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Is this Walter 2-56 tap for Titanium a better than average all-around use tap?

rons

rons

Diamond
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Location
California, USA
Got tired of breaking these little money sinks. So the order specialist at my tool house suggested this tap for $3 more than
a usual high performance OSG tap.

Search results | Walter Tools

The actual taps I bought look different from the picture. My taps have the tip coated. It looks like there was a flame that
heated the tip because of the dis-coloration/line after the threads. So, will this tap last longer? Or is a coating eventually
going to wear off. Or is the physical properties of the metal different. Or is it just a little harder and thus more brittle
and will break easier under hand tapping?

(Damn, I needed to ask a question and break away from the screen. USA and the Swiss are playing volleyball. Golden brown...)
 
rons said:
Got tired of breaking these little money sinks. So the order specialist at my tool house suggested this tap for $3 more than
a usual high performance OSG tap.

Search results | Walter Tools

The actual taps I bought look different from the picture. My taps have the tip coated. It looks like there was a flame that
heated the tip because of the dis-coloration/line after the threads. So, will this tap last longer? Or is a coating eventually
going to wear off. Or is the physical properties of the metal different. Or is it just a little harder and thus more brittle
and will break easier under hand tapping?

(Damn, I needed to ask a question and break away from the screen. USA and the Swiss are playing volleyball. Golden brown...)
Click to expand...

Calm down, lad! Those girls would snap you in half [speaking of brittle...].

Not sure what the tip color change is (back to the volleyball lasses), but my understanding is that due to Ti's elastic and "grabby" nature (dammit, get your mind out of the gutter!), there's more heel clearance on the grind to give a little more free cutting action, at the cost of faster wear. I don't think the material will be too much harder, but hopefully has alloy additives for toughness.

Here's one page's comments on alloy elements for toughness in HS steels: High-speed Steels - HSS - Characteristics and Uses

I'd probably save these taps for their specific Ti use, and choose a cheaper, quality gun tap for general purpose use. Obviously, cutting lube and stability during the tapping operation are important in the life of a tap too.
 
Asked another way:

Are HSS taps plain bs and only good for soft metal?

Is it better to have taps for stainless, aluminum, mild steel, etc. A tap for hard, medium, soft? I see no advantage for having a tap for a
particular class of material. The high performance coated tap is what I always bought. So then the questions:

How long before the coating on the tap wears off? Does the tap under-lying metal make a difference?
Is the $3 price difference worth it in the long haul?

I don't know. But owning a few taps for titanium is kind of bad ...
 
rons said:
Asked another way:

Are HSS taps plain bs and only good for soft metal?

Is it better to have taps for stainless, aluminum, mild steel, etc. A tap for hard, medium, soft? I see no advantage for having a tap for a
particular class of material. The high performance coated tap is what I always bought. So then the questions:

How long before the coating on the tap wears off? Does the tap under-lying metal make a difference?
Is the $3 price difference worth it in the long haul?

I don't know. But owning a few taps for titanium is kind of bad ...
Click to expand...

Premium taps are usually made out of powder metal these days, and yes there is a big difference compared to HSS.

However, for titanium taps the magic is in the geometry of the grind. They are somewhat different compared to a standard tap grind, makes them less prone to jamming in Ti.
 
I think taps are more application-specific than end mills so I lean towards cheap for all-around since it will take a beating for less than ideal holes. Likewise, coatings are awfully application-specific too and how long that coating will last depends a lot on info you haven't provided.

What are the materials you wish to tap with a general-purpose tap? What you call general-purpose will probably be different than I do.
 
gregormarwick said:
Premium taps are usually made out of powder metal these days, and yes there is a big difference compared to HSS.

However, for titanium taps the magic is in the geometry of the grind. They are somewhat different compared to a standard tap grind, makes them less prone to jamming in Ti.
Click to expand...

In the premium tap range. Is a Titanium tap shank stronger? For example, if a 1/4-20 tap G3 is desired what premium tap is the strongest?
If there is nothing that stands out as strong then a tap for Titanium and a tap for SS in the same material is going to break the same.
 
rons said:
Half the taps I break are in non-through holes. But I forget and hit bottom...
Click to expand...
Look into getting a tapping head - something with a clutch - if your tap breakage is usually a result of bottoming out. I can't recommend any in particular - I don't have one.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
 
52 Ford said:
Look into getting a tapping head - something with a clutch - if your tap breakage is usually a result of bottoming out. I can't recommend any in particular - I don't have one.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I would not tap by hand without a support like in a lathe or mill. But still, it seems like just a small twitch in my hand and the tap
breaks. So I spent $3 more for a titanium tap. Maybe it's worth it.
 
I use these tap guides with a knurled thumb wheel to drive small taps. Been a coon's age since I broke one of them. Started out production tapping small cross holes in a fixture on a turret lathe a broken tap would have meant building a new fixture. Later added the ball detent so the tap would not fall out on the mill when moving from location to location. The O-rings provide tension on the balls. Now I use the guides and thumb wheels on the tool room lathe and cnc lathes or mills. A tap drive with a real sensitive clutch might be faster for long production runs but these are hard to beat for onesies or twosies up to a few hundred parts.

TapDriverRS.jpg
 
Pin vices with a turned or ground shank could work well. Small taps only have a couple different shank diameters so a couple of bored guides and thumb wheels cover many sizes besides working well and saving space. I little flat on the shank for the thumb wheel. Taps lasting so long I do not remember the last time I broke one.
 
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