Dealmonger: Piloted Tap Wrench $10

8 Responses to Dealmonger: Piloted Tap Wrench $10

1. Bart'sDad says:

   January 2, 2009 at 11:54 am

   Wouldn’t using it in a cordless drill kinda defeat the purpose?

   Reply
2. PutnamEco says:

   January 2, 2009 at 12:17 pm

   If your considering tapping with your drill press you should consider something like a tapmatic

   http://www.tapmatic.com/

   Reply
3. John T. Shea says:

   January 2, 2009 at 7:13 pm

   Tapmatic’s are great for a machine shop but expensive for home workshop. Bart’s Dad is right on the money about the cordless drill as the pilot is used to keep the tap straight. If your going to use the machine power then you might as well just chuck the tap.

   Reply
4. fred says:

   January 3, 2009 at 1:26 pm

   There is a fairly good article online about machine tapping:

   http://www.cuttingtoolengineering.com/dynamic.articles.php?id=198

   In our metalworking shop we have never graduated to CNC machinery and still use an old Bridgeport machine for repetitive tapping operations. The machine has a Morse taper chuck and we have several different tap holders that convert the square shank to the Morse taper.

   For one or two tapping operations, for small sizes, we stick with hand tapping. Paying attention to tap perpendicularity, when starting the tap, is an important skill to learn. We have quite an inventory of fractional and metric taps for different materials and applications – having stock of the most used sized in starting, plug and bottoming configurations. I personally like the T-Handle style of tap wrench pictured – and started my career using the Starrett brand or ones that came with the Greenfield sets, but switched to General Tool’s ratcheting variety. Some other mechanics like the Starrett # 91 series which can provide more torque (sometimes too much – and oops a broken tap!). In the event of broken taps – it’s handy that we have a set of Walton tap removers in the shop. We don’t fabricate anything that precious that we need to resort to electric discharge machining to remove a broken tap that the Walton tools can’t handle – preferring to start over.

   In the field, we also sometimes need to hand tap a hole or two by hand – or for larger sizes we’ve used a Bosch dedicated tapping drill (may no longer be made).

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5. Steve W. says:

   January 3, 2009 at 1:35 pm

   The point is not, I think, to use the drill press power, but to hold the tap wrench in the exact position of the drill bit used to drill the hole. This makes the tap go precisely into the drilled hole no matter what the angle. Am I wrong?

   See p/n 2550A64 http://www.mcmaster.com/

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6. fred says:

   January 3, 2009 at 2:21 pm

   Steve W:

   You’re exactly right – assuming that the hole was drilled on a drill press.

   Reply
7. Gomez Addams says:

   January 6, 2009 at 9:27 am

   I’m surprised no one has mentioned this old machinist’s trick:

   Most tap handles I have seen (and all the ones I’ve bought) have a small conical divot where the pilot is located on this one. You can mount a center, center-punch, or even a home-made centering pilot in the chuck of your drill press, and use it (bearing down lightly into the centering divot in the back of the tap handle) to hold the tap perpendicular to the work (which is sitting on the drill press table or in the drill press vise) until you get it started.

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8. abdul hakeem says:

   May 2, 2012 at 4:43 am

   hi, iam in searce of a machine which can remove any broken parts or broken pumps in drilled bore wells which is more than 600fts.so, kindly please suggest me which machine i have to purchase for this work.
   waiting for early reply .THANKYOU.

   Reply