Tapping Half Hard material

[MIKE_B]

Hi all

 

I'm tapping some 301 HH x .06 thick material here and I'm not having much luck. They are breaking after every 2 - 10 holes. Tap size is M2 x .4. The last speed and feed I tried was S300 and F4.72 (rigid tapping in fanuc robodrill)

I am using standard HSS bright taps. I'm looking for other tap style suggestions coatings ...etc. I can't seem to find many in M2 size.

 

Thanks

Mike

[Guest]

can you go to a 60 % thread

[MIKE_B]

del I'm pretty much there already my hole size is .067

[Namliek_J@TheeCircle™]

How hard is the material? Are you using a thread cutting tap or a thread forming tap?

 

I always liked the OSG Taps. elektraLUBE is a good coating and done over 300 10-32 holes in 1141 steel with one tap. They do have these in MSC in the size you need for about 20 bucks a tap. OSG also makes a Hypro tap which is for tapping some harder materials, but not sure if they make them in the size you need.

 

HTH.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Can you threadmill???

[MIKE_B]

quote:

---

I always liked the OSG Taps. elektraLUBE is a good coating and done over 300 10-32 holes in 1141 steel with one tap. They do have these in MSC in the size you need for about 20 bucks a tap.

---

J

 

I tried these with the same results.

 

CNC apps

 

I never thread milled a hole this small. What kind of tools are out there for this.

 

 

I can tap these holes without issues off cycle using Molly D for lube. So I'm thinking my coolant might be an issue. Using water soluable oil here and the concentration is good.

[Namliek_J@TheeCircle™]

How many of the parts do you have to tap?

 

Did you ever think about tapping offline using a Flexarm?

 

Also, how old/worn is the machine you are using? I ask because I ran into a problem one time with a machine that would break taps like crazy because the retract and the spidle were not in sync. The machine would start to retract and it would take a split second for the machine spindle to reverse and get to the correct RPM for the retract feed rate. This would cause strain on the tap and break it.

 

I couldn't figure it out and tried to cut threads and form threads. Tried cutting only 30% of threads for a test and they kept breaking before I figured out what was going on. Had to get a tapping head. Luckily the parts had 200 to 300 10-32 tapped holes in them, so the setup wasn't only for a couple holes.

 

If you have only a few holes, maybe try running the tap very slowly as to minimize the amount of time the spindle needs to reverse and get to speed.

 

HTH.

 

I wo

[Kyle Waters]

Mike,

Do you have any access to Yamawa? We use an M2 x .4 ticn coating in 4140 43-45 hrc, 381 rpm 6 ipm, rigid tapping thru hole. Water soluble oil, 1.65mm drill.

[MIKE_B]

J

The machine is 2 months old. And have have done lots of tapping on it already with no issues.

 

Kyle

Not sure what Yamana is. Is it a name brand?

[Kyle Waters]

Mike,

Yes Yamawa is the brand name.

 

The numbers on the tap I have:

 

EBYC01

P3 HSS-E N-PO

 

Here is the US contact info:

 

YMW USA

NORTH ST.

GREENFIELD,MA 01302-0513

U.S.A.

TEL: 888-969-8277

FAX: 888-969-3299

[email protected]

 

HTH

[MIKE_B]

Thanks Kyle I'll have to give them a try

[Kyle Waters]

whoops, doubled it

[Namliek_J@TheeCircle™]

Mike, what style of taps are you using?

 

Sprial Point??

 

I am just wondering if the chip created is being the issue.

 

Did you ever think about using a thread forming tap?

[MIKE_B]

Yes I'm using spiral point taps. I don't usually form tap through holes but maybe I should give it a shot

[Namliek_J@TheeCircle™]

I would think it is worth the shot. Just make sure you drill is the right size. It differs a little bit.

 

Tap Drill = Major Diameter - (Pitch / 2)

[TK-32™]

go slower

S 120 F1.89

 

also on these robodrills you can extract the tap at a faster feed. Check parameters 5200 & 5201

[Darren Long SPE]

check MTECSxxxxxx threadmills from ISCAR.

They go all the way down to M2.

And also the program will genbe4rate code for the FANUC.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

I've threadmilled 2-56 ~ .210 Dp. in Titanium, 10,000 RPM @ 2.5 IPM. ONE PASS!!!

 

Tapping sUx unless it's absolutely positively the ONLY method IMNSHO.

[chris m]

I have to disagree with you on that one, James; while tapping isn't fun all of the time it can be much faster and more repeatable than threadmilling in the 'proper' application. That being said, there is always more than one way to skin a cat in this trade; go for what you know.