Tap and Die set

+1 on buying individuals from an industrial supplier. Just Google industrial tool supply and call the one closest to you. Tell them what you want and pay what it costs to get a quality HSS tool, most suppliers will have different grades and can tell you which to buy for your use.

Taping holes in metal can be one of the most frustrating things we get to do. Buy the good stuff and use plenty of oil.

John
 
If you are in Melbourne there are many good tool suppliers. What are you going to use a M2 tap for? Making clocks? Make a list of the common sizes that you will use and buy as individual sets. Those boxed sets usually only have intermediate taps which are hard to start and don't bottom. I have a personal preference for Volkel serial taps: https://voelkel.com/en/ One of my favourite suppliers is in South Island and he is an importer with a good selection and overnight service but I have bought from Volkel direct and taps and dies have arrived within a week.
Regardless of who you buy from HSS are the way to go. Buying what you need as need arises will soon build up a nice collection. Check out secondhand tool dealers as well as they often have a good selection and you can find some real gems at good prices.
$368.94 will buy you a lot of good quality in actually useful sizes.
 
OK, lot's for me to digest. I want to make some handles for the mini lathe, I will used the taps and dies to make the threads to the new handles such as this:


This will be a significant task for me as I am new. And no I will not cast my own alloy LOL. I think I will just buy the 2 I need for now.
 
paul_cpu said:
OK, lot's for me to digest. I want to make some handles for the mini lathe, I will used the taps and dies to make the threads to the new handles such as this:


This will be a significant task for me as I am new. And no I will not cast my own alloy LOL. I think I will just buy the 2 I need for now.
Click to expand...
Wise decision.
 
I have purchased sets of tap and dies before. Use a fraction of the taps and never seem to have the right one in the set for those special jobs.
The last set I bought was almost 35 years ago. I do buy individual taps or dies as I need them for the job. Oddly enough I have a lot of them but I would never call them a set as they seem to be in the strange realm along with many of the standards. I have taps down to 4-40 and up to 3/4-24, but not every size.
 
I bought a Bosch tap and die set about 25 years ago that I have been very pleased with. I've used it heavily and so far have only broken one tap (1/4-20) that I replaced with an Irwin. The product information says it's made from "high quality tool steel, heat-treated and tempered".
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No idea where it was made, but given the age and quality, I'm guessing USA.

About a year ago, I learned about power tapping from an Oxtool video. Tom Lipton made it very clear that should only be done with good quality 2- or 3-flute taps, depending on size. I bought three different sizes of Hertel HSS taps.
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I made a 1" thick aluminum index table that had 120 1/4-20 through holes tapped in it. I power-tapped all using a HSS tap and didn't break a single tap during the operation. I seriously doubt I could have done that if I were not using HSS.

Bottom line: I'm glad I have the Bosch set. It's not HSS, but it's very good quality. And the only time I broke a tap, it was my fault because I was being too aggressive. But it has its limitations. For applications like the index table, I probably could have used the 1/4-20 from the Bosch set, but the operation would have been hugely more cumbersome.

If I had it to do over, I think I would have bought in the same fashion I did. When I got the Bosch set, I needed it for general mechanic-style applications: a likelihood that there would be a variety of tap or die operations in who-knows-what sizes. A good quality set made a lot of sense. (I haven't looked at sets in quite awhile, so I have no idea of the cost-efficiency of this strategy anymore.) However, for specific applications of a common size, especially if the purpose is repetitive, I'd go with HSS.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Regards,
Terry
 
Sutton make very good tap and die products. Their carbon steel sets are better quality than many non-professional products - hence the relatively high price. If you are threading aluminium or even low carbon steel they do a pretty good job. I use Sutton HSS taps which are superb quality and quite expensive but rather than buying a full set I buy the sizes I use frequently and add to that when I need another size. For taps I buy in sets of 3 - taper, intermediate and bottom.
 
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