Tap and drill set, worth buying?

[Water-Mark]

In the comming months/years i'm likeley to need a variety of fine metric taps.

I can't see me needing many (if any) dies but I will need the drills.

Does anybody have any experience of the tap and drill sets around?

Most of my work is in brass so i don't need tgem to be top quality but also I don't want to buy rubbish.

Thanks.

 

[Beau]

I got a nice little set from Tilgear. Found it gets used far more than I expected. Tried a cheapo set before but was a complete waste of money. This looks like the one http://www.tilgear.info/kal032tds--kali ... and%20dies I just use standard drills going to nearest half mm. In brass you can err on the small side and the taps go through fine.

 

[marcros]

what sizes are you likely to need? and what thread pitch?

The huge sets that you can get may not be the best of taps, but if you are only using them in brass, may be worth a look. It is easy to say just buy the ones that you need and go for branded ones but the cost soon adds up.

 

[Water-Mark]

Thanks for the replies.

Mainly metric fine threads, m3 through to m8

This sort of thing

http://www.toolteam.de.com/en-GB/drill- ... wgodaPQJqQ

 

[marcros]

they are not fine though are they, just standard metric.

 

[flh801978]

You are not going to get sets of fine thread sizes you will have to buy individually
As marcros says

 

[woodpig]

I've bought most of my taps and dies as I've needed them but I did get a cheap set from Lidl and they seem fine although I've only used a couple.

Be careful when you get up to the larger sizes as they start to have two available fine pitches - make sure which one it is before you buy a die to match!

 

[chaoticbob]

My advice would be to go for decent quality individual taps at the sizes you need - sure, it'll cost you more per tap than a set, but because you won't be buying tools you'll never use it could well work out cheaper. And you'll really notice the difference in the way they cut, even in brass, compared with the cheap(ish) sets. The set you link to has first, second and bottoming taps in seven sizes - do you really need all three tap profiles? You don't say if you're going to be tapping blind or through holes or what provision you have for guiding the tap. Personally I have found that bottoming taps are OK for 90% of the stuff I do, but I almost always use the lathe/mill/drill press I made the hole with to guide the tap.

Tracy Tools is a good source for decent quality moderately priced taps and dies.

Same with drills - I'd say buy the sizes you need individually. There is a wealth of info on sizes you need on Harold Hall's website http://www.homews.co.uk/page621.html .

Last point - brass is a pig to drill with sharp bits, it's really grabby. I use cheapo bits which are either blunt on the lands to start with or I can stone the sharp edge off without too much grief.

 

[heimlaga]

I think you should go to an industrial supply house. Ask for Dormer or Werkö taps. Then ask for dormer drills in the correct dimensions.

Up to M6 or M8 even those industrial quality drills and taps are well within a hobbyists budget.
Larger sizes are expensive though. I think my M12 tap was over 30 euros and M16 may be 40 or 50 euros. Drills tend to get expensive from 13 mm and upwards.

If you want to save money I would strongly suggest that you cut down the number of taps to a minimum. If you don't need dies don't buy any. It is better to have a few taps that do their job year after year decade after decade than a set of cheap taps and dies with all the taps you need totally worn out.
By the way I don't follow my own principles in all instances. I have a few nameless dies from the Soviet Union. They seem to work though they will surely wear out over time. Daddy got them cheap.