STOP Buying Standard Taps...Buy This Instead

Not all taps are created equal, watch this video and make life easier.

****Affordable self-paced welding courses taught by me****

Here are links to products used in this video. These are paid links which provide a small commission to the channel.

[rusty_restorations]

Cunningham's Law states "the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer."

[Mtnmanmike]

Another thing to consider is tap strength. Four flute taps are notorious for breaking off in the hole. I usually prefer a two flute tap, as it is far stronger. Another tap is the roll form tap. It requires a different drill size, but you can tap some softer materials, and they are hard to break.

[fastbusiness]

Excellent. This is the first time I've seen the spiral flute and spiral point taps used for hand tapping. I'm sold already. I have large set of straight flute taps and now I want the others too.

[spevakdesigns]

When you switch from plug tap to the bottoming spiral tap for a blind hole use a compressed air gun/blower to clear the chips from the hole. I also like using air to clean chips from my taps between holes as it cleans and cools simultaneously. Great video. I've found the quality and wear off the tap in use to be very significant in how they perform. Covering thread percentage on a drill/tap chart may help some viewers. I generally shoot for 70-75% depending on the material I'm working with and the depth of hole.

[pedrowhack-a-mole]

Having broken a few taps in my days as a machinist, I prefer spiral point taps even for blind holes when I'm hand tapping. They have the strongest profile of any cut tap and are way less prone to breakage than spiral flute taps. Yes, they cause the chips to bunch up in the bottom of the hole, but if you stop before they are totally impacted, they can be picked or blown out. The little extra time it takes is a lot less than breaking a tap would cost.

[mdunbar]

Word of caution about the spiral flute taps: they are MUCH weaker than a straight flute are a very easy to break. I'm not advising against them, they are great for blind holes, just some advice from a machinist.

[chrisose]

While I have a few older straight taps still in my box, the majority of my tapping is done with machine taps or spiral taps. For thin metal I use drill-taps which incorporate a drill bit, a spiral tap and a deburr in one tool.
Regardless of what style of tap you use, the most important thing is to use the right cutting fluid for the metal you are tapping.

[Kevin-cycv]

I'm really keen on buying my first welder and I've now gone back over lots of your videos I've really enjoyed watching them and just wanted to say thanks, they're great and really informative

[stewartdunkley]

Good points Tim!! As a retired machinist I truly believe in buying the best tools you can afford. In my opinion OSG and EMUGE make the best taps and using a quality tapping fluid will help a lot. Tapping metal is a skill and you have to get a "feel" for it especially in the smaller thread sizes. I enjoy your videos and keep up the great content!

[mattzilch]

I started watching your channel to get some beginner welding tips but continued watching because you share a huge amount of useful information in a very accessible manner. I appreciate your channel and your attitude. Thank you so much for making these videos.

[CatmanFS]

wanted to mention, at an old machinist shop i found an old can of Tap Magic for aluminum and thought it was odd as I had never seen it before. I grabbed it but didn't think it would make much of a difference. After tapping 100+ holes in Al for some parts I was making, it makes a BIG difference and could not have finished the project without it.

[knowledgeiskings]

Very well done. I was that same stupid boat and having a hard time hand tapping but now I’m gonna buy that set and retry. Glad I found this.

[wdtony]

We always had high speed steel spiral fluted taps in the machine shop. They’re awesome. Unfortunately it’s just far too expensive to buy a high quality tap set like this for home use, in my opinion.

[spiderbrandt]

Hi, I've been using the what you call the spiral point tap for most of my life and I'm 69, I'm a Fitter & Turner and we call it a Gun Tap they are Awesome as was your demo, it was nice to see someone explain the difference's

[CEKR]

First time watching one of your videos. I'm a cnc machinist and use some pretty crazy taps everyday, I used a $150 M6 tap yesterday. This was a great video very informative. Another type of tap is roll form, they are meant for cnc machines as the hole size is more critical and they are harder to start by hand but if you have a very deep hole to tap they can be worth it as they don't make chips at all.

[DTSVK]

I was tought about threading holes two times. First lesson happened 40 years ago and second today.

[Bobbakerfield]

As a non technical person in the mechanical and machining world I found this video very useful. I've been thinking about buying a tap and die set to help with some of my 3D printed parts for the screws and nuts I make. I'm glad I didn't rush out to buy anything before getting some more information. Looks like I still have more room for learning before I make a purchase to figure out exactly what I need to be useful.

[danielchambers]

Wow . . . did not know this Tim . . . as a former auto tech, I found the info helpful and intriguing . . . thank you!

[galileo_rs]

Something that I did not know until recently: Around these parts, if you go to a good hardware store and buy a good quality tap you get a pack of 3. Duplicates right? There is a trick. If you look at them closely you will notice that they are all different, the taper and the depth of teeth are different. You are supposed to use them in sequence when threading hard material.

[winstonsmith]

Brilliant work as always. Unless you’ve gotten solid training from a real live machinist you are always a bit sketchy about tapping threads. Thanks to you, I have a much better grasp of this whole voodoo/juju subject and can proceed with less abject terror!