• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.

    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Tap & Die Set - help

Well done, Brian!

<sheepish> I bought seperate sets, one at a time from a truck many moons ago. "B.C." (Before Computers)</sheepish>

...and just WHERE have YOU been hiding recently?!? No need to be "absent" 'cause you ain't on a project at the moment, y'know. Your talent and knowledge are appreciated here regardless!
 
I have a bunch of taps but could have had enough for everyone here back in the day. I worked for a place that made big front end loaders and dump trucks. In the cnc boring mills and other equipment they used the machines to tap holes. They would tap so many holes and then throw out the tap before it had a high percentage of breakage. The taps were still usable and I kept quite a few.
 
<..and just WHERE have YOU been hiding recently?!? No need to be "absent" 'cause you ain't on a project at the moment, y'know. Your talent and knowledge are appreciated here regardless!>

Ahhhh, you sure know how to sweet talk a guy.
 
<sheepish> I bought seperate sets, one at a time from a truck many moons ago. "B.C." (Before Computers)</sheepish>

How about those Snap-On trucks, honestly, is there anyone out there who hasn't imagined: "step away from the truck, lay your keys on the ground, I have a squirt gun here and I'm desperate...."

Brian
https://www.teamsprite.com
 
I hate them snapon guys, when you start turning in broken tools for new ones, the little vans quit coming around. seriously, if someone needs an oddball tap, I might have it for loan or something. I have a bunch. Not many left handed taps and if its whitworth, you are on your own, I have a few metrics(if I still worked at the place with the cnc equipment I would have plenty cause they went metric)and I have a couple French (pre-metric) taps that I have no idea what I would ever use them for, they are probably worth some bucks because they are so old. They were in an old wooden toolbox that I bought at a sale in England /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/lol.gif
 
I've always been well treated by the ones we saw. The guy with the route near the hovel has even transported my "Red Amana" for me. I can call him (10 years after my last shop purchase!) and he'll come by the hovel. I've no complaints.

Kim, I've a set of adjustable reams in a wood box with a slide-lid. Me Gran'far's.

And a drawer full of Wood & Spencer taps, too. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
DrEntropy said:
I've always been well treated by the ones we saw. The guy with the route near the hovel has even transported my "Red Amana" for me. I can call him (10 years after my last shop purchase!) and he'll come by the hovel. I've no complaints.

Kim, I've a set of adjustable reams in a wood box with a slide-lid. Me Gran'far's.

And a drawer full of Wood & Spencer taps, too. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
Don't get me wrong snap-on is good stuff,some of the best, but I like to be able to take the broken stuff to a known location and swap it out when it breaks, not wait and hope a van shows up. If I break a sears tool, I know where they are at to swap it out and the tool is ususally 1/3 the price. I also have a set of armstrong tools that I have abused in about every way possible and never had a break, I have broken Snap-on tools several times. I know that those guys are in it to make money, but at my plant they sold us a lot of snapon tools and when the sales boom was over and people started returning broken for new, the van came very infrequently and then finally stopped. I have bought some of their lesser quality blue point tools and would equate them with stuff that comes from china.
 
Yeah, there's a Sears store on every corner! I've got Craftsman stuff in my box as well.

I know I have a good Snappy dealer in this area, I've run across the type you describe, too. I consider myself fortunate in that regard, believe me. And broken at least one of about every brand made. I never had an argument from a truck-based franchise dealer.

"BluePoint" ~used to be~ better. Now it's absolute junk.
 
OK the good tool part I understand (and for the most part abide with, though I'm not sure whether an MG (by definition) falls into the good tool or bad tool catagory - which is why I love them /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif )

Anyway,coming back to the topic at hand - do I go to Sears or Canadian Tire or Harbor Freight and ask for these things? I've heard ebay but are they available locally?

Thanks again y'all
 
yes and yes. Should also find at Ace Hardware.
 
JP, probably Canadian Tire or Sears. You may get a better deal (if you want to just buy the taps you need) at Canadian Tire.
Jeff
 
Re: Tap & Die Set - help

Should be at Sears at least. Second choice would be CT. HF will be a distant (Chinese) third.

EDIT:
Geez, Jeff!!! We keep ~bumpin' into~ one-another today!
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
Re: Tap & Die Set - help

Team_Sprite said:
<sheepish> I bought seperate sets, one at a time from a truck many moons ago. "B.C." (Before Computers)</sheepish>

How about those Snap-On trucks, honestly, is there anyone out there who hasn't imagined: "step away from the truck, lay your keys on the ground, I have a squirt gun here and I'm desperate...."

Brian
https://www.teamsprite.com

Hehehehe!!! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/lol.gif (good to see your input brian!!)
 
OK - sorry to belabour this but I'm still seing taps and not thread chasers. Was at CT yesterday and they had lots of taps but I did not see thread chasers - they are two different things right?

CT does (on their website) advertize a thread chaser BUT only for spark plugs.

I understand that a tap will work but now I am anxious about removing material, especially since previous discussions suggest that the thread angles on British cars are slightly different than SAE.
 
At least on the Bugeyes they used standard SAE threads (that standard was relatively new in the late 50s when the car was designed). Don't know about the later cars, but other than a few odd bits (some carb bits for instance) Sprite bolts and nuts are SAE standard bits.
 
I don't think you would remove too much material with a new tap. After all if the threads were tapped to that size to being with it will only remove all the junk and not hurt the metal. Chasers are mostly for doing bolts, they are like dies but only clean and are not made for cutting new threads
 
A bottoming tap, with oil, cleaning the junk out progressively and used by hand would likely be fine. Better yet would be a well used tap, as has been stated above.
 
Back
Top