Advise On Removing A Removing Broken Tap.

[seasicksteve]

Get you three or four solid carbide four flute center cutting end mills. Chuck up on one in a collet, line up with the hole with the broken tap. Run it at 2000 RPM if you can get up to that speed. Apply your favorite cutting oil and gently peck at the tap until you get it all removed. It helps if you can grind the tap flush with the part. I removed a 5-44 tap a while back using this method.

This^^^^^ I had a broken 6-48 tap in a blind hole yesterday, I used the above method worked just fine. BTW it took me two endmills to get it out those little suckers break so easily

 

[Jay-z]

What material is it stuck in? How deep? and how many flutes does it have ? is it a through hole?

About one quarter of an inch of the tap is missing and it is stuck in steel. It is a two flute, and yes it is a through hole.
Jay

 

[P T Schram]

About one quarter of an inch of the tap is missing and it is stuck in steel. It is a two flute, and yes it is a through hole.
Jay

Sharp (carbide) drill from the opposite end and Bob's your uncle!

 

[Rick Leslie]

You can use a center punch to shatter the tap and dig out the pieces or, in this case, drive them through the hole. if you don't want to beat on the tap piece, order some carbide dental burs for your Dremel. They're cheap and plentiful on ebay. Works great but you have to be careful. And have a good set of eyes (or magnifier).
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...tal+bur.TRS0&_nkw=carbide+dental+bur&_sacat=0

 

[kd4gij]

Ok first if you have a small needle nose plyers grind the tips down and try to get a hold of it. If that don't work chip it out with a small center punch.

 

[Jay-z]

Ok first if you have a small needle nose plyers grind the tips down and try to get a hold of it. If that don't work chip it out with a small center punch.

Tried the pliers, didn't work .

Jay

 

[4GSR]

I've never had luck with needle nose pliers or punch and hammer on taps this small. At one time, my family had a old tap burner we used to remove broken taps with. Sometimes, I wish I still had that tap burner.

 

[Bill C.]

In addition to the suggestions above:

Might be time to build yourself a mini EDM (spark eroder) broken tap remover. It's been on my list for awhile. There are a couple of threads in H-M addressing this.



I have removed a lot of taps with a carbide burr and a Dremel.

Another way is to remove the material around the tap by drilling a series of small holes, then just make a threaded plug to replace the material. Then redrill and tap again.

A Heli-Coil or other thread insert might be your friend here.
.
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We used to break small taps for time to time at GE. Depending on how busy the EDM shop the Boss would bring the part back after a few hours with pieces of the tap.

 

[Jay-z]

Well, I finally got it out . I want to thank everyone for their wonderful ideas. I ended up taking a Dremel with a cut off wheel and made to surgical cuts on either side of the tap. It was just enough to be able to knock it out with a punch . The cuts won't matter much, I still need to mill down that section anyway . Once again thanks .

Jay

Really like the EDM idea.