Taps Dies

When tapping a hole using a hand tap, it is very important to periodically reverse the rotation of the tap to break the chips being produced and prevent “overcrowding” of material, this prevents tool breakage. However, when using taps on machinery it is not always possible, especially in the case of high speed machinery such as C.N.C. machining centres. These machines have lead to the development of taps suitable for continuous rotation in the cutting direction. The most common type of machine tap is the “spiral point” tap, whose cutting edges are angularly displaced relative to the taps centreline. This feature causes the tap to continuously break the chip and eject it up into the flutes, preventing overcrowding. There is also a tap called a “spiral flute” tap, these have flutes similar to a twist drill, they are widely used in high speed automated situations and have the ability to work well in blind hole operations.