Tap and Die set

Can anyone recommend a decent-ish tap and die set? Machine Mart have a few (recommended by Practical Classics readers, I'm not sure what that means - Whitworth, AF? [mechanicguides.com] :lol....
Just after something that I can use that won't fall to pieces after the first outing...

Cheers,

Chris

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2019 05:48AM by Qudet.

Depends on what threads you are cutting, and on what material. External or internal? Blind or through holes? Material? Just de-burring after cutting threaded rod? Cleaning threads? To be fair I'm no expert but those are the questions others may need answering to guide you to the best choice.

For working with most RepRap style machines I would imagine you want an ISO tap and die set at least covering M3, M4, M5, M6, M8, M10, M12. These do come in coarse and fine pitches. I think most of the fasteners on repraps are normally coarse thread.

[en.wikipedia.org]

The AF and Whitworth that you mention are different thread specifications. Have a look at the following if you want a better idea:

[en.wikipedia.org]

There are different types too, have a look at the following:

[en.wikipedia.org]

Edit: Those links look a little patronising without clicking them, that wasn't intended. They are linking through to specific pages rather than just taking you to the main wiki search page each time! :-)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2019 06:07AM by WesBrooks.

For 3D printer, small equipment.

Standard M2.5, M3, M4, M5, M6 "coarse" but in fact as fine as UNF. Metrics fine are used for some application but not needed here. Although a good choice for nozzle would have been M6X0.75 fine instead of M6 !

M8, M10, M12 are not really necessary here but if you are in cars, bikes etc OK

Better buy a set for hand tapping, usually comes in set of 3.

Buy also a set of metric drill for the hole to be tapped, hole before tapping is diam - pitch, so for M3 drill is 2.5,

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2019 06:40AM by MKSA.

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"A comical prototype doesn't mean a dumb idea is possible" (Thunderf00t)

Quote
MKSA
M8, M10, M12 are not really necessary here but if you are in cars, bikes etc OK

Fair enough on M10 & 12, but M8 threaded rod is common on the Mendel etc. Not sure what size the threaded rod is on the base of the Prusa mk2.

If you want to spend money, I highly suggest the brand ruko for taps. A bit pricey but insane quality... After tapping 50+ bits of extrusion at each end, I was bloody happy to have them.

ruko metric tap set

I rarely used to use anything over M5, but, now I'm making a CNC mill with 4040 extrusion and the standard is M8 bolts. I had some left over Alu and I've been making my own T nuts to keep costs down. I've also started using M6 more as pre drilled 5mm holes are perfect for tapping. Openbuilds plates have alot of 5mm holes on, perfect for easy placement of screws!
If you get a set with the right sized drills as well (recommended) then you can re-tap extrusion nuts to whatever size you want. V-slot will take up to an M6 bolt in the extrusion profile.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2019 03:35AM by Origamib.

Quote
MKSA
Buy also a set of metric drill for the hole to be tapped, hole before tapping is diam - pitch, so for M3 drill is 2.5,

You're the expert, but I've learned diameter x 0.8 for the drill hole?

If you are only hand-tapping plastic and very occasional aluminum then get a super cheap set, maybe even ebay/aliexpress. Cheap taps are often called "thread repair" taps to imply they are not actually designed to cut new threads. You do not want to use these in steel.
Depending on the type of work you do, it might be worth getting a plug + bottoming set so you can do blind holes as well, but this is hard in printed parts since it takes very little pressure to breach the bottom of a hole.

You almost never want to buy a high quality set of taps since they are extremely expensive and you will be lucky to use more than 20% of it. I have a complete set of dirt-cheap Metric Coarse/Metric Fine/Imperial/NPT taps for emergencies and a a few high quality taps in sizes that I actually use.

I will generally run the numbers through a thread engagement calculator if the project matters since drilling slightly large makes tapping much easier without lowering strength very much. If you tapping printed parts you will want the hole small for higher engagement.