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   James Morris (jmorris@social.kernel.org)'s status on Friday, 15-Sep-2023 02:15:03 JST James Morris

   • Michael K Johnson
   @mcdanlj I'd read that spiral flute taps are weaker and more likely to break for small taps, so I haven't tried them yet. Thanks for the pointers!
   
   RE: https://social.makerforums.info/users/mcdanlj/statuses/111060149655556379
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     Michael K Johnson (mcdanlj@social.makerforums.info)'s status on Saturday, 16-Sep-2023 07:26:14 JST Michael K Johnson

     in reply to

     @jmorris I guess maybe less likely to break from chip packing? They readily evacuate a long string chip out the top. The cheapest ones are still cheap of course. I use tap magic most of the time for tapping, too.

     I'm trying to remember the smallest I've done. I own an M2 spiral flute tap and it's not broken, but I do so little that's smaller than M3. And the M2 spiral flute tap I own isn't the highest quality.

     But yeah, spiral tip should be stronger than spiral flute, and eject the chip ahead of it as long as you aren't tapping a blind hole. (I do plenty of blind taps which is part of why spiral flute taps are my go-to one-and-done.)

     James Morris likes this.
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     James Morris (jmorris@social.kernel.org)'s status on Sunday, 17-Sep-2023 16:15:42 JST James Morris

     in reply to

     • Michael K Johnson
     @mcdanlj a mill would be great but I currently have no room for one. Btw, I ended up brute force drilling the broken taps out with a solid tungsten carbide bit (which broke twice), then I was able to drill & tap for 6-32. There was enough slack in the copper spreader to handle some misalignment. The rest of the 4-40 were done very carefully with a form tap and tap magic. I’ll try the spiral flute next.
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     Michael K Johnson (mcdanlj@social.makerforums.info)'s status on Sunday, 17-Sep-2023 16:15:43 JST Michael K Johnson

     in reply to

     @jmorris Oh, #4-40 is only .155mm smaller diameter than M3, so maybe my good experience with M3 carries over...

     I do almost always use a tap follower or some other effective guide. I think the spiral flute taps are not at all forgiving of misalignment. But I'm usually doing it on mill or lathe where I have a good normal reference.

     I did also make 3D printed jigs for tapping openbuilds v-slot with M5, where I can't typically use either mill or lathe to get that normal reference.

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     James Morris (jmorris@social.kernel.org)'s status on Monday, 02-Oct-2023 02:01:34 JST James Morris

     in reply to

     • Michael K Johnson
     @mcdanlj I’ve tried a YG-1 spiral flute tap here now and it is working well. It seems to need much lower torque than regular or form taps. I think the form tap is more precise and will provide more strength, but this is not critical in my application.
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     Michael K Johnson (mcdanlj@social.makerforums.info)'s status on Monday, 02-Oct-2023 02:01:35 JST Michael K Johnson

     in reply to

     @jmorris Glad you got it working!

     Tap guides are a reasonable form of vertical reference; mill not required. That's why I mentioned what I do for tapping v-slot. They keep the taps straight enough that I've (touch wood) had 100% success power tapping with a drill and a spiral flute tap.

     Also, not trying to talk you out of form taps. I want to go in the opposite direction and start using form taps where appropriate.☺