Hand Taps -- A General Guide -- When To Use Which One

Standard Hand Taps

High Speed Steel Hand Taps with straight flutes are designed for general purpose hand tapping or in production machines where ground thread accuracy and performance are required. They are suitable for tapping most materials in through or blind holes. Hand taps retain chips in the flutes during use and work best on materials that produce chips and the swarf breaks easily. They are also known as Straight Flute Taps.

Left Hand Standard Hand Taps

High Speed Steel Left Hand Taps are designed to cut threads with a left hand rotation and are commonly used in applications where left hand studs and fasteners are needed.

Metric Standard Hand Taps

High Speed Steel Metric Hand Taps with straight flutes are designed for general purpose hand tapping or in production machines where ground thread accuracy and performance are required. They are suitable for tapping most materials in through or blind holes. Hand taps retain chips in the flutes during use and work best on materials that produce chips and the swarf breaks easily. They are also known as Metric Straight Flute Tap

Standard Hand Taps - +.005 Oversize Taps

Oversize taps are used primarily where a piece will be plated or heat treated after tapping. Oversize Taps are also known as Pre-Plate Taps.

Standard Hand Taps - Special Thread

Special Thread Hand Taps are designed for applications where standard coarse, fine, or extra-fine thread taps are not applicable or where design considerations require non-standard pitches. Most sizes are available in taper, bottoming, or plug chamfer. When taper or bottoming chamfer taps are not available in size ordered, plug chamfer taps will be substituted to complete order.

Standard Hand Taps (Metric) - Special Thread

Special Thread Metric Hand Taps are designed for applications where standard coarse, fine, or extra-fine thread taps are not applicable or where design considerations require non-standard pitches. Most sizes are available in taper, bottoming, or plug chamfer. When taper or bottoming chamfer taps are not available in size ordered, plug chamfer taps will be substituted to complete order.

 

Standard Hand Taps (Metric) - Left Hand

Metric Left Hand Taps are designed to cut threads with a left hand rotation and are commonly used in applications where left hand studs and fasteners are needed.












High Speed Steel (HSS) --- What is it?

High Speed Steel

High Speed Steel (commonly abbreviated to HSS or HS) is a type of tool steel used in the manufacturing of cutting tools and tool bits. It is far superior to the older high carbon steel commonly seen used in the 1940’s. High speed steel can endure higher temperatures than high carbon steel without losing its hardness. This feature allows for HSS to cut much faster than high carbon steel.

At room temperature HSS and high carbon steel have an equivalent hardness; only at elevated temperatures does HSS become advantageous.

Here at JAM Taylor Tool we use M2 HSS.

M2 is a high speed steel in tungsten-molybdenum series. The carbides in it are small and evenly distributed. It has high wear resistance. After heat treatment, its hardness is the same as T1, but its bending strength can reach 4700 MPa, and its toughness and thermoplasticity are higher than T1 by 50%. We use M2 steel to manufacture a variety of tap, reamers. & dies