Tapping Small Holes in Titanium

K

kvid

Plastic

Joined

Mar 7, 2017

Location

Slovenia

• Mar 27, 2019

• #1

I have a couple of blind holes to hand-tap into grade 2 titanium, size M1.4, 3.5mm deep. The taps I've got: Eventus 10076 Hand tap set 3-piece metric M1.4 0.3 mm Right hand cutting DIN 352 HSS 1 Set | Conrad.com

I would appreaciate any guidance on how not to break the taps. Would it help if I tap into 1.2 mm instead of 1.1 mm holes?

 

G

Goff

Aluminum

Joined

Dec 16, 2007

Location

CA, USA

• Mar 27, 2019

• #2

Kvid, I have tapped many holes in titanium grade 5 (Ti6Al4V) and have only had success with titanium specific taps. The smallest that I have used were M2 from Emuge. You are in Austria, so I would think that getting Emuge taps should be relatively easy. Contact them and use the very best extreme pressure tapping fluid that you can get. If you are hand tapping, make a guide block that supports the shank of the tap, not the threaded section. This style of tap block helps prevent bending breakage as the shank is much stronger than the cutting section. Good luck.
Joe

 

Terry Keeley

Titanium

Joined

Oct 18, 2005

Location

Toronto, Canada eh!

• Mar 27, 2019

• #3

I too have done some small holes in grade 5, not sure how grade 2 compares.

I have used cheap taps like you linked but it was a crapshoot, if your parts are replaceable or you have acccess to an EDM to burn out a broken tap go for it.

Otherwise Titex make some great spiral point taps specifically for Ti that work great, those with MolyDee make the job a breeze.

 

H

Hazzert

Stainless

Joined

Dec 21, 2014

• Mar 27, 2019

• #4

kvid said:

Would it help if I tap into 1.2 mm instead of 1.1 mm holes?

Click to expand...

70% thread is Ø1.127mm
60% thread is Ø1.166mm

Ø1.2mm would be 51% thread.

How well can you control the hole diameter?


Tap Drill Calculator - Guhring Inc

 

B

BROTHERFRANK

Stainless

Joined

Dec 20, 2013

Location

SoCal

• Mar 27, 2019

• #5

Can you use a form/roll tap? I have a client that has tapped 100s of thousands of M1.2 with a roll tap and swisslube oil in 6AL4V. the chip is what will break the tap in a lot of cases.

 

M

Milland

Diamond

Joined

Jul 6, 2006

Location

Hillsboro, New Hampshire

• Mar 27, 2019

• #6

BROTHERFRANK said:

Can you use a form/roll tap? I have a client that has tapped 100s of thousands of M1.2 with a roll tap and swisslube oil in 6AL4V. the chip is what will break the tap in a lot of cases.

Click to expand...

BrotherFrank, he's hand tapping - roll taps are generally considered for machine use only, you don't want them turning-stopping-turning as you would with hand use.

 

K

kvid

Plastic

Joined

Mar 7, 2017

Location

Slovenia

• Mar 27, 2019

• #7

Thank y'all guys!

After reading more about tapping in titanium I realized that it is harder than I thought if not nearly impossible to do without special equipment.

Here are the parts that I wanted to tap. I made a couple of them in aluminum while I am waiting for the titanium to be delivered.



The initial plan was to attach the parts to the PCB (printed circuit board) with M1.4 screws. It looks like it will be much easier to take advantage of interference fit. I will use these pins to attach the parts to the PCB: https://eu.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Mill-Max/2381-0-00-15-00-00-33-0?qs=glduVv6OWv4YzsZRhKKvyw==

 

Terry Keeley

Titanium

Joined

Oct 18, 2005

Location

Toronto, Canada eh!

• Mar 27, 2019

• #8

Do they havta be made of Ti?

 

T

tay2daizzo8

Hot Rolled

Joined

Nov 8, 2013

Location

north of Bean town

• Mar 29, 2019

• #9

roll tap all day. i do hundreds of 4-40 in cp2 by hand with a balax roll tap. ive tried everything under the sun but roll taps i always come back to. The biggest thing i can say is make sure you have the correct lube. I use some red hangstfers stuff that allows me to tap right to bottom..have broken a tap in over 400 pcs( the same tap too BTW.

 

A

AHUNT

Plastic

Joined

Mar 29, 2019

• Mar 29, 2019

• #10

I'm curious too. Maybe kvid could use something like 4140 or S.S. and save a lot of hassle in dealing with Ti.