Taps and Dies

[Alan .204Participant @alan-204]

Any one recomend a good set of metric tap and dies that won't break the bank.

Regards Alan.

[Alan .204Participant @alan-204]

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

How much do you want to spend? There are some very decent HSS M3 to M12 sets with unsplit dies out there with various suppliers for about £40. Look for a grey storage box with the taps in a row above the dies in the lid with accesories in the base.

Treated with care and a bit of lubrication it will last ages. I got one some 12 years ago for £12 and was using it this morning.

The tap wrench and die holder won't last so well, but decent replacements are not expensive.

Neil

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

Alan – Cannot reccomend any particular supplier but would urge you to go for HSS kit at the least. Cheap carbon steel taps and dies are a complete waste of money unless you want to build models in balsa wood! —— Rik

[Alan .204Participant @alan-204]

Thanks chaps I'm after split dies, I have a set of imperial Snap On dies I bought years ago and they are realy good but its around 250 quid for the metric version and its a bit to much money at the moment so I will keep looking, and look for the HSS steel type.

Regards Alan.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Alan, I'd argue that the unsplit dies I have are so accurate, you don't need split ones. My split BA and ME dies need to be adjusted every time I use them, but I've never cut a metric thread with my dies that wasn't spot on. The taps in these sets are very good too, the taper tap just scores a deep line, the second tap is very 'tight' while the plug tap gives a full on size thread. This means you can go for full thread engagement and also use the second tap for things like expanding mandrels or studs you want to be really solidly in place.

Neil

[Chris HeapyParticipant @chrisheapy71135]

Tracy tools do loose sets, have a look here: **LINK**

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

I was looking Cromwells weekly issue paper and there are some nice bargains in it. There was a set of drills and taps in a box for a reasonable price. Perhaps a visit to your nearest Cromwell depot might be worth it. Ther were several bargains in the milling cutter sets as well.

Clive

Edited By Clive Hartland on 01/06/2013 22:31:04

[M0BNDParticipant @m0bnd]

££££'s can be what you spend, but should be worth it. Taps, I would recommend would be Titex, OSG or similar. Dies I don't have too much experience with but maybe look for the same manufacturer?

Andy.

[AndyfParticipant @andyf]

Get some decent ones for best, but for simple hold-things-together jobs those occasionally found at Aldi and Lidl are surprisingly effective.. I've bought M3, 4, 5, 6 sets which include crude tap and die wrenches there for £5 or £6, and once got a set for M3 to M12 plus 1/8" and 1/4" BSP and all the tapping drills for around £15. You only get one tap (second cut, by the look of it), of each size, so they aren't much use for short blind holes, and the dies aren't split.

Andy

[keithmartParticipant @keithmart]

Hi

I purchased a set of these about 5 years ago. Still going strong, having tapped and died plenty.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/40-piece-tap-and-die-set-30641

Mind you they were only about £17.00 then. Inflation!!

regards

Keith

Leeds UK

[MICHAEL WILLIAMSParticipant @michaelwilliams41215]

Hi Alan ,

You may find it much more useful in practice to buy taps and dies individually as required and to buy good quality ones .

Sets always have the problem that only a few of the sizes ever get used and the rest are just expensive surplus .

I now keep a small stock of taps in sizes that I use often – at least one working set and one set of spares . Other taps I have one's and two's of built up over many years .

I have dies in relatively fewer sizes and mostly one each size . Only exceptions are a few sizes I use regularly on tough materials – I've got spares of those .

Best taps to use are TiN coated HSS Serial taps . I order these now for all replacements and new requirements .

MikeW

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

I second MOBND, Walter Titex, Emuge Franken ,OSG all top notch gear, with the first 2 being the more expensive, but either of those makes will work out cheaper in the long term especially if they are used a lot. I don,t think that either of those makers do dies, so for dies Dormer or Volkel.

Raymond.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

This looks like my set, but in a blue instead of grey box!

My approach woudl be to buy mid price (like this set). You then have all sizes just in case, all of quality that won't just fail straight away. When they eventually wear out, it will be the ones you use most so just replace those individual sizes with expensive ones.

Neil

[Martin Walsh 1Participant @martinwalsh1]

I buy all my taps and dies from http://www.tapdie.com they are very good quality and dont break the bank they are made in India but if you see the very high tech factory and  latest cnc machines they are made on it is no problem. A metric set 3mm to 12mm 2 taps of each size taper and bottom 24 pcs in a wooden box with holders is £92-60 Best Wishes Martin

Edited By Martin Walsh 1 on 02/06/2013 13:40:31

[Grizzly bearParticipant @grizzlybear]

Neil, Is this the set?Regards, Bear..

Xtools 32 Pc Pro Heavy Duty HSS Metric Tap & Die Set – Includes Case

by XTools

Be the first to review this item

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Price: £29.99 Deal Price: o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o In stock. Dispatched from and sold by Hot UK Stuff.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Almost identical, although mine had a plastic insert in the base. They may be made by different suppliers, but for 29.99 for a full set it's surely worth a shot!

Neil

[Anonymous]

Many years ago I bought a cheap set of metric solid dies and taps. They soon got recycled; it looked like somebody had ground the 'taps' using an angle grinder. There is no point in buying cheap cutting tools; they're just a waste of money.

Regards,

Andrew

[Alan .204Participant @alan-204]

Thanks for the advice chaps will look in to a few different sets, the reason I was after split dies is because after making the tool rest the adjuster screws have too much slop in them I can only think this because they are a really cheap set of dies someone bought me for Christmas a while back,, if they were split dies maybe I could have made them a bit better fitting, I thought.

Thanks again Al.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

I have a cheap metric set, and I would say it is of similar ilk to the set Andrew condemned. I would not class the set I'm recommending as being in the same category at all.For my own piece of mind I've just gone and checked the fit of some of the threads I've made using them, and they are all good close fits with commercial screws and nuts.

Don't forget industry uses metric taps and dies by the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. They don't have time to waste on adjustable dies. I am sure these 'cheap' sets are just a small stream 'tapped off' from the huge flow to industry and that this is why the price is hugely lower than ME, BA or Whitworth taps.

Just avoid the very cheap carbon steel sets with only 1 or 2 taps in each size – these are NOT used by big industry and are much less well finished.

Neil

[FalcoParticipant @falco]

I have not seen it mentioned here before, but for what its worth, I bought a set of spiral taps some time back for not a great fortune on ebay. They were a revelation in how much easier they were to use than the parallel fluted ones. They were admittedly good makes but they cut with a lot less force and cut a nice clean spiral as opposed to the grainy swarf from the parallel fluted ones. There's much less problem with the swarf clogging the cut also.

I do as much of my tapping as possible in the mill, turning the chuck by hand.

They might be worth considering if you were going to build up a set from various sources.

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