You know........I've been a machinist for 28 years. I consider myself to be a pretty decent machinist. I can make just about anything if I put my mind to it. But, one thing I have never had any luck with at all is pipe tapping. I hate pipe taps. Every single time I take a job that involves pipe tapping a part, I lose my ass.Is there a secret to pipe tapping that has eluded me all these years ???We recently did a job (I lost my ass on) that consisted of 1" square x 17" long.Every three inches, we had to drill and tap ( from both opposing sides) a 1/4"-18 pipe tap. We bought a high dollar OSG Exotap pipe tap and used Tap Magic heavy tapping goo. Started the threads on the machine for about 4 threads and then hand tapped the rest of the way.We consistently got at least one, if not two threads to rip out causing the whole piece to be junk. I don't know (or care to remember) how many of these damn things I've scrapped.Frank
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I have to tap some 1/8 NPT holes, and there is no room for error--if these strip, I am in big trouble. In some other work, I have had the tap spin in the hole and end up reaming it rather than grabbing in and cutting threads. I've experimented with pressure on the tap as well as reaming the hole or not and still get inconsistent results. The critical holes must be done freehand as the work is too large to get into any machine for using a dead center in the end of the tap. I am using a new, American name-brand tap. What's the trick for a guaranteed good thread? (By the way, the material is 5/16 thick steel.) Thanks!
Greg Lewis, Prop.
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