Tapping Hints

  • You can cut materials up to about half as hard as the cutting tool.
  • Keep Tap Drill sharp! A dull drill can work harden the material you are tapping.
  • Hand taps can go about 2x their diameter in depth without chip problems.
  • Fast or High Spiral fluted taps can go about 3x times their diameter before chip problems occur.
  • Almost all tap breakage when reversing out is due to a chip packing problem.
  • A taper in the threads or oversize threads are caused by feed rate. This is the hardest problem to fix.
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