On 05/10/2011 08:39 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:


I did notice one thing though that kind of concerns me. I got some
chips, but mostly I got some long fine wire like chips off of each of
the three flutes. On the first two holes I stopped the drill press to
clean them off, but after the third one I just tapped the next hole
without cleaning the long wires off. It tapped just fine, but I wonder
if those could cause some problems if I tried to tap say 10 or 20 or 50
holes without stopping to clean those off the tap.
That is the same chip I get with them. I get worried about the mess it
would make if it broke a tap off in the workpiece, so I generally stand
there removing the chips with a toothbrush and applying a new bit of
tapping fluid. Doing this on a CNC mill with combined drill-taps, it
can go through a BUNCH of holes almost faster than you can keep up with it.

Jon