Tip on removing broken taps from holes

JTknives

JTknives

Joined
Jun 11, 2006
Messages
8,650
I was threding a liner for a slip joint foldar when the piece of $hit broke of. i could not get to to buge with the plyers. i then got real pissed because i was messing up my nice liners which are 1/8" thick. i finley decided that i needed to make another one after allmost throwing it acros the room with a string of profanity when my wife told be to put it down and go eat some icecream. i sat there eating when it hit me, the tap was hardened steel so why not remove the heat treat and dril out. i jumped up and ran to the kictchen and turned on the stove, i then put my liner on the burner and let it come up to temp which i thing is around 1200 because i was getting oxide flakes. then i turned off the stove after letting it soak at the temp for around 5 min. i then got out the handy dremil tool and chucked up a tungstion carbide bur. i went to town on the broken tap and in 2 min i had it out and i was jumping with joy. i just thought i would let every one know how i fixed this problem so others might not get as mad as i did. also if you have any other solutions let me know.
 
I have had good luck just taking a fine pointed tool and breaking the tap into pieces. They are very hard and, as you know, brittle.
 
I've had good luck using a duck bill pair of vice grips tightened real good on the end sticking out. In the rare event that not enough sticks out and it is titanium I was threading I used pool acid to eat the broken piece out. Took about 24 hours for the last #2 size screw I removed using acid.

Most of the taps (the carbon taps) are made to break apart if you can hit it square but I've had some dings occur doing it that way. This is fine if its a liner being covered up later by a scale I guess but for some knives like thicker ones with the metal exposed it can be a tough call to make as to which way is best when you break off a tap.

On some knives I've tapped for clips or scales that I have done for forum members as well as myself where the metal is .125 thick or .150 thick stock of either titanium or stainless I will drill my #50 hole for say the 2-56 screw and then follow in behind that hole with the bigger #44 drill stopping short of exiting and being sure to leave about .050 thickness of metal still drilled out to the #50 size which is plenty of metal left to thread. This has greatly reduced breakage problems for me on the thicker liners and such. Not being the owner of a tapmatic for my press this has been the only way to go for me and its worked for a good long while and allows me to do many jobs by hand that many other guys would shy away from I think.

STR
 
JCaswell said:
You can also burn it out with acid. Especially handy if your liner is Ti.
Click to expand...

That works. I have used ferric chloride before, even when the tap is broken in knife steel and it works like a charm. Let it "soak" for 30 minutes or so...it will loosen quite a bit and then just back it out.

I learned to do that on this forum a few years ago.

Craig
 
well the acid is a good idea but im using O1 and it would eat everything not just the tap. also gess what, i took the tap back to the store and told them it broke and thay exchanged it with no questions asked. man after doing this folder i have realy relized that i need a dril press, its to hard to make straight holes by hand. im going to see ih i can get a cheep one tomarow, i dont have any cash but i have a bunch of stuff i can trade at the pawn shop and i spoted a old centerial mecerinary press that looked loke a tank. i know its not as good as a top end press but anything has to be better than doing it by hand. o ya and can a dril press be used as a make shift mill if i wanted to mil some slots in some liners?
 
Your drilling holes for a folder with a HAND DRILL?!!!
WOW, that's something!

I wouldn't expect a standard drill press to serve well as a mill (i.e. using endmills), though I'm sure there are some gluttons-for-punishment that would disagree.
You can use a drill press to cut slots if you must. You can do this the same way you would use a standard keyway cutter in a mill only I wouldn't use such a cutter (or any saw-tooted cutter) in a drillpress without a vice and a good X-Y table. So here's an alternative:

You clamp the liner into a toolmaker's vise (a smallish vice, maybe 6-inches by 3 or 4 and with flat bottom), get one of those die grinder mandrels for abrassive wheels at Home Depot and chuck it up in the drill press. Adjust the table or spindle to the right height for your slot. (The abrasive wheel should be perpendicular to the work piece in the vise) You cut the slot by moving the vise (and hence the clamped-in liner) by hand against the wheel which is spinning horizontally. Make sure you drill holes where you want the slot to end and take your time.

Of course extra care should be taken whenever using machines in unconventional ways, but I think this particualr proceedure is probably safer than just drilling a hole into a hand-held piece because you really shouldn't be anywhere near the abrasive wheel when doing the job as described above.
 
yes she is not going anywhere, what more can i ask for. she tells me to eat icecream and lets me work on my knives in the house. she's a keeper
 
JTknives said:
yes she is not going anywhere, what more can i ask for. she tells me to eat icecream and lets me work on my knives in the house. she's a keeper
Click to expand...

Yes, but did she give you an AK (not the knife) as a wedding present? (You should have seen the look on some of our guests' faces!)
A good wife is a wonderful thing.
 
yes thay are, what whould we do with out them

:jerkit:

sorry, i have allwasy wanted to use that one.
 
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