What tapping tools are needed ?

Donald Bell said:
For the small taps you only need the 30X tapmatic.I picked up on ebay for $160- well worth the money in taps and frayed nerves(waiting for that ominous CREAK just before the CLICK ! ) There are usually a few on Ebay at any time.You just have to be patient.
Don
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+1 to what Don said. The tapmatic 30x is the one that you'll want for smaller holes... and you can occasionally find them on ebay for a reasonable price. I have been very happy with mine. I also second Stacy's recommendation of Molly-Dee. I'm new to tapping small holes (I've been working 2-56 in titanium quite a bit recently)... but with the 30X, Molly-Dee, thread-forming taps and slightly oversized holes, I've never broken a tap. :thumbup:
 
I researched this before i posted the thread and all i can say is that i learned more in the past 24 hours from all of your responses than i could have from a month of research.

As always, the generosity and willingness to share information from the talented folks on this forum is much appreciated.

Thank you,
-John
 
Some of the Balax Form Taps work well, too, along with the suggestions already given.
 
After reading all the stuff you guys have posted, I was thinking maybe I shouldn't tell you how I tap the holes in titanium liners!
I guess it won't hurt though, so here goes!
I use an electric screw driver with one of those mini drill chucks that have a 1/4" arbor on it so it mounts into the driver. All you have to do is dip the tap in some cutting fluid and line it up and turn it on. Just don't tap all the way through in one pass. I go a little way in then back off and dip the tap in the cutting fluid again and then tap a little more. Practice a little first and you'll get the taps to line up a lot straighter than you think!! I made a lot of folders this way and never had any problems with the screws lining up!!
 
L6steel said:
After reading all the stuff you guys have posted, I was thinking maybe I shouldn't tell you how I tap the holes in titanium liners!
I guess it won't hurt though, so here goes!
I use an electric screw driver with one of those mini drill chucks that have a 1/4" arbor on it so it mounts into the driver. All you have to do is dip the tap in some cutting fluid and line it up and turn it on. Just don't tap all the way through in one pass. I go a little way in then back off and dip the tap in the cutting fluid again and then tap a little more. Practice a little first and you'll get the taps to line up a lot straighter than you think!! I made a lot of folders this way and never had any problems with the screws lining up!!
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Actually this doesn't surprise me. Speed is your friend with small taps. You don't want to give a cutting edge an opportunity to stop in the cut.




Erin Burke said:
+1 to what Don said. The tapmatic 30x is the one that you'll want for smaller holes... and you can occasionally find them on ebay for a reasonable price. I have been very happy with mine. I also second Stacy's recommendation of Molly-Dee. I'm new to tapping small holes (I've been working 2-56 in titanium quite a bit recently)... but with the 30X, Molly-Dee, thread-forming taps and slightly oversized holes, I've never broken a tap. :thumbup:
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Now, thread forming taps in Titanium surprises me, but I guess it makes since now that I think about it.

Moly-dee is the best tapping fluid that I have found.
 
bhyde said:
I have used a tapping block for years for various reasons..Probably worth a mention anyway. But alignment of the tap to the hole is fairly critical on small taps. You can guess why they tend to break.

Pictured for tapping on the cheap (cheaper than a tapping head anyway).
These are easy to make..Measure the big diameter of your tap and drill a hole in a qualified material to just a few thousandths over that diameter.

http://store.curiousinventor.com/tapping-block.html


HTH

Bill
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I agree with this if you wanna keep it relatively inexpensive, but if you see yourself doing this kinda work often it might be better to spend a little extra now. I also agree with Nate's .02 if you drill oversize it will be easier to tap but also to strip. Also spend the money on higher quality taps.
 
I use Don Hanson's method for 1-72's in Ti folder liners . I use a 1/16 th " drill. I've been using the same tap now for over a yr. & it's still going strong !

Joe
 
metricmachinist said:
I agree with this if you wanna keep it relatively inexpensive, but if you see yourself doing this kinda work often it might be better to spend a little extra now. I also agree with Nate's .02 if you drill oversize it will be easier to tap but also to strip. Also spend the money on higher quality taps.
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I totally agree.. If you need to get by, the tapping block works well and is almost foolproof. I had an older machinist walk by when I was using a tapping block one time tell me "Save me the long end when you are done". I tend to use the tapping block when I have 1-2 parts to tap, otherwise, it's not worth it to me to set up the CNC to do it IMO. Too many times, I have selected a metric tap from the library in the CAM program and neglect to check the feedrate....Nothing tightens up the pucker muscle like a M6 tap moving around 900ipm in the Z axis..BAM! Part and 'nother pair of underwear need to be replaced.
Basically, if you are saving up for a tapping head, the tapping block will get you by with a bit more security than eyeball alignment.

I see references to tapmatics, but haven't seen Procunier mentioned. I have used both and they are both great tools..I bought a procunier tapping head (up to 1/4 capacity) on ebay for a little less than $100.00 a year or two ago. I don't think the person that sold it really knew what it was, so it was a great deal for me! I would swear it had never been used to boot.

Before I forget- :thumbup: for Moly D!
 
For those who are looking for a good price on a Tapmatic 30x? There are a few listed on ebay for $199.
 
A Machinist's Handbook will tell you the proper hole size based on the ratio of hole depth to hole diameter and the class of fit. A hand tapper will keep the tap straight while you run it in. Hand tappers are cheaper than Tapmatics. If you break a tap off in Titanium, you can dissolve it with battery acid.
 
Don or others that have input for 0-80 taps what size drill bit or you using for you hole I have been using 0-80 for three months and borken to many taps at frist I was using 3/64 that was a very tight fit then a #55 that was a little to sloppy of thread fit fo my liking but typed very easy so I went metric at a 1.2 mm still feel to tight to run the drill method Infact I tried it last night and snap I'm using good USA taps but this is gitting expensive to say the least if someone can help with 0-80 that would be great
thanks Brett
 
I don't mess with the 0-80 or 1-70 sizes and only use the 2-56 which is as small as I've ever wanted to use on one of my knives or a production folder sent to me for some sort of clip job. At this time I can safely say I've threaded thousands of knives both production and some of my own for folks around these forums and I have a tap matic and still prefer to do these smaller size ones with my hands.

Number one I only use thread forming taps now. This after years of experimenting trial and error OJT like learning as I did them. My procedure for .050 or thinner is pretty much straight forward. Use a number 47 drill size and molly dee cutting oil and thread using the hand wrench with the T handle. Most all these are titanium or if stainless its most of the time something hardened to 45 Rockwell in the way of some factory 410 stainless.

For what its worth I have done a few Chinese stainless knives in the San Ren Mu 710 flip clip jobs for folks wanting that. Not many but enough to become familiar with them. These are an unknown stainless steel which seem on par with 410 for hardness, however they are thicker. I have done two things with these. One is just drill a number 46 hole clean through and thread that. As someone said the threads may be weaker doing this but in my experience doing three this way they all have enough thickness going clear through a .100 lock side liner that they held and held quite well.

It appears to me that if there is enough thickness you can do this and get away with it. I would not try it for thinner lined knives though. Since most of what I am asked to thread is thicker stock knives I most always use a number 47 drill and then if they are real thick I come in from the underside with a number 44 drill to limit the thickness I have to thread. I usually take the thicker slab models I'm threading down to thin liner type thickness with that larger drill so all that I have to thread is maybe between .040 to .060 of the stock. This saves me headache and insures smooth operation for the owner of the knife. If you don't do this what I've found is that the deeper the tap goes in these slab thickness handles the more the titanium hugs the tap. If you go way deep in some of these new fangled models or if you are making one .150 or thicker I'd suggest doing this to prevent having to do the acid soak to remove a tap. I've broken taps off in .160 ti slabs even drilling the hole with a #46 drill which should by all definitions be too big! Its the nature of titanium to somehow just gall to things including taps.

To be sure I'm clear lets add this from another maker in a past post.


Drill holes with a #47 bit
back drill holes with a #43 bit so you are only tapping around .050 to .060" of the slab of Ti. (note you can back drill with a number 46 also)
Chamfer the both sides of said hole
Buy a TapMatic! Ebay is a great source but hand tapping can work
Use a thread forming $$$ 2-56 tap. No other is worth a shit but the ones from Enco or MSC Industrial
Use Castrol Moly-Dee tapping fluid.

STR
 
I cant say I have ever had a problem with the 2-56 or 1-72 Now that I am making high end gents knives I think the 0-80 is very fitting for such knife. To day I tried my tapmatic that I have been scared to use on the 0-80 and it worked great with a 1.2 mm drill bit. So keeping my fingers crossed that I have this licked.
 
I purchased an STM reversible tapping head from ebay for $70 shipped. Keep in mind, that's below average and I snagged a great deal, but you can still get these for about $125 on ebay.

There is absolutely NO need to fork out the big bucks for a brand name tapmatic, these imports work great for the amount of tapping done by knifemakers.

I've been using various brand name tapmatics in a professional machine shop setting for years, and this import shown below works just as well (in fact, I find it to be a little quieter, so I almost would choose it over the tapmatic).

knifed003.jpg
 
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