Where to buy mid-grade Bottom Taps

Just for fun

Just for fun

Tim Young
H-M Lifetime Diamond Member
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Oct 7, 2020
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I need to buy a couple of metric taps, M3x.5 Plug tap, M4x.7 Bottom and plug tap and a M6x1.0 Bottom and Plug tap. Looking for mid quality spiral point or spiral flute taps. Ace Hardware is probably the lowest quality stuff, and they don't have anything in the spiral point type; McMaster Carr is probably top of the line or close to it.

I would kind of like to buy something more in the middle of the road.

Looking for suggestions.

Tim
 
McMaster taps are typically Widia brand - not exactly top of the line, but definitely very good taps. I think they are fairly priced. For spiral flute I would stick with Guhring - a couple $$ more but worth it. If you're doing stainless, my recommendations would be different.

Some suggestions:

M3 Plug Conventional: https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/77429371
M3 Spiral Point: https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/07684517

M4 Bottoming Conventional: https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/02383404
M4 Spiral Flute: https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/52362365

M6 Plug Conventional: https: //www.mscdirect.com/product/details/07683402
M6 Spiral Point: https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/07681224
M6: Bottoming Conventional: https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/07684798
M6: Bottoming Spiral Flute: https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/52362373
 
David, what do you use for SS? I have Greenfield taps but no spirals.
 
If I were you I would buy a better tap. They are less likely to break. Another thing I do to reduce the chance of not breaking taps is to drill the hole the next size bigger. you may loose 10% hold. I would buy taps here. There is probably a store near you too.
www.digiedition.fastenal.com

TOOL TALK: Taps and Chamfers - July 2019

TOOLTALK Taps and Chamfers JULY 2019 Taps are used to make threads in existing or pre-drilled holes. The chamfer of a tap is the tapering of threads to dis
www.digiedition.fastenal.com
 
Aukai said:
David, what do you use for SS? I have Greenfield taps but no spirals.
Click to expand...
With 304 and 316, technique is just as important as the tap quality. Both materials will work harden quickly if the tap is "pecked" (start, reverse, start again, etc.) which is the most typical reason for tap breakage. So I only machine tap those materials which is why I set up my mill with momentary forward/reverse buttons specifically for tapping. as well as auto-reversing. And I plunge to full depth before reversing. Lube is your friend here. And I spot SS with 140° spotting drill and pilot drill exclusively with cobalt 135° points.

At M6 and larger, the risk of breaking a tap in 304 or 316 is much less than on smaller sizes. So at M6 and above, I generally use high grade HSS Morse taps that are either steam oxide or TiN coated - these are available from Maritool. Anything smaller than M6 I use cobalt steam oxidized taps available through McMaster.

M4 and M3 deep bottom tapping in 304 is the most challenging since the tap needs to be spiral flute to extract the chips, and I typically pilot drill 0.1mm oversize in those situations if possible. On M4 or smaller, if at all possible, I will drill through the material and use spiral point tap even it it takes longer and requires longer drilling time, just so I can avoid using the more fragile spiral flute taps.

I'm sure there are other formulas and tap brands that work for others, but this is what I have come to after lots of broken taps and burnt-up drills.
 
I buy quality taps on Ebay all the time for way less than retail. I just bought OSG, YG1, Morse, Union Butterfield in the last couple weeks. I was buying for stock so buying retail is out because I'm not charging them to a customer.
 
I buy most of my taps, inserts and end mills from www.carbidedepot.com. They have some top name brand and some “house” brands that are less expensive but IMO they are good quality and better than you can get at the hardware store. They are also very helpful if you call them. There can be a lot of options for some items and if you tell them what you need they will help you find a few options on their site. Most products direct ship from the manufacturer.
 
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Batmanacw said:
I buy quality taps on Ebay all the time for way less than retail. I just bought OSG, YG1, Morse, Union Butterfield in the last couple weeks. I was buying for stock so buying retail is out because I'm not charging them to a customer.
Click to expand...
By in large eBay is the source for most of my taps and drills. Imperial taps and drills are usually 1/3 the cost of the same products through industrial suppliers.

For some reason it's different for metric taps and drills. I just did an eBay search for several of the taps mentioned by davidpbest. Almost every one was at or above the retail price from MSC and McMaster
 
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