Hex Headed Taps

[intjonmiller]

That looks roughly the scale of the one I have to tighten with pliers. The Craftsman appears to be a 9066 or 9067, based on a casual search from my desk at work. No guarantees that one from eBay will work as well for you, but there are a number of them listed right now around $15-25 each.

 

[tackit]

How about welding an old socket to the top of a tap wrench, so you can use it with a breaker bar?

 

[DoogieB]

If you need to buy new tap wrenches, it seems that Starrett is the only company that makes decent ones anymore. Buy once, cry once. However, almost all of my Starrett tap wrenches were bought used from probably long-dead machinists and they still work fine. The older GTD, General and other US brands seem to be OK as well.

Thanks for the link on those Lisle Tap Sockets! Those would have come in handy on several occasions so they are now on the shopping list.

 

[tackit]

Superburban, I'm trying to get rid of slop. I don't think sockets would help removing it/slop .

 

[RJSakowski]

I have two Irwin tap wrenches. They have large knurled barrels and use floating jaws rather than the spring collet typically found in tap wrenches. They tighten easily and don't slip. They can be driven with the T handle, a 1" hex socket or hex die holder, or a 3/8" square drive wrench.

The small wrench will hold a M1.25 -25 tap (my smallest tap) and the large wrench will hold a 9/16" tap.

The Irwin product numbers are 4935052 and 4935053 for the small and large wrench, respectively. I picked up the pair for under $30 at a local DIY. They are available at Grainger and Zoro and elsewhere online. For some reason, Irwin doesn't show them on their website though.

 

[BGHansen]

+1 on Ken's Starrett tap handle suggestion. I have a half-dozen T-handle tap wrenches, never really looked at the make, just grabbed one. "Man, this one is really smooth for tightening!" Turned out to be a Starrett.

Bruce

 

[tackit]

I have two Irwin tap wrenches. They have large knurled barrels and use floating jaws rather than the spring collet typically found in tap wrenches. They tighten easily and don't slip. They can be driven with the T handle, a 1" hex socket or hex die holder, or a 3/8" square drive wrench.

The small wrench will hold a M1.25 -25 tap (my smallest tap) and the large wrench will hold a 9/16" tap.

The Irwin product numbers are 4935052 and 4935053 for the small and large wrench, respectively. I picked up the pair for under $30 at a local DIY. They are available at Grainger and Zoro and elsewhere online. For some reason, Irwin doesn't show them on their website though.

RJ I ordered a set of lisle tap sockets, guys over at Garage Journal say they really like them. http://www.lislecorp.com/divisions/products/?product=398&division=1&category=11

 

[tackit]

+1 on Ken's Starrett tap handle suggestion. I have a half-dozen T-handle tap wrenches, never really looked at the make, just grabbed one. "Man, this one is really smooth for tightening!" Turned out to be a Starrett.

Bruce

Bruce I have a few moderately priced tap holders but they loosen up all the time, Starrett's are the best no doubt about it. The lisle tap sockets I ordered supposedly hold the taps really well. they have a rubber insert or O ring inside to keep taps from falling out. I have a Makita impact tool I can tap with, if I can do it.. there would less pain involved in tapping.

 

[4GSR]

Most of my tapping is done in the mill by power tapping. With the VFD I have installed, it is very easy to drive the tap in to depth, stop, and reverse out. I've done this using taps from about 3-48 all the way up to 5/8-11 so far. I don't have full power to get the 5/8-11 to tap to depth, but I can get it started a couple of threads then use the big tap handle to finish tapping the hole. I can remember back in my younger years at a shop I worked at tapping large holes like 1-1/4"-7 using a air impact wrench. Did all right until you get one started crooked.

 

[wawoodman]

If it's a through hole, I find that the spiral point taps #4 up to about 5/16 work really well in my cordless drill. I never had a tap wrench that I liked (but I never spent the money for good ones, either.)