View Single Post
  #2   Report Post  
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
Jerry Foster Jerry Foster is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 84
Default Buying thread cutting taps dies and best type of tool steel to use????


"Robert Swinney" wrote in message
...
You are not going to get any visibility to the type of steel used in taps

and dies. Unless you were
a metallurgist, knowing the exact formulation would be over your head

anyway. Don't go "cheep" when
buying cutting tools of any kind.

Bob Swinney


I have to agree with Bob, but it's a little like going out to eat with a
friend of mine . He derides many of my
favorites as "peasants' food," while I maintain he'll eat fried weeds if
the price is high enough.

Junk is junk, but you can get some fairly good tools at rather attractive
prices and pay a lot more for tools
that aren't nearly as good. And the interesting thing is that they may all
be fairly priced! The problem is
what constitutes "good." "Good" means good for your application.
Especially when you buy on the
Internet (MSC, etc.), you need to know exactly what you need.

There's an old adage that, if you don't know your jewels, you'd better know
your jeweler. If you have the
luxury of being able to buy from a "real" tool store, one that's been around
for a long time supplying machine
shops of all descriptions, they will know what they sell to shops that do
the sorts of things you want to do.

Many very high quality (and expensive) tools (taps, dies, drills, endmills,
etc., etc., etc...) are designed to be
used in tightly controlled production machines working a particular material
under very specific conditions.
Used as such, they do a supurb job and last a long time. They are well
worth their price. But, for the HSM
(or even the general machine shop) where they will be mis-applied, they
don't last and are a waste of money.

OK, this is a long winded way of saying there is no real easy answer. It is
true that you get what you pay
for, but it is very easy to spend a lot more money than you need to.

It also makes little sense to spend a lot for taps and dies that will lay in
the drawer for years being rarely, if
ever, used.

I would, therefore, suggest you buy a reasonable set (maybe a step up from
hardware store stuff, but not
much more...), identify a better grade of tool that is apropos to your
application (talk to a friendly experienced
machinist, vocational school instructor or a long-term salesman at a
reputable tool store) and replace your
cheaper tools with the better ones as they wear out. That way, you'll end
up with a set of tools that meets
your needs, still have the sizes you need for the rare, oddball, job and
keep your wallet from getting
completely drained...

Jerry