I just spent an hour drilling and tapping #10 sized holes in the end of 3/8" rods. It went so smoothly now that I've dialed in the lathe. Of course when I was done and went to put the screws in the holes they didn't fit because I was using a 10-32 tap and the screws I had were 10-24. ##$^!!!
That led to an impromptu cleaning of the tap/die drawers. I've only got about 50 dies but I seem to have about 30 pounds of taps. I printed out a few online articles about the different types - pipe threads, NC, fine etc but I'm still stuck on a few. I've got one that says it's 1/2-13 NC, and another that says 1/2-13 U.S.S. Am I right in thinking that these are one and the same, just that the U.S.S. one was made sometime before the designations were changed? And does that work for anything else I come across that's marked U.S.S. - I just look at the actual size and that will determine if it's fine or coarse? Or is a 1/2"-13 U.S.S. from the good-old days when an inch was longer/shorter than it is today?
And for the pipe taps - I'm finding them marked "pipe", NPT, NPS, and I think one that just says PT. Is there anyway else to tell these apart from the regular taps besides the obvious ones where it says 1/8" and yet it's fatter than my thumb? Are any of them usable for non-pipe applications? I've never threaded a pipe in my life and don't anticipate ever doing so - so I'm inclined to toss them all in a bag and bury them on a shelf somewhere.
thanks
Joe
That led to an impromptu cleaning of the tap/die drawers. I've only got about 50 dies but I seem to have about 30 pounds of taps. I printed out a few online articles about the different types - pipe threads, NC, fine etc but I'm still stuck on a few. I've got one that says it's 1/2-13 NC, and another that says 1/2-13 U.S.S. Am I right in thinking that these are one and the same, just that the U.S.S. one was made sometime before the designations were changed? And does that work for anything else I come across that's marked U.S.S. - I just look at the actual size and that will determine if it's fine or coarse? Or is a 1/2"-13 U.S.S. from the good-old days when an inch was longer/shorter than it is today?
And for the pipe taps - I'm finding them marked "pipe", NPT, NPS, and I think one that just says PT. Is there anyway else to tell these apart from the regular taps besides the obvious ones where it says 1/8" and yet it's fatter than my thumb? Are any of them usable for non-pipe applications? I've never threaded a pipe in my life and don't anticipate ever doing so - so I'm inclined to toss them all in a bag and bury them on a shelf somewhere.
thanks
Joe