Quality Taps with drill size on them?

[Tundra Twin Track]

I picked up some taps at a garage sale and was surprised to see the drill size on some of them,it was mentioned on here a while back if drill size was on tap they would low quality.I was very shocked when I tryed these they went thru 1/2 MS like butter,I even tapped a 5/8" NF with drill press holding it in the drill Chuck.I also tapped thru 3/4" sockets with 1/4" NF gold coloured ones in left side of pic,name could not read on them.

In bottom pic is what my collection is mostly,why would I bother with having these styles when the long spiral flute would do both semi bottoming and thru tapping.

[Alan Smith]

A lot of those look like UK made.

I'm tending only to buy spiral flute taps now. They just work so well.

[Tundra Twin Track]

A lot of those look like UK made.

I'm tending only to buy spiral flute taps now. They just work so well.

Ya the Blue Merlin,Blue Wizard are UK very sharp I think old stock as came from a old manufacturing shop.Got about 20 End Mills as well with these mostly the old Clarkson 3/4" to 1-1/2" they are sharp as well.


Yes I think that is what I will buying as well those long spiral ones.

[epicfail48]

Cant see how having the drill size printed on the taps would indicate that theyre low quality. Think its a correlation vs causation sort of things, yes the lower quality brands usually have the printing and the higher quality stuff doesnt for some reason, but the printing doesnt guarantee the quality.

Excellent score though! Really wish i could afford to pick up some spiral flute taps, theyre just so bloody expensive

[Tundra Twin Track]

Cant see how having the drill size printed on the taps would indicate that theyre low quality. Think its a correlation vs causation sort of things, yes the lower quality brands usually have the printing and the higher quality stuff doesnt for some reason, but the printing doesnt guarantee the quality.


Excellent score though! Really wish i could afford to pick up some spiral flute taps, theyre just so bloody expensive

I wonder if age has anything to do with it?
I could not pass on these $20 for taps& endmills.

[754]

Those 2 in the lower pic look like Guhring, a very good tap..

[Willy]

Nice score!
Depending on application I love my spiral flute and spiral point taps. Perhaps a few more bucks up front but a real pleasure to use after enduring the drama of cheap taps. LOL

Also note the band color on a tap indicates it's application.

Two page pdf indicating what the colors signify.

[DR]

Cant see how having the drill size printed on the taps would indicate that theyre low quality. .................................................. ......................................

It's not an unreasonable conclusion to draw since taps marked with drill sizes usually are low quality.

It doesn't seem wise to put the drill size on. Doing it implies that's the correct drill for all applications of the tap. Drill size should be determined by class of thread, percent of thread and length of engagement among other things.

[Willy]

It's not an unreasonable conclusion to draw since taps marked with drill sizes usually are low quality.

It doesn't seem wise to put the drill size on. Doing it implies that's the correct drill for all applications of the tap. Drill size should be determined by class of thread, percent of thread and length of engagement among other things.

Very well said.
I've got a copy of this chart laminated and hanging in the shop just for that reason.

http://balax.com/sites/default/files...rill-Sizes.pdf

[Mark Rand]

I have two or three taps that have the tapping drill size marked on them, only noticed a couple of days ago, when using one. They are quality ones and quite new (bought new last year). Better quality than many of my other taps. I see no issue with marking the recommended (65%-70%) tapping drill size on the tap. If I am tapping aluminium I might use a smaller drill, but if it's a form tap, as one of them is, that isn't going to happen.

Taps for different classes of thread will have different makings on them...

[Tundra Twin Track]

Nice score!
Depending on application I love my spiral flute and spiral point taps. Perhaps a few more bucks up front but a real pleasure to use after enduring the drama of cheap taps. LOL

Also note the band color on a tap indicates it's application.


Yes I really appreciate using these style of taps,bought a bunch of hand taps a year before I first used a power tap.That was a waste of money.Is it my imagination,does the spiral flute take less power than spiral point .

Two page pdf indicating what the colors signify.

It's not an unreasonable conclusion to draw since taps marked with drill sizes usually are low quality.

It doesn't seem wise to put the drill size on. Doing it implies that's the correct drill for all applications of the tap. Drill size should be determined by class of thread, percent of thread and length of engagement among other things.

I am guilty of using the highest percent of thread,I like the chart for different percentage scale.

I have two or three taps that have the tapping drill size marked on them, only noticed a couple of days ago, when using one. They are quality ones and quite new (bought new last year). Better quality than many of my other taps. I see no issue with marking the recommended (65%-70%) tapping drill size on the tap. If I am tapping aluminium I might use a smaller drill, but if it's a form tap, as one of them is, that isn't going to happen.

Taps for different classes of thread will have different makings on them...

What is a form tap.

[RichR]

What is a form tap.

A standard tap cuts when making threads and creates chips in the process. A form tap displaces the metal when making threads and creates no chips.
I think you might also need to use a different drill chart for form taps.

[Paul Alciatore]

Tap quality and having the drill size on them are two things that are completely unrelated. You obviously never took any logic classes.

I picked up some taps at a garage sale and was surprised to see the drill size on some of them,it was mentioned on here a while back if drill size was on tap they would low quality.I was very shocked when I tryed these they went thru 1/2 MS like butter,I even tapped a 5/8" NF with drill press holding it in the drill Chuck.I also tapped thru 3/4" sockets with 1/4" NF gold coloured ones in left side of pic,name could not read on them.

In bottom pic is what my collection is mostly,why would I bother with having these styles when the long spiral flute would do both semi bottoming and thru tapping.

[cameron]

Tap quality and having the drill size on them are two things that are completely unrelated. You obviously never took any logic classes.

An overly critical person might remark that those two sentences suggest that you may have failed the ones you took.

[epicfail48]

It's not an unreasonable conclusion to draw since taps marked with drill sizes usually are low quality.

It doesn't seem wise to put the drill size on. Doing it implies that's the correct drill for all applications of the tap. Drill size should be determined by class of thread, percent of thread and length of engagement among other things.

Correlation and causation, I mentioned that in the part of my post that got cropped out of the quote. Drill size being marked on the tap doesn't guarantee it's a poor quality tap any more than a type r sticker on a Toyota means it's any faster.

No reason the drill size couldn't be on there, just do what the ones that already do and put the most common size for the most common class of fit. I'd much rather have the recommended size for 90% of applications in hand on the top than I would have to go hunting for a handbook to look up the same information, but also have the information for 6 other fit classes on hand