Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: General Tool Life Question

Hugh Currin wrote:

> Jon & all:
>
> 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?

Wow, yes! I drilled, spotted and tapped 144 10-32 through holes in a
fixture plate on my CNC system with these. (I have them more for blind
holes, but the taps don't really care.) I also did about 650 6-32 blind
holes with them. The advantage is the spiral flutes bring a long, curly
chip up and out of the hole. So, I can have a drilled hole only a little
deeper than the tap will go, and just zip the tap to full depth in one
go. I use a Procunier "CNC" tapping head, that has clutches and
gears to drive the tap forward when down feed pressure is applied,
and reverses the tap at 2 X spindle speed when upward pressure
is applied. The spindle of the CNC machine controls depth.
I use Alum-Tap when tapping in aluminum, it works amazingly
well.

Jon