Dave Hinz wrote:
On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 02:28:08 +0000, Christopher Tidy wrote:

Dave Hinz wrote:

I may be doing it the wrong and/or hard way but, I've done it a couple
of times.

(snip)


Did you have to heat treat or case harden it? Or were you only tapping
brass?


Once aluminum, once mystery-steel for a nut that was expected to have
about 3 uses ever. Lots of lube and it came out OK but I wouldn't
suggest it for a "real" project. This was for a water-pump tool for
Triumph/Saab inline-4 engines, and several hand-turned uses per year are
to be expected, kind of a gear puller with a threaded end rather than a
point. If it was anything that'd deal with any number of cuts, I
probably would have just bought the oddball tap. But for a one-off of
not-rocket-science dirty hack spec, it was good enough. (I never
claimed to be a machinist, I'm just a guy with machine tools in the
basement).

Interesting. Did you use ordinary mild steel for the tap or drill rod?

Best wishes,

Chris