Using hand taps in a mag drill?

drummerdimitri · Aug 25, 2020

I have a set of quality metric taps form M3-M12 and plan on buying a magnetic drill press to make holes and tap thick metal plates.

Surely it would need a low speed setting/gear and a reversible motor but would I also need to buy dedicated taps for use in a such a machine or would the

larger sizes work fine when tapping through holes?

Phil in Montana · Aug 25, 2020

What will it cost when you snap off a tap??...Phil

DDoug · Aug 25, 2020

drummerdimitri said:
I have a set of quality metric taps form M3-M12 and plan on buying a magnetic drill press to make holes and tap thick metal plates.

Surely it would need a low speed setting/gear and a reversible motor but would I also need to buy dedicated taps for use in a such a machine or would the

larger sizes work fine when tapping through holes?

I have seen tapping heads added to mag drills for both the clutch & reverse function.

Most mag drills are hi speed motors, and when set on the lower speed gear, have allot of coast
down time, hard to keep from breaking a tap.

ChipSplitter · Aug 25, 2020

Buy a set of these: McMaster-Carr

Plus one of these: McMaster-Carr

Plus a cordless drill. (the good ones have plenty of torque to drive a 12mm tap, BTW)

Voila! Faster and more control than a mag drill.

P.S. What do you call a "good tap"..??? If you can buy it at a hardware store in Lebanon it's not a good one in my book.

Gordon Heaton · Aug 25, 2020

With a tapping head it might work, but they take up a lot of headroom. Without a tapping head you'd probably be ok if you drill & tap each hole without moving the drill between operations. For sure use gun-taps (spiral point).

guest · Aug 25, 2020

I see a lot of choices in mag drills out there, many have variable speeds and reverse for tapping.

couple examples:

Hougen HMD2MT #2 Morse Taper Magnetic Drill

2" Magnetic Drill Press Variable Speed Reverse | 26-036-711 | Travers Tool Co., Inc.

Garwood · Aug 25, 2020

I have tapped a lot of 1/2" and 3/4" holes with my old shitbox Milwaukee mag drill. Didn't strike me as being too difficult. Anticipate the coast down time.

gbent · Aug 25, 2020

I like to drive the tap with Walton tap extensions. It gives a little flexibility, and you can set a hard stop on the mag drill for depth. When the drill motor hits the stop, the tap screws itself out of the extension. With a little practice the drill motor has coasted to a stop at that time.

country_boy · Aug 25, 2020

I have a 3/4”VS Milwaukee mag drill- because of the VS feature ( which acts as a torque control- as on a cordless drill) I’ve had very good luck tapping holes- up to 3/4 NC. You have to be ready to hit the stop, once the taps cuts through, with the reduced load torque, it will accelerate. luckily it’s an oversized E stop. Or the VS speed dial works.

I’ve tapped dow to 1/4” with it. . Clearly you want a gun (spiral point) tap and a through hole.

Other that overseeing the powered taping with a drill of thousands of cast iron electrical motor frames I don’t claim to be a production tapping expert, however I find the odds of breaking a tap are inversely proportional to diameter

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

DDoug · Aug 25, 2020

Garwood said:
I have tapped a lot of 1/2" and 3/4" holes with my old shitbox Milwaukee mag drill. Didn't strike me as being too difficult. Anticipate the coast down time.

If'n a guy was smart....he could arrange a microswitch on a sliding mount to kill the power when the
head came down to a predetermined spot.

projectnut · Aug 25, 2020

Unless hand taps have changed in the last few years they don't have the ability to break the chip or force the collected swarf out of the hole. They must be reversed every turn or so to the break the chip and keep the tap from binding. Depending on the thickness of the material to be tapped they may also accumulate enough swarf in the flute to bind and/or break the tap.

If you intend to through tap I would use spiral point or "gun" taps. This style tap will not only break the swarf into small chips, it will also push the swarf forward and out the bottom of the hole. If you're doing blind holes use spiral flute tape. They do not break the chips, but will force the long string of swarf back out the entrance hole.

It's almost a guarantee that you will break a hand tap when power tapping through thick metal without reversing direction regularly.

drummerdimitri · Aug 25, 2020

ChipSplitter said:
Buy a set of these: McMaster-Carr

Plus one of these: McMaster-Carr

Plus a cordless drill. (the good ones have plenty of torque to drive a 12mm tap, BTW)

Voila! Faster and more control than a mag drill.

P.S. What do you call a "good tap"..??? If you can buy it at a hardware store in Lebanon it's not a good one in my book.

Since I have no access to the parts you listed, I will have to make due with what I can find locally.

Thankfully, the list of mag drills are quite numerous: Milwaukee, Dewalt, ALFRA, Fein, Bosch etc.

Many of them are also made for tapping (50-100 rpm) and relatively little coast down time from what I've seen in video demonstrations.

I got a set of "Izar cutting tools" taps which are made in Spain and cost quite a penny so surely they are good from what I've seen of them so far..

Mark Rand · Aug 25, 2020

If the taps are hand taps, they will only be suitable for thin material when driven by a drill. You really do need spiral flute or sparal point taps if you want to tap thicker material without being able to break the chip by hand every turn or two.

Note:- if you have access to a tool grnder, it is possible to convert the bottomming (Plug, in British English) tap into a spiral flute tap by cutting am angle in the gullet of the firs few threads.

Ziggy2 · Aug 25, 2020

drummerdimitri said:
Since I have no access to the parts you listed, I will have to make due with what I can find locally.

Thankfully, the list of mag drills are quite numerous: Milwaukee, Dewalt, ALFRA, Fein, Bosch etc.

Many of them are also made for tapping (50-100 rpm) and relatively little coast down time from what I've seen in video demonstrations.

I got a set of "Izar cutting tools" taps which are made in Spain and cost quite a penny so surely they are good from what I've seen of them so far..

Unless the drill motor has a dynamic brake, you will experience substantial coast down time. The problem is that with tapping even a quarter rotation will be the difference between a shattered tap and an intact tap unless you are using a tapping head or at least an adjustable breakaway clutch.

Gordon Heaton · Aug 25, 2020

drummerdimitri said:
. . .surely they are good from what I've seen of them so far..

They are probably great if you are turning them by hand. You don't say how thick your plates are, but if they're thicker than about 6mm, hand taps are not likely to perform well at all. You can always try it and see! I realize you want to use what you have, but it is highly likely that you will chip tap teeth at best, and destroy the tap completely at worst.

Shaybuilder · Aug 25, 2020

I have used my Hougan mag drill for putting threaded stay bolts in a boiler I was making. 3/8 outer boiler shell and 3/8 firebox shell, used 5/8-11 spiral point tap with no problem. After drilling the hole I would run the tap without releasing the mag drill.

Flail · Aug 25, 2020

That Travers Chinese drill looks like this: https://www.amazon.com/NEW-BLACK-BR...rill+brm+blue+rock+60A&qid=1598411187&sr=8-68
That said, I used the Amazon model to drill and tap over 500 holes in 1/2” plate.

dgfoster · Aug 26, 2020

I wonder why using a roll form tap is not mentioned so far. Form taps have significantly more cross sectional area than cutting taps, so they have greater torsional strength. They are also easier to drive and the resulting threads are stronger than a cut thread.

Denis

country_boy · Aug 26, 2020

To the OP- make sure you understand what posters mean by hand taps. Plenty of people ( myself included) use gun taps extensively for hand tapping through holes.

The question on Roll form taps is a good one- I don’t have an answer- I only roll form threads in copper. Not sure the chuck will hold a larger roll form tap- mine is a Jacobs ball Bering Chuck, and it grips a 7/8 NC without spinning- granted I use all the holes, and tap both the chuck key and chuck with a small hammer. But I tapped 7/8 NC in 1” A36 ( I looked today, it is was a 7/8 and not 3/4 as claimed above.

My mag drill is easially both my favorite and most hated tool. I’d love a lightweight Fein one for use on a tower, but the Milwaukee will do some neat thing. I flew to Russia with it and bored out a satellite kingpin and put in a new bronze bushing and pin returning a critical satellite link to service. The dish was no longer made, and I can’t imagine the issues with trying to import a new dish, and get a Foundation powered in Siberia. BTW, the Russians had temporarily solved the problem by welding the dish in place- which while working, did not allow it to be pointed at a new satellite. They deny having done this, but I had to grind the weld out.

Richard King · Aug 27, 2020

I call it "Power Tapping" and there all kinds of You Tube shows on it. I also do it with a Bridgeport, drill press and even a few times with a reversing hand drill. You have to chuck up on thee smooth part of the tap under the square end. I usually step up the clearance hole to the next size. I never used a tapping head, I just used the reverse on the drill. I would praciceon some scrap first. and buy a good fluted tap. You don't want some cheap tap to snap off. Tap a Hole in Seconds with a Hougen Magnetic Drill - YouTube

Using hand taps in a mag drill?

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