What Is A Good Set Of Taps and Dies?

[beerman57]

But not too expensive. A few years ago I bought a Grand Rapids Industrial set and I’m tired of "trying" to use this junk, something as simple as a 1/4-20 die isn’t even close to being 1/4-20.

[rjoynt]

I got a great set on CL. Look under tools. And since you can’t have just one, I also picked a set up at a garage sale. Both are old and work the way they should.

[powerdyn]

I bought an ‘Ace’ Super Set by Henry L. Hanson Co., Worcester, Mass. about 50 years ago and I’m still using them.
A couple of years ago I needed a metric tape and purchased ‘Pittsburg’ set from Harbor Freight, BIG MISTAKE (sounds similar to your Grand Rapids set.
Take a look on eBay to see what might be available.
I don’t know if Henry L Hanson is still in business or not.

[RICHARD A. WHITE]

quote beerman57:

But not too expensive. A few years ago I bought a Grand Rapids Industrial set and I’m tired of “trying” to use this junk, something as simple as a 1/4-20 die isn’t even close to being 1/4-20.

I am in no way implying ignorance, but are you aware that dies come with either an adjustment screw or pre-cut for a specific class of fit? Taps are made for the specific class of fit with basically means they either are a nice less sloppy fit or more slop than you could ever imagine as being correct fit.

A quick look at a Machinist handbook will show you that a 1/4-20 bolt is NOT 1/4 inch in diameter….depending on class of fit could be .005 or more under that size.
Also note cheaper tap and die sets are notorious for being pretty generous on the slop meter.

Hertel is one brand my company uses, OSG is another one that comes to mind. These are one item that you truly DO get what you pay for, Try MSC they carry many different brands.

If you tap one or ten holes per year, you would be ok with HF taps and dies…more than that, get the good stuff…

Regards

Richard

http://www.richardsoutboardtools.com
classicomctools@gmail.com

[dan-in-tn]

I’m like powerdyn. I have Hanson, Greenfield, etc. from 40 to 50 years ago. Some are dull, but I find dull taps work better on aluminum for cleaning a hole. Most of my new taps come from Ace Hardware. Never HF, junk! You have a real problem when you break a tap off in a hole. My chasing dies are just that. The hex nut style for chasing threads. I rarely cut new threads, just clean up old threads.
If rebuilding a powerhead I re-tap every hole in the block. I do this quickly by driving a nut onto the top of the tap. A stainless nut of appropriate size is soft enough to drive onto the square head of the tap. I use a air rachet turned down (or electric drill (with slip chuck) to drive a bottom tap to the bottom of each hole. The hole is blown out with an air gun with a copper tube on it. The block is then washed and blown out again. Things go together real well after that. Any problems you run into can be repaired before you get Into the middle of your rebuild.
I love quality tools!

Dan in TN

[outbdnut2]

I also got fed up with cheapie sets breaking. I bought a Craftsman set at Sears about 10 years ago and it has been holding up great for the dozen or so times a year I use it – good brand for the hobbiest. Be sure at Sears the set says "Craftsman" on it. They have the set below on sale right now at a great price:
Dave

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-tap-die- … ockType=G4

otherwise this link gets you to all of them:

http://www.sears.com/search=tap%20and%20die%20set

[chas56x]

I started my mechanical career as an aircraft mechanic. I bought a set of Craftsman taps and dies over 50 years ago and still use the same set to this day. Great value for the money. The set came with a tap/drill card for all sizes of SAE bolts. The set covers about 95% of all bolts and screws used in vintage and classic outboard motors. BTW, when using a good tap and die always use lubricating oil and turn the tap or die about 2 or 3 turns than back it off about a 1/2 turn to break away any metal chips. After about 4 or 5 turns, back out the tap and clean the metal chips out of the hole, then add some more oil and go back to cutting the treads. This helps the tap to cut cleaner and prevents jamming of the tap in the hole.

[fleetwin]

One thing is for sure, do NOT waste you time/money on the HF stuff…You get what you pay for, should have known better…

[beerman57]

Thanks for the replies, I went ahead and ordered one of those Sears sets. I don’t need them often, but when I do, I need something that works. Most of the time I can get by with my Snap-On thread chasers, I bought the whole set years ago, but you can buy the pieces separate.

[jeff-register]

Beerman,
Great choice of thread chasers. Wish I had a set of Snapper tools. I do have a set of very old combo end wrenches from the 60’s.
Best tools made!

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