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What is "Class of Fit" for a Cutting Tap?

10/17/2023

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written, compiled and edited by Bernard Martin
What does Class of Fit for a Cutting Tap mean
The basic profile of all UTS threads is the same as that of all ISO metric screw threads. Only the commonly used values for Dmaj and P differ between the two standards.
Class of fit for a cutting tap refers to the specific tolerance or fit that is desired between the threads of the tap and the threads of the hole it is being used to create. In other words, it defines how tightly or loosely the threads should mesh together.

The class of fit is typically expressed using a combination of letters and numbers. The most commonly used standards for class of fit are the Unified Thread Standard (UTS) and the ISO metric thread standard. In the UTS, the class of fit is denoted by a combination of a letter and a number, such as 2B, 3A, etc. In the ISO metric thread standard, it is represented by a combination of a letter and a number, such as 6g, 4h, etc.

For cutting taps, the class of fit is usually specified based on the intended application and the level of precision required. The class of fit can affect factors like the ease of assembly, the strength of the threaded connection, and the ability to engage the threads smoothly during tapping.

A classification system exists for ease of manufacture and interchangeability of fabricated threaded items. Most, but certainly not all, threaded items are made to a UTS classification standard. This system is analogous to the fits used with assembled parts.
  • Class 1 threads are loose fit, intended for ease of assembly or use in a dirty environment.
  • Class 2 threads are free fit, and the most common. They are designed to maximize strength considering typical machine shop capability and machine practice.
  • Class 3 threads are medium fit, still quite common and used for closer tolerances on high quality work.
  • Class 4 threads previously designated a close fit for even tighter tolerances, but this classification is now obsolete.
  • Class 5 fit is an interference thread, requiring the use of a wrench for turning. These can be seen in applications like spring shackles on an automobile.

The letter suffix "A" or "B" denotes whether the threads are external or internal, respectively. Classes 1A, 2A, 3A apply to external threads; Classes 1B, 2B, 3B apply to internal threads

Here are some common classes of fit for cutting taps:
  1. Class 2B (UTS) or 6H (ISO metric): This is a standard fit for most general-purpose applications. It provides a balance between ease of assembly and thread engagement.
  2. Class 3B (UTS) or 6HX (ISO metric): This is a tighter fit than Class 2B or 6H and is used when a higher level of thread precision and engagement is required.
  3. Class 2A (UTS) or 6g (ISO metric): This is a loose fit that is often used for applications where ease of assembly and disassembly are important, such as with interchangeable parts.
  4. Class 3A (UTS) or 6HX (ISO metric): This is a tighter fit than Class 2A or 6g and is used in applications where a higher level of precision is required.
The choice of class of fit should be made based on the specific requirements of the project, taking into consideration factors like material type, thread size, intended use, and the desired level of thread engagement. It's important to consult relevant standards and guidelines to ensure that the chosen class of fit is appropriate for the application.
​
The standard designation for a UTS thread is a number indicating the nominal (major) diameter of the thread, followed by the pitch measured in threads per inch. For diameters smaller than 1⁄4 inch, the diameter is indicated by an integer number defined in the standard; for all other diameters, the inch figure is given.

This number pair is optionally followed by the letters UNC, UNF or UNEF (Unified) if the diameter-pitch combination is from the coarse, fine, or extra fineseries, and may also be followed by a tolerance class.
Example: #6-32 UNC 2B (major diameter: 0.1380 inch, pitch: 32 tpi)
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Browne & Co Appointed as Representatives of Regal Cutting Tools:  Focus on Tapping and Threading Products

4/1/2022

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Browne & Co has been appointed as Regaional Managers for Regal Cutting Tools.  They will be responsibilve for distributor and technical support for the Kentucky, Ohio, and Western Pennsylvania market areas.
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Regal Cutting Tools has been manufacturing world-class cutting tools since 1955  Regal offers a high performance SuperTuf series of taps for the demanding difficult to machine materials.

Regal also manufactures special taps from blanks with as little as 24 hour notice.
Regal Cutting Tools
They manufacture tapping and thread milling tools in a wide variety of materials, coatings, and treatments to accomplish your individual needs and demanding job requirement.

Regal and their highly respected distributors share a common goal:  To achieve cost effective tooling solutions through improved tool life, technical support, coatings, and effective inventory management systems that accomplish uptime goals.
According to Dave Browne, President of Browne & Co, "Regal Cutting Tools. is a well established and trusted brand within the metalcutting industry. Their full line of taps as well as their tap specials capabilities really compliment our product mix and fills an area we have pretty deep experience in but didn't have a product to recommend.  We're really looking forward to working with our customers and running these tools!"
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The Different Types of Carbide Taps and When to Use Them

8/18/2021

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This is Part 2 of our series on Carbide taps.  Be sure to check out Part 1 if you missed it:
 Carbide Taps: A Practical User’s Guide to When, What, How and Why
​

Carbide taps have a lot of advantages, especially when you’re cutting very abrasive materials. The absolute best choice for tapping glass-filled polycarbonates, space age alloys, nonferrous materials, cast iron, and a range of other exotic materials, their anti-friction qualities lead to a longer tool life.

Because of this, you’ll require fewer replacements, less downtime, and increased productivity.

The durability, flexibility, and longevity of carbide taps is unparalleled, allowing you – and your employees – to focus on what’s important: getting the job done.

Regal Cutting Tools offers an unparalleled selection of taps for many applications, allowing you to source all of your essential taps from one supplier.

​In today’s post, we’re going to take a closer look at a few of the options that they offer.
Carbide Taps Allen Benjamin North American GW Schultz GWS TOol Tapping

Standard Screw Thread Insert Taps

Standard Screw Thread Insert Taps

S.T.I. (Screw Thread Insert) Taps are special taps for helical coil wire screw thread inserts, which provide positive means for protecting and strengthening tapped threads in any material.
​
Typically used on softer abrasive materials, these taps create more accurate thread forms than other standard taps. When you need to be precise, these carbide taps are the best choice.

STI taps are correctly sized to produce an internal thread that accommodates a helical coil wire screw thread insert. The insert, in turn, will accept a screw thread of the nominal size and pitch at final assembly. Screw thread inserts provide stronger tapped threads (stronger assemblies) due to a more balanced distribution of loads throughout the length of thread engagement.


Thread Forming Tap

Thread forming taps Tru-Flo taps
​
Roll Taps (aka, Thread forming taps, Form taps0 offer improved thread quality and strength due to the fluteless design, and therefore allows for greater fastener strength in the threaded product. This tap does not cut, so it is “chipless,” and therefore will not cause a chip problem.  This is why thread forming, over thread cutting, eliminates costly and time-consuming chip clean-up and disposal.

Thread forming taps are fluteless and include lubrication grooves. Not intended for general applications, they work by displacing the metal without removing it. Because of this, they are ideal for chip removal in blind holes.

​
Roll Thread Forming Taps Features 
  • Improved thread quality and strength due to fluteless design of tap; allows greater fastener strength in threaded product.
  • Tapping speeds can be increased as much as double that of conventional cutting taps…more tapped holes per hour.
  • Thread forming (over thread cutting) eliminates costly and time-consuming chip clean-up and disposal.
  • Improved tap life, even in abrasive materials…no cutting edges to get dull.
  • Lubrication grooves allow forced passage of air and lubricant when tapping.
  • Simplifies tapping of problematic blind bottoming holes where adequate chip clearance is impossible with chip-producing cutting taps.



Carbide Insert Taps

Carbide Insert Taps

A cost-efficient solution, only the cutting portion of insert taps is made from carbide. Their HSS body is able to absorb vibration and account for their lack of rigidity.

If you’re considering testing the waters with carbide taps, insert taps are a great option. It's a very economical way to utilize the benefits of carbide with solid carbide cutting face inserts meticulously brazed to a H.S.S. tap body.
​
Carbide Insert Tap Features
  • High speed steel body absorbs excessive shock and offers the rigidity necessary to minimize carbide breakage or chipping.
  • Ideal for high production runs, offering the capability to achieve higher speeds and feeds, with fewer tool changes.
  • High performance tapping allows greater efficiencies in part throughput.
  • Can also be used in conjunction with surface treatments for enhanced performance.
  • Carb-I-Sert® Taps are available in a wide range of sizes (inch and metric) in both straight and taper pipe threads.

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Carbide Taps: A Practical User’s Guide to When, What, How and Why

6/17/2021

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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.

When to Use Carbide Taps

While high speed steel (HSS) taps have a practical top limit of around 35-­40 HRC before tool life becomes severely limited, carbide is often used in materials with hardness up to 65 HRC (the ones that chew up HSS in no time).

​With the appropriate style for the application, tool life of carbide can be 5­20 times that of HSS, with the added bonus of superior accuracy.

What Carbide Taps to Use

That’s easy. GWS Tool Group carbide taps are American made from high-quality C2 micro-grain carbide by highly skilled machinists on state-­of-­the-art equipment, and are backed by decades of experience from our support staff.
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​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.

How to Use Carbide Taps

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.

The Why of Carbide Taps

CARB-I-SERT® CARBIDE INSERT TAPS
CARB-I-SERT® CARBIDE INSERT TAPS
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
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Need Carbide Fractional and Metric Taps? Allen Benjamin Has You Covered

1/13/2021

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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!

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Using Carbide Taps Can Increase Rates of Production and Performance

9/16/2020

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Allen Benjamin carbide taps
If you’re cutting extremely abrasive material, we’re confident that you’ve already investigated the benefits of carbide taps. Whether you’re tapping cast aluminum, nonferrous materials, polymers, cast iron, or any number of other materials, carbide taps offer better edge wear resistance and, more importantly, help to reduce downtime and increase profitability.

As an ISO 9001:2008 registered manufacturer, Allen Benjamin is absolutely committed to offering the best taps on the market. In today’s post, we’re going to look at a few of the benefits of using our carbide and high-performance taps.

Stronger
Ideal for very abrasive metals, carbide taps have a much higher tensile strength than standard taps. Because of this, they offer a longer tool life and work to reduce production costs.

Better performance
Due to their ability to increase tool life, carbide taps have a positive effect on your operation’s performance. Helping you to reduce maintenance and – by extension – downtime, they allow your staff to focus on more productive, more profitable tasks.

Cost-effective
While the initial cost may be higher than standard taps, carbide taps are far more cost-efficient in the long run. Their extended tool life results in fewer replacements which, of course, leads to less reorders and money saved over time.

At Allen Benjamin, we are steadfastly dedicated to our customers’ productivity. Always aiming to offer products that are capable of reducing maintenance, increasing uptime, and improving profitability, we strive to act as a convenient, responsive supplier of high-quality carbide taps. Whether you’re a small, local manufacturer in need of a handful of taps or a large, multi-national operation looking to place a large order, you can be confident that we can help. If you have any questions about our products, we encourage you to reach out to us today to discuss your needs!

Carbide Taps From Allen Benjamin

Allen Benjamin’s carbide taps provide a substantial increase in performance and tool life over HSS – or high speed steel – taps. As a result, our customers experience longer tool life and, due to this, reduced production costs that help to contribute to higher profits and a more efficient line.

Styles of Carbide Taps Available

  • Carbide Straight Flute taps
  • Carbide Spiral Point taps
  • Carbide S.T.I. (Screw Thread Insert) taps
  • Carbide Metric taps
  • "PRX" and "PRC" Carbide Taps for tough, challenging applications
  • Carbide Multi-Flute taps for tapping plastic, resins, fiberglass and like materials
  • Carbide Pipe Taps
  • Carbide Thread Forming Taps
  • Carbide Insert taps with HSS tap bodies
  • Special, Made-to-Order Carbide taps
Styles of Carbide Taps Allen Benjamin
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