What is best and easiest tapping method?

[nightowl499]

Not sure exactly what you are asking, but there are lots of ways to tap. The most obvious is to simply hand tap by holding the tap in a tap handle, starting it square and breaking the chip every half turn or so. You can also use a tapping head in a drill press or mill. My favorite method is to power tap in the lathe or mill, or with a cordless drill. This requires a two flute spiral point tap, a good grade of tapping fluid and a light grip in the chuck of the machine driving the tap. I'm planning on doing a video on power tapping over the next few days. It's the method I use most of the time.

Tom

cant wiat to see the video ,

 

[Frank Ford]

There are lots of ways to tap by power or hand, but BY FAR the most significant issue for me was the tap itself. Once I discovered high speed steel spiral point taps, I was hooked.

Giving and throwing away all my old Hanson, Craftsman, and other carbon steel taps was the single most significant thing I did to improve my tapping ability, confidence and accuracy. My problem of jamming and breaking taps was eliminated immediately, and I even had far less difficulty guiding them by hand. Lubrication is necessary for good results, but a good tap with any old oil works way better by hand compared to a cheap tap with the best technique and lube.

 

[metalman]

Jon,
To answer your question, the easiest and cheapest way to tap a hole without a lathe or drill press... IMHO is to use a tapping block to get the tap started.. You can buy a tap guide like this for around $25-$30:

Or you can make one easy enough. It can just is a piece of scrap flat bar with a hole the size of thew tap to keep the tap perfectly perpendicular to the work. To make the tapping block with out a drill press, drill a hole the size of the tap at least twice the thickness of the diameter of the tap. You can use another scrap of flat bar with a vee grove cut or filed on one side as a guide to keep the drill perpendicular. Then simply position the tapping guide over the hole on the work that needs to be tapped. Apply tapping fluid and start tapping the hole. After several threads have been cut, the tapping block can be removed and the tap will guide itself.

My other favorite low cost tapping guide is a tap handle that has telescopic guide base. I liked my first one so much I got another one when it was on sale. They cost about $45 now.

Like others, I'm a big fan of good spiral point machine taps too.

 

[Philco]

There are lots of ways to tap by power or hand, but BY FAR the most significant issue for me was the tap itself. Once I discovered high speed steel spiral point taps, I was hooked.

Giving and throwing away all my old Hanson, Craftsman, and other carbon steel taps was the single most significant thing I did to improve my tapping ability, confidence and accuracy. My problem of jamming and breaking taps was eliminated immediately, and I even had far less difficulty guiding them by hand. Lubrication is necessary for good results, but a good tap with any old oil works way better by hand compared to a cheap tap with the best technique and lube.

Frank is absolutely correct about the high speed steel spiral point taps. The first time I used a quality tap over the cheap tap I thought I had drilled the hole oversize because the tap went in so easy. There is nothing more frustrating than spending a bunch of time on a project & then breaking a tap off in the last stages. Save the cheap taps to clean out threaded holes that are rusty or are full of dirt.
Phil