What's new
What's new

Ever use tap for endmill?

Yes ,I have ...the tap must be form relived tho,and consequently an expensive one ....probably more expensive than a endmill...........In my case I bought hundreds of WW2 surplus 3/4 UNC taps ,good yankee stuff like GTD,and so made some use of them rather than trying to sell them.............BTW,holding in a drill chuck is folly,they must be held in a proper rigid collet.
 
Gloves on the table saw was sketchy. I don't know, to me it didn't look tapered on the end like a tap typically is. Hard to tell really.

Brent
 
Last edited:
I have used a tap for a mill. Once. In a desperate situation. I ground 3 of the 4 flutes off, thinned down the 4th and used it for a thread mill in my VF3. It was the wrong size tap, but it was the only one I had with the correct thread pitch to do the job. But I darn sure didn’t try running it in a drill chuck
 
Never done that,but experimented with using a 3/8" Whit tap as a wormwheel hob in the lathe just for fun. Don't try milling with a Jacobs chuck at work-you might get "the bullet"! However in my younger days,before I had many tools,I would use an old 1/2" long series endmill that I found in the skip as a hand reamer!
 
So I guess I have my work cut out for me tomorrow...at work. What do you think maybe a 1/4-20 tap side milling a piece of 2024 aluminium? I'd do it today but they cut my sundaes for the month.
 
"BTW,holding in a drill chuck is folly":

is probably the most rigid part of the set up, though.
 
Sounds like a use for a tap with the taper tip broken off. If you grind off all but one flute you could make nice spaced parallel groves
Bill D
 
For a long time I didn't use roughers but after I started using them, whenever I have to remove a lot of material it is worth the tool change time to use them. That viedo tool is most likely a rougher.
 








 
Back
Top