K&S taps and dies

C

Chucketn

Registered
Registered
Anyone use K&S taps and dies? Justordered 2 2-56 taps and die and a 4-40 die from Hobbylinc. Websitesays they are Japanese. Hope they're good ones. Couldn't find 2-56taps or dies locally at all, and most web tool stores have them insets with taps and dies I already have.
I even stopped at the local Acehardware that carries Irwin-Hanson and they didn't go below 4-40 tapsand no 4-40 dies.


Chuck
 
chucketn said:
Anyone use K&S taps and dies? Justordered 2 2-56 taps and die and a 4-40 die from Hobbylinc. Websitesays they are Japanese. Hope they're good ones. Couldn't find 2-56taps or dies locally at all, and most web tool stores have them insets with taps and dies I already have.
I even stopped at the local Acehardware that carries Irwin-Hanson and they didn't go below 4-40 tapsand no 4-40 dies.


Chuck
Click to expand...


I bought K&S 3-48, 2-56, 1-72 taps and dies. They have worked well for me in aluminum, and I've used the 3-48 die on a stainless rod. The threads cut well and work with commercially available screws and nuts. Not sure what else there is to it?

Walt
 
Thanks Walt. I was hoping for a response like yours. Maybe I didn't throw my money away... Here's hoping.

Chuck
 
Hi... New guy here, name is Ray.

Taps & Dies (and I assume you mean hand taps and not spiral or gun type)... I've been up & down this area with a fine tooth comb. First, they are (unfortunately) expendable and have a finite lifetime no matter how well you treat them so, if you don't like the ones you have -there will be others. Most important things are to use the proper cutting fluid (not regular oil on steel. kero or WD-40 is fine for aluminum), advance and backup frequently (about every quarter turn) and make sure the hole (or rod) is properly sized for no more than roughly 85% engagement. That said, I've had very good luck with the Irwin brand of self-centering taps. Only good for thru-holes or deep holes that don't require full threading but, they have a very unique tip formation that really self-centers well. Believe it or not, I've had very good luck with the following Harbor Freight tap/die set. They carry many sets and some are pure JUNK but these two sets have consistently performed well for me. They do not have the nice self-centering feature but they seem to hold up. I've tapped a good 30-40 holes with some of them and they're still sharp.

They are part numbers 45451 and 45452. http://www.harborfreight.com/45-piece-sae-titanium-nitride-coated-alloy-steel-tap-die-set-41451.html

My only problem with these taps is that they don't provide H-ratings but I'm guessing they're H5 or H6 (but I sure would like to know for sure and it's not really possible to measure it).

Spiral and gun taps... That's a whole different ball of wax but once you start auto-tapping, you'll never go back to hand tapping unless you need to follow thru, go deep or clean up an existing thread.

Oh, and Grainger and Global Industrial sell Irwin brand in all sizes.

Ray



chucketn said:
Thanks Walt. I was hoping for a response like yours. Maybe I didn't throw my money away... Here's hoping.

Chuck
Click to expand...
 
I was in an Ace Hardware store today that carried Irwin taps. The smallest theyon display had was 4-40. Asked the owner to check to see if he could order a 2-56 set, and he spent 20 minutes searching his online ordering system, and couldn't find anything!
Had him also check for a Irwin tap socket that I even had the part # for, couldn't find that either... What are ya going to do? When I got home, I used Google to find 2-56 tap and die (K&S) at Hobbylinc.com and ordered.

Chuck
 
Here you go... $3.76... Too bad it will cost you more to ship it than the purchase.
This one's listed as 2B which is weird because they're either L1-3, B or H1-6. If it's 2L, it will cut a pretty tight thread.

http://www.amazon.com/Irwin-Hanson-...qid=1353120573&sr=1-1&keywords=irwin+taps++56

The ones at Grainger are clearly labeled H2 (which is typical for small guys like that) but cost 12 bucks.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/ww...Irwin+tap+56&N=0&GlobalSearch=true&sst=subset

Just out of curiosity, what needs such a small hole? I cringe when stuff like this comes my way.



chucketn said:
I was in an Ace Hardware store today that carried Irwin taps. The smallest theyon display had was 4-40. Asked the owner to check to see if he could order a 2-56 set, and he spent 20 minutes searching his online ordering system, and couldn't find anything!
Had him also check for a Irwin tap socket that I even had the part # for, couldn't find that either... What are ya going to do? When I got home, I used Google to find 2-56 tap and die (K&S) at Hobbylinc.com and ordered.

Chuck
Click to expand...
 
OMG, you need the dies too? That's gotta be like micro-surgery. Good luck with that because it's where I break down. Pretty sure my threshold of patience ends at #4.


chucketn said:
Ray, I needed the small taps and dies for model steam engines I'm building.

Chuck
Click to expand...
 
I ordered 2-56 taps and die from KBC Tools, along with 3-48, 4-40 and 5-40. I don't recall what brand name they are but they are great quality.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top