1/4-28 Tap
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Hired Gun
Well-Known Member
Anything that cost $30 and up from MSC works really good. Avoid the Brownells and Midway taps.
IAHNTR
Well-Known Member
Best one I have used is made by OSG.
PPR
Well-Known Member
+1 for OSG
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
a lot of what is the best tap is what your tapping with and what your using for a lubricant. I like Tap Free and Anchor Lube, and a couple others that seem to escape me in my old age. I prefer gun taps, and these make a serious difference. If you have no idea what a gun tap is, forget the idea it has anything to do with a firearm. The worst taps I've seen were hard chromed! Some of the best I've seen were Tin coated, but the expense is really not warranted for gunsmith work. One of my favorites was the four flute spiral tap just because it gets rid of the chips without jamming up in the flutes. The chip path is extremely critical when trying to get a good accurate thread.
Years back I found a scrap tub at work that was full of brand new taps in just about all sizes from a #6-32 to 1"-14. I mean hundreds and hundreds of them. There was a bunch that came in an oddball package that cut steel like hot butter. No idea who made them as they were unmarked. Wish I'd hung onto all of them! I've used a lot of Bendix, and always had good luck with them. AVOID the ones out of China! There are a lot of good brands out there, and if you buy quality your ahead of the game. Don't be afraid to pitch a tap in the trash! There is no joy in removing a broken tap, and the smaller the harder to remove! I had two "sinker" EDMs, and the only thing done on one of them was to burn out broken taps and easy outs! Cheaper to toss the piece of junk in the end.
The next issue you'll encounter is the metal (or plastic) your cutting. 10xx CRS has probably broken more taps than anything even though it's pretty soft. I hate tapping the stuff to this very day. It's gummy, and often has a hard spot here and there (specially Asian steels). Aluminum would be next. I've seen taps literally pull the threads out of the hole as you remove the tap (almost always clogged tap flutes). I like a roll tap for aluminum personally, but that's another beast in itself. Another fun one is UHMV. Still all these tap well with a good (generic) quality gun tap. See the pattern?
When I was employed, and got myself a new apprentice; I used to start them out of the drill press. Had them drilling holes and not burning up drills. Then we'd take all those holes and run a tap thru them by hand. I marked the holes the kid got things too hot, or he should have changed the drill bit. He soon learned the error of his ways when he broke a tap. I've been known to pitch his tap wrench in the trash and give him a good one. I'd buy him a tap block to guide his tap square, and he didn't break taps all of a sudden (lots of money saved down the road). Then we'd make a tap block out of a piece steel for small stuff. A crooked thread is worthless! If your drill a hole in something that might work harden I recommend drill the hole about .020" small. Then go into it with the tap drill. You'll find the threads are better and easier to tap.
I'll take a good look in my stash to see what I have, and let you all know.
gary
Years back I found a scrap tub at work that was full of brand new taps in just about all sizes from a #6-32 to 1"-14. I mean hundreds and hundreds of them. There was a bunch that came in an oddball package that cut steel like hot butter. No idea who made them as they were unmarked. Wish I'd hung onto all of them! I've used a lot of Bendix, and always had good luck with them. AVOID the ones out of China! There are a lot of good brands out there, and if you buy quality your ahead of the game. Don't be afraid to pitch a tap in the trash! There is no joy in removing a broken tap, and the smaller the harder to remove! I had two "sinker" EDMs, and the only thing done on one of them was to burn out broken taps and easy outs! Cheaper to toss the piece of junk in the end.
The next issue you'll encounter is the metal (or plastic) your cutting. 10xx CRS has probably broken more taps than anything even though it's pretty soft. I hate tapping the stuff to this very day. It's gummy, and often has a hard spot here and there (specially Asian steels). Aluminum would be next. I've seen taps literally pull the threads out of the hole as you remove the tap (almost always clogged tap flutes). I like a roll tap for aluminum personally, but that's another beast in itself. Another fun one is UHMV. Still all these tap well with a good (generic) quality gun tap. See the pattern?
When I was employed, and got myself a new apprentice; I used to start them out of the drill press. Had them drilling holes and not burning up drills. Then we'd take all those holes and run a tap thru them by hand. I marked the holes the kid got things too hot, or he should have changed the drill bit. He soon learned the error of his ways when he broke a tap. I've been known to pitch his tap wrench in the trash and give him a good one. I'd buy him a tap block to guide his tap square, and he didn't break taps all of a sudden (lots of money saved down the road). Then we'd make a tap block out of a piece steel for small stuff. A crooked thread is worthless! If your drill a hole in something that might work harden I recommend drill the hole about .020" small. Then go into it with the tap drill. You'll find the threads are better and easier to tap.
I'll take a good look in my stash to see what I have, and let you all know.
gary
Canadian Bushman
Well-Known Member
Ymw spiral point taps for hand tapping ( spiral point not spiral flute )
Greenfield taps for machine tapping.
Moly dee from castrol is about as good as it gets for tapping fuid but stinks and stains, tap magic works fine as long as the materials are free machining.
* not to over complicate things but reviewing thread classes and "gh" values may aid in meeting your requirements.
If not class 2, with a gh3 fit is pretty standard.
Greenfield taps for machine tapping.
Moly dee from castrol is about as good as it gets for tapping fuid but stinks and stains, tap magic works fine as long as the materials are free machining.
* not to over complicate things but reviewing thread classes and "gh" values may aid in meeting your requirements.
If not class 2, with a gh3 fit is pretty standard.
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
There's a booklet you can get from the U.S. Dept. of Standards about threads, and thread fits. My Congressman got it for my dad. He gave it to me. A must have booklet.
Dull taps and chips crammed into the flutes are your enemy. You have to get rid of the chip, or if your lucky; the chip string. Gummy metals are a pain to machine normally. Let alone running a tap in it. This is where the tap fluid is critical. Best for small stuff is trichloroethylene 1.1.1. Threads come out tighter, but can also be tricky. Old ( when I was a kid) made their own using hog grease, sulfur, a trichloroethylene. I have seen them use turpentine instead of trichloroethylene. Threads come out a beautiful satin finish.
Dull taps and chips crammed into the flutes are your enemy. You have to get rid of the chip, or if your lucky; the chip string. Gummy metals are a pain to machine normally. Let alone running a tap in it. This is where the tap fluid is critical. Best for small stuff is trichloroethylene 1.1.1. Threads come out tighter, but can also be tricky. Old ( when I was a kid) made their own using hog grease, sulfur, a trichloroethylene. I have seen them use turpentine instead of trichloroethylene. Threads come out a beautiful satin finish.
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
same thing. I remember the old Tap Free, and it was mostly trichloroethylene. Didn't work all that well on stainless steel, and maybe aluminum as well. Been gone along time.
gary
gary
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