Thread: Tapping m6x1.0

So i am really new at the machining game. anyway i have a customer that has a part that they want made out of either 17-4 SS or A2. anyway there is a 2" depth hole in the part that they are wanting tapped all the way with a m6x1.0 tap. i am having trouble finding a tool either a tap or a thread mill that is long enough. any recommendations would be helpfull.

What you do is find a 25mm combination wrench and whack it on the customer's knuckles. Then you ask "what side does the thread need to function on?", and put a counterbore on the side opposite.

If you really have to drive a tap that deep look for extension or pulley taps.

https://www.mscdirect.com/browse/tn/...063+4286967670

If stuff attaches to both sides, see if you need a single continuous thread all the way through or if you can tap from both sides.

They are wanting a continuous thread all the way. but i have talked them out of it and into giving me some releif to begin with and only tapping 30mm deep.

I have used roll taps in 304 stainless and have had good luck but i have never machined 17-4 before? is it similar in tapping? im going to do some testing tomorrow with heat treating one and one not to see what i like better.

With 17-4 you'll probably have an easier time thread forming with it soft, but it'll "cut" machine better in a H-condition of 1150 or lower.

Just had a similar battle with a customer who wanted over 800 #10-24 holes tapped all the way through 2.5" deep in delrin. There was a screw only on one side with 0.5" thread engagement. They just wanted more thread in case it stripped they could use a longer screw to fix it lol. Managed to talk them out of it, but they didnt seem to believe how much of a nightmare this would be, and were not totally happy about me not tapping all the way through. They thought it was a great idea lol.

R&N makes some very long taps that will probably reach. I bought one to try it, but didnt work well.

Pretty much unrelated to the question (just as many posts above) but this is a classic case of a moron customer, or rather one with zero machining skills. I just finished doing a similar job today - 150 pieces of a distance for a screw, 71mm long, with a 10 mm hole through it that they wanted rectangular with a 4mm radius for no damn reason. I swear I hate these CAD jockeys who never saw a mill in their life.

Most damning is it's our mother company who ordered them, meaning, they give us pieces that are unnecessarily hard to machine and it hurts our and their bottom line.

Anyway answering your question if you need to tap a very deep small hole in a machine, your best bet is rigid cycle with Q function (peck tapping.) I'd set the peck to 4-6mm for a regular M6.

If you can, use a small ER holder with an open sleeve, through-spindle coolant and through-spindle air. That really helps.

Originally Posted by Tichy

Pretty much unrelated to the question (just as many posts above) but this is a classic case of a moron customer, or rather one with zero machining skills.

Too much software, not enough hardware (machining) during school. It's a problem that's just going to get worse until everyone has a multi-material 3D printer at their desk.

Most damning is it's our mother company who ordered them, meaning, they give us pieces that are unnecessarily hard to machine and it hurts our and their bottom line.

Time to offer an "Introduction to Manufacturing Processes" course to the design staff?

Anyway answering your question if you need to tap a very deep small hole in a machine, your best bet is rigid cycle with Q function (peck tapping.) I'd set the peck to 4-6mm for a regular M6.

With a gun (spiral point) tap I think it's best to just go with a one shot, but I agree that either coolant (my preference) or air as an assist is helpful. Many plastics air is best, but with most metals either a pre-wipe with tapping lube or properly mixed coolant is needed.

Originally Posted by cv321

They are wanting a continuous thread all the way. but i have talked them out of it and into giving me some releif to begin with and only tapping 30mm deep.

I have used roll taps in 304 stainless and have had good luck but i have never machined 17-4 before? is it similar in tapping? im going to do some testing tomorrow with heat treating one and one not to see what i like better.

What condition is the 17-4? That will determine if you have an easy time tapping it or not.

Originally Posted by Mtndew

What condition is the 17-4? That will determine if you have an easy time tapping it or not.

Rc 63

Originally Posted by litlerob1

Rc 63

You need one of my new Solid Diamond thread form taps. Only $260,000.00 each and guaranteed to snap on first use. But it sure is purty until that first time.

Originally Posted by Milland

You need one of my new Solid Diamond thread form taps. Only $260,000.00 each and guaranteed to snap on first use. But it sure is purty until that first time.

But is it a precision tap? I only buy taps that break once they are with in .02" of finish depth.

Originally Posted by CAMasochism

But is it a precision tap? I only buy taps that break once they are with in .02" of finish depth.

Sure, just tell me the torque spec for the right depth and I can grind-in a precision relief groove on shank.

possible, feasible and necessary can be three different things.


I have one customer where every tapped hole is way to deep. But they NEED them too deep, so they are charged for it. I don't even ask anymore. I'll go and see they are attaching a piece of sheet metal to it, Hey, its what you want, its what you asked for and its what you paid for.

Most of their parts now I tap with a tapmatic otherwise its just to expensive.

Originally Posted by SIM

I have one customer where every tapped hole is way to deep.

I have a customer that specifies a thread depth on holes that are tapped thru.

There is no thread tollerance callout so im just going to roll tap it and oversize the drill hole.

Originally Posted by Mtndew

I have a customer that specifies a thread depth on holes that are tapped thru.

I think that is someone not understanding the software. For example, I could specify "through all" when making an extruded hole/profile, or I could manually type in a depth that I know will go through. Could be the software might be picking the way the *engineer* processed that feature...

Originally Posted by Milland

Too much software, not enough hardware (machining) during school. It's a problem that's just going to get worse until everyone has a multi-material 3D printer at their desk.



Time to offer an "Introduction to Manufacturing Processes" course to the design staff?



With a gun (spiral point) tap I think it's best to just go with a one shot, but I agree that either coolant (my preference) or air as an assist is helpful. Many plastics air is best, but with most metals either a pre-wipe with tapping lube or properly mixed coolant is needed.

Well... Funny enough I think precisely spiral taps benefit the most from peck tapping through breaking the chips.

Said this for a while now. Yeah I'm pretty much a newbie machinist and I know very few use peck tapping cycles, hell I think many don't even know they exist, but (knock on wood) I have never, literally never, broken a tap using peck tapping in a rigid holder. Not for lack of trying! I only ever break taps when for some reason I'm forced to use a floating holder!

The air/coolant solution works very well for me maybe because my internal coolant isn't very high pressure; if it was it'd probably not be needed. However, a small sleeve is very beneficial in order to concentrate the coolant flow.

Also my experience is the peck cycle makes me able to tap at higher speeds more safely.

But who knows, maybe you'll break you whole machine using it

1.
Tichy ..
How many holes M6 would you expect to tap, through, in 6,8,10 MM steel, free machining.
For one tap.
With what through-hole size in the same steel of 6,8,10 mm thickness ?

How fast per hole, tapping cycle, and tool-tool cycle time?

For that 6 / 10 mm D hole, what quality would You expect to deliver ?
What go/no go gages would You expect to work and not work on those holes ?

And on how many holes You expected, until the no-go does not go in/through ?

I am NOT being picky.
Our clients, and our members, commonly fight with these issues, a lot.
A single letter in thread tolerance on a book (12 x 20 cm) sized metal flat raises the hole/thread cost from 1€ to 10€, easily.

Many clients wont know the difference.
Equally, many do.
Many, most, pay a lot of money because they really need such accuracy, even if they don´t mostly test for it.

Originally Posted by Tichy

Well... Funny enough I think precisely spiral taps benefit the most from peck tapping through breaking the chips.

Said this for a while now. Yeah I'm pretty much a newbie machinist and I know very few use peck tapping cycles, hell I think many don't even know they exist, but (knock on wood) I have never, literally never, broken a tap using peck tapping in a rigid holder. Not for lack of trying! I only ever break taps when for some reason I'm forced to use a floating holder!

The air/coolant solution works very well for me maybe because my internal coolant isn't very high pressure; if it was it'd probably not be needed. However, a small sleeve is very beneficial in order to concentrate the coolant flow.

1.
Also my experience is the peck cycle makes me able to tap at higher speeds more safely.

But who knows, maybe you'll break you whole machine using it

Originally Posted by Tichy

Well... Funny enough I think precisely spiral taps benefit the most from peck tapping through breaking the chips.

Said this for a while now. Yeah I'm pretty much a newbie machinist and I know very few use peck tapping cycles, hell I think many don't even know they exist, but (knock on wood) I have never, literally never, broken a tap using peck tapping in a rigid holder. Not for lack of trying! I only ever break taps when for some reason I'm forced to use a floating holder!

The air/coolant solution works very well for me maybe because my internal coolant isn't very high pressure; if it was it'd probably not be needed. However, a small sleeve is very beneficial in order to concentrate the coolant flow.

Also my experience is the peck cycle makes me able to tap at higher speeds more safely.

But who knows, maybe you'll break you whole machine using it

I agree, I use peck tapping all the time on deep threads and it works great. Gives a cleaner looking thread too. Most of my parts are short runs so the extra time is not that big a deal. A broken tap would be a much bigger problem then a few extra seconds to peck tap.