basic loadout. I think if you set yourself up with that set you would not be left short very often. Then you can fill in the gaps as needed.

I mostly deal with unusual taps doing suspension fab work, threaded rod ends and left-hand threads, etc. I don't work on antique guns, so no special needs there. Sometimes you find oddballs working on so-called "engineered equipment" like mechanical instrumentation. I don't think any of that is worth stocking rare taps and dies for. I usually encounter the need for a special tap somewhere in the planning stage, so I'm rarely left out without the tap I need. So 99% of the threading I do falls in the UNC, UNF, and MM pitches.
 
this is super handy - I printed one out and laminated it. Use it pretty much constantly.

that list contains a lot of sizes that you'll probably never use. About 1/2 of the imperial and 2/3 of the metric are pretty rare threads. I can count on the fingers of one finger the times I've used 1/4-28, 3/8-24 and 5/8-11 (last one was for a panhard rod on a friend's truck). I have 3/4-10 taps and never use them.

Useful ones are the ones I posted above. I can do the same for metric if you wish.

Honestly and truly, the difference between large combo set taps (unless you buy the really expensive sets) and quality spiral point/ flute taps is night and day. You are much better off buying quality taps ($10/ea) for the sizes you need than spending $100 plus on a combo set.
 
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