Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: General Tool Life Question

On Wed, 16 Jan 2002 15:05:36 -0800, Hugh Currin <currinh@...> wrote:

>I was told recently that these spiral flute taps work better than straight
>taps for both hand and machine tapping. Does your, or anyone's, experience
>back this up? What are the advantages of these sprial flute taps?

Are you talking about the spiral point that throws the chips ahead of
the tap? If so, that is what I use in through holes if I have one in
the required size. I nearly always power tap with them in both the
lathes and the manual mill - I haven't gotten up the nerve to try
tapping in the CNC machine yet. I don't have an accurate enough way to
know the spindle speed, no tapping attachment, and the machine doesn't
do rigid tapping (there is no spindle encoder).

The spiral point taps are not as good for blind holes as they tend to
pack the chips into the bottom of the hole.

The other spiral taps I've not used.

Fitch