Highly abrasive materials like cast iron, polymers, glass filled polycarbonates, and some cast aluminum are called “hard” materials for a reason. They’re hard to machine, hard on tool life and hard on production cycle times.

​How do you overcome the difficulties of making parts out of challenging raw stock? By using a tool that’s even tougher. Consider a change from steel taps to carbide taps.

​We offer carbide taps in UN and Metric sizes as well as straight and NPT/F Pipe and STI Standards. A wide range of styles and features are available, including straight flute, spiral flute, spiral point, and forming taps. For increased performance and life, we can customize tools with a full line of surface coatings such as TiN, TiCN, and TiALN.

Machining with carbide does come with some “do’s and don’t”. Hand­ tapping is generally not recommended. Rigid tapping and spot­-on alignment are critical to avoid breakage. Not to worry, however. Modern CNC equipment is ideally suited for carbide applications.

Here’s some additional tips. Coolant holes through the taps are an option for flushing chips out of the holes on the most difficult materials like some of the tougher stainless steels and space-­age alloys. Carbide STI (Screw Thread Insert) tapping of these materials has become commonplace in the aeronautical and aerospace industries.

Although initially more expensive than HSS taps, significant savings can be realized, especially in long-­run jobs. Higher cutting speeds, greater tool life, and reduced down­time from fewer tooling changes translate into reduced machining costs.

An alternative to costly larger sizes is our line of Carb­I­Sert® Taps. Solid carbide cutting surfaces are bonded onto a high-speed steel body to provide the best of both worlds; durability of carbide with the “forgiveness” of a steel body and shank.

So, don’t let difficult materials give you a “hard” time. Contact us anytime and put our carbide taps to work for you.

Watch for Part 2 of this series on carbide taps!
​Coming in August 2021: The Different Types of Carbide Taps and When to Use Them

Almost a year ago, Allen Benjamin, which has been a part of North American Tool,  was purchased by GWS Tool Group. GWS Tool Group is a US-based, vertically integrated manufacturer of highly engineered custom, standard, and modified standard cutting tools, primarily servicing the aerospace and defense, power generation, automotive and medical sectors. GWS Tool Group has acquired multiple businesses in the course of its growth which now serves as the respective manufacturing divisions for the Company.  

Just because there is a new owner, doesn't mean that the quality of an Allen Benjamin Tap has changed! 

If you’re in the market for high tensile strength carbide taps and metric taps, we can assure you that you’re in the right place. Not only is Allen Benjamin a leading supplier of the industry’s most durable, longest lasting carbide taps, we offer our customers the convenience of ordering online. In this day and age, we believe that quick access and top-notch customer services are critical.

In today’s post, we’re going to look at why it is beneficial to order your carbide taps from Allen Benjamin.

Quality
Allen Benjamin carbide taps are highly efficient when tapping abrasive metals such as aluminum, non-ferrous metals, and exotic materials. With a much higher tensile strength than standard taps, their high-quality carbide taps can withstand the rigorous demands of your application.

Selection
Allen Benjamin offers a staggering range      of carbide taps, metric taps, HSSE taps, tapping fluid, extensions, and more. If it’s taps that you are looking for, you can be confident that they’ve got them and have them ready for delivery.

Service
Allen Benjamin guarantees that all of their products will be the absolute best quality, within standard tolerances and dimensions, and consistent with application specifications. If their goods don’t meet your needs, you can contact us for a return authorization.

At Allen Benjamin, they take pride in offering the industry’s best taps. But, more importantly, they aim to provide our customers with access to a simpler, faster way to order their operation’s critical parts, supplies, and components.

If you’ve been searching for a supplier that will meet your needs and rise to meet your challenges contact us today!

How can you optimize a tap's chamfer based on your application?

Although North American Tool/ GWS  stocks many common special taps with standard chamfer lengths, they can design and manufacture a special tap for your application.

​Optimizing the chamfer results in, longer tap life, reduced tapping torque, better finish, and make the difference between success and failure.

As most of you know, the chamfer is the tapered section on the front of the tap. It includes the length, angle, radial relief, and point diameter.

​As the tap rotates and advances forward, each succeeding chamfered tooth enters the drilled hole and takes deeper and deeper cuts until the first full thread on the tap completes producing a full thread in the part. The balance of the tap’s threads within the length beyond the chamfer, do not do any cutting and just goes for the ride.
​

Increasing the total number of chamfered teeth cutting, can increase tap life exponentially.

​The example above shows that a standard plug chamfer (3 to 5 threads) length, so on a 4 fluted tap, it will range between 12 to 20 cutting teeth. Because North American Tool/ GWS understands more is better, they make it a point to manufacture our taps with a chamfer length closer to maximum length, in this case, 5 threads. This is also true for the other standard chamfer lengths Bottom, Semi Bottom, and Taper. 

Although more is better, you may be limited to the length of chamfer due to the job requirements. We should also note that the incomplete threads created and left in the part by the chamfer are not too full thread height and will cause assembly interference, therefore they are not considered part of the required thread length.

As for manufactured specials, knowing your application requirements is necessary for us to design a tap that optimizes performance. For chamfer design, North American Tool/ GWS would need to know, tap drill size, tap drill depth, and full thread length requirement.

Knowing the tap drill size allows us to grind a chamfer with a point diameter that permits the tap to start cutting within the first half thread of entry. Because there are many factors that go into determining a tap drill size, there can be a relatively wide range of diameters. If the chamfer point diameter is smaller than the tap drill diameter, then the tap may not start cutting until the second chamfer tooth or beyond.

Using the same 4 flute, plug tap from the example above, in an application with a tap drill size larger than the chamfer point diameter, such that the tap does not start cutting till the 2nd chamfer tooth, will have a reduction in cutting teeth by 6 (1.5 threads X 4 flutes), or 30%. If the application is such that only a bottom chamfer (1 to 2 threads) can be used, and it is ground to the maximum length of 2 threads it will result in a reduction of cutting teeth from 8 (2 threads X 4 flutes) to 6 (1.5 threads X 4 flutes) or 75%.

Knowing the tap drill depth and full thread length requirement also allows us to design the maximum length chamfer for your application. This may take into consideration the overspin of the machine spindle, or room at the bottom of a blind hole so the tap does not run into any chips that may have made their way to the bottom.

Although the information presented may be confusing, hopefully we have explained the importance of the chamfer, and the many considerations that go into its proper design.

So, if you are ready to increase tap life, reduced tapping torque, improve the finish, and make the difference between success and failure, give us a call with your application requirements.

If you deal with exotic alloys like Inconel, titanium, Hastelloy, etc., this article is written especially for you. Wise operators always select the correct tool for the job, avoiding the problems others face when they try to apply a general-purpose tool to a unique situation. In this article, we give you the information you need to select the proper tools for machining exotics. It will make your shop stand out from the competition since you will produce better results at a reduced cost.

The Hard Stuff
Exotic alloys are specifically designed for high-temperature applications (think aerospace), performance in corrosive environments (think underground), or to have the highest available strength to weight ratios (think earth-moving applications). The machinability of these materials is NOT the first consideration. As much as it would be nice from the machinist’s viewpoint to have an aluminum firewall in a helicopter, as the pilot or passenger you want a material that is strong and heat retardant.
​

The Answer
One day a new job order comes in and you are faced with threading these kinds of alloys. What’s an operator to do? Fortunately for you, North American Tool manufactures application-specific thread mills right here in the USA.

These tools are made from solid carbide and have been specially designed with exotic materials in mind. The results are longer more consistent tool life and the elimination of scrap due to tap failures in your parts.

Uniquely Crafted
North American Tool thread mills for exotic alloys are designed with only three teeth. This places less stress on the tool than a conventional thread mill with six, eight, or ten teeth engaged in the workpiece at the same time. Carbide thread mills nickel-based alloys are also made with left-hand helix and left hand-cut, which permit an operator to run from the top of the hole to the bottom and climb mill the threads.

​This will create a right-hand thread on the part. The threads are milled, rather than cut, typically producing a better quality thread in the part.

The thread mills are coated with AlCrN to give them greater heat and wear resistance in the high heat, higher abrasive applications that typically confront an operator when machining exotic alloys.

Exotic Material Experts
As well as thread mills, we are the industry leader in designing and manufacturing special taps for exotic materials as well. Thread mills are a good alternative tool to the special taps we design every day provided of course, you have a 3-axis CNC capable of the interpolation tool path needed for thread mills.


If you are working with exotic materials and need a thread mill or special tap, please contact us for a quote. We’d be happy to help.

The national standard for NPT (National Pipe Taper) taper pipe threads is ASME B1.20.1, the current edition has a date of 2013.
This standard contains product detail values and their calculation formulas as well as conformance requirements. It also contains gage design details used to evaluate only some of the conformance requirements. Yes, you read that correctly, used to evaluate only some of the conformance requirements! Click button below to learn more.

Getting a good understanding of the definitions of the parts of a tap will help you to better understand the functions of  tap designs.  Special thanks to North American Tool for letting us share their short and simple explanations!

In January of this year we welcomed a new member to our Browne & Co. sales team and with manufacturing companies opening up again, it's about time we introduce you to Jeff Terrace!

Just before joining Browne & Co in January 2019, Jeff worked at Hoffmann Group, a German cutting tool, hand tool, workstation and storage solutions manufacturer.

Jeff has been working as an InovaTool representative since February of 2019 and recently joined Browne & Company at the beginning of 2020 as our Cutting Tool Specialist. Please send Jeff and email or give him a call to introduce yourself or pick his brain about an application question.

Tavares, FL February 4th, 2020 – GWS Tool Group is pleased to announce it has acquired North American Tool Corporation (NATC).  They represent the second add-on acquisition in 2020 for GWS.

With the addition of NATC, GWS further strengthens its reputation as the premier multi-disciplinary manufacturer of high-performance custom cutting tools in the marketplace today.

“NATC is an exciting add for us,” said Rick McIntyre, GWS’ CEO. “Their customer service model is one of the best in the business and their focus in taps and threadmills fits in like a perfect puzzle piece to our dynamic and holistic offering. We are very excited to be continually expanding our value proposition for our customers with highly additive acquisitions like this. ” McIntyre continued.

“North American Tool is very excited to be joining GWS Tool Group, a company that embodies the attributes that have long made us successful,” said Curt Lansbery, NATC President & CEO.

“A customer-centric approach to business rooted in a commitment to quality and quick delivery marry perfectly with our model here at North American Tool. We have no doubt that this move to join GWS will be positive for our associates and will ensure the continued growth of the legacy that we have worked to develop.”

The team at NATC will continue to operate from the Illinois facility as a manufacturing arm of GWS Tool Group, and the company expresses intent toward continued investment in the facility, machinery and equipment and human resources. Customers of NATC are said to expect continuity of the NATC offering and customer service disposition under cover of the GWS ownership.

About GWS Tool Group
GWS Tool Group is a US-based, vertically integrated manufacturer of highly engineered custom, standard, and modified standard cutting tools, primarily servicing the aerospace and defense, power generation, automotive and medical sectors. GWS Tool Group has acquired multiple businesses in the course of its growth which now serves as the respective manufacturing divisions for the Company.

For more information, please visit www.GWSToolGroup.com or contact Drew Strauchen, EVP of Marketing & Business Development for GWS Tool Group, at drew@gwstoolgroup.com or 877.497.8665.

Have you ever had a tapping job that was so troublesome that it caused heartburn or acid indigestion due to broken taps, bad finish, short tap life, over or undersized threads, etc.?

One way of avoiding or alleviating such a condition is accomplished with the use of a tap feature called “relief”. The definition of “relief” according to Marian Webster, is removal or lightening of something oppressive, painful, or distressing. For a tap, “relief” is the reducing of surface contact between the tap/tap feature and the part being tapped. Surface contact generates unwanted heat causing the issues mentioned above. Depending on the tap feature, relief is applied in a direction that is, radially, around the tap, or axially, along the axis of the tap.

All taps require a minimum number of features to have relief for it to cut, other reliefs are applied when the tapping application requires it. There are always tradeoffs when designing a tap, if a relief is applied or it’s amount is greater than necessary, it can cause the tap to run free or loose to a point it will cause heartburn or acid indigestion by producing issues mentioned above.

Relieved features that are always necessary on a tap are:
               
Chamfer, the tapered threads at the front of the tap. The crests or major diameter of the chamfered threads are radially relieved from the cutting edge to the heel of the land. Without this relief it would be like cutting a tomato with the non-sharp side of a knife, you can imagine the results of that. When looking at a taps chamfer, relief results in the crest width being wider at the cutting edge and narrowing towards the heel;

Back Taper, a slight gradual reduction of the taps thread form including it’s major, pitch and minor diameters. It starts at the chamfered end of the tap and continues axially for the length of thread towards the shank end.

Additional features that can be relieved

Thread Relief, a radial reduction of the taps major and pitch diameters from the cutting edge to the heel. Relieving of the pitch diameter results in the minor diameter being relieved as well due to the manufacturing process whereas the major diameter is relieved separately. The application of the major or pitch diameter relief is normally applied separately but both can be done in combination. Relief of pitch diameter is the most common followed by the major diameter. Thread relief is applied when Back Taper alone is not enough to prevent surface contact when tapping materials that close in and squeezes the tap like stainless steel. The rate of reduction from the cutting edge to the heel is based on the material being tapped and, in some cases, the tapping application.

There are two common types of Thread Reliefs:

• Eccentric, a radial relief in the thread form starting at the cutting edge and continuing to the heel.
  
• Con-Eccentric, Radial relief in the thread form starting back of a concentric margin.

The reliefs we have discussed so far are applied during the tap manufacturing and other than the chamfer relief cannot be added or changed. If you are in a bind and must ship parts but can’t wait for us to design, manufacture and ship the appropriate tap, there are additional types of relief that can be applied that may work in a pinch. Sometimes referred to as a poor man’s relief, something you may be capable of doing in your shop without too much trouble to get you through a quick job, or until properly designed tools arrive.

The application of relief types and amounts are dependent on many factors such as material properties being tapped, style and size of tap, how the tap is being used (hand, machine, etc.) and application requirements, etc. By providing us with as much information about your tapping application, it will enable our engineers to design a tap with the proper relief. This will help alleviate troublesome heartburn or acid indigestion.

First things first, what is the root of a tap?

The root of a tap is the surface at the bottom of the thread-form that connects adjacent thread flanks and is expressed as a width or as a diameter. The term root diameter is also called minor diameter, it’s one of those things, you say rain and I say precipitation, meaning the same thing...