Most craftspeople will agree that whenever an internal thread can be made with a roll form tap, this is the tool that should be used for the job. Roll taps, also known as form taps, hold distinct advantages over cut taps. Roll tap advantages are inherent in the way they create the threads.

As the names suggest, these taps form the threads by rolling and deforming the material inside the hole. They push the metal out of the way to create the thread roots and base. Cut taps, also true to their name, carve metal away from inside the hole, ejecting chips as they go.

While an excellent choice for most applications, there are a few situations that do not lend themselves to roll tapping including:

• Threading a through-hole – Form taps may deform the exit hole, which will necessitate a second, time-consuming step to repair. Spiral-point cut taps are the best option for such a job. They push chips ahead of the cutting edges, keeping flutes clean. The chips fall harmlessly out the exit hole as the tap breaks through.

• You’re threading a big hole – Thread-cutting taps require less horsepower than thread-forming taps. Cutting large holes with a form tap requires twice or three times as much torque as with cut taps, which can take its toll when threading large internal surfaces.

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• The workpiece is hard –Form taps are suitable only for soft and malleable metals such as soft steel, some stainless steels, aluminum, copper, brass, and lead. Typically, the material to be formed should be less than 32Rc in hardness.

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Roll taps are engineered and manufactured in two main styles to match the type of hole and fastener to be used. Bottoming roll taps feature little to no taper on their end threads. This allows full thread production to the very bottom of the hole.

The bottom 3 to 5 threads on a plug tap are tapered to allow the tap to gradually begin deforming the hole material, creating less stress on the tool and giving the full threading edges a base from which to work.
 
Regal Cutting Tools has built a reputation for high quality taps and other metalworking tools and an uncompromising commitment to customer service. Regal manufactures a full line of roll taps to suit any application. Regal can even engineer custom taps quickly and affordably. To learn more about Regal’s taps and learn which products are best suited for your workflow, contact our team today.

Appears in Print at Production Machining as: 'A Swift Tool Change for Swiss-Type Machines'
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​This coolant-through tooling system replacement for the gang plate on a Swiss-type machine can save hours of spindle downtime per day as well as increase tool life and enhance chip control.

by LORI BECKMAN Senior Editor Production Machining
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While servicing the tools on a traditional platen on a sliding headstock lathe, it can take 10 minutes or more to index one insert. While indexing the tools, coolant spigots can get knocked loose by an operator and can cost a machine shop tool life and time. Once the inserts are indexed, it can take several starts and stops of the spindle for the operator to see if the coolant stream is being directed to where it needs to be.
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Arno’s Fast Change (AFC) tooling system consists of a gang plate that holds split-shank, coolant-through turning tools, parting tools and grooving tools. Designed like a manifold, the coolant is rerouted through the gang plate to the tools. The UN-style slot in the fixed stop picks up the coolant and runs it through the pipette to the front end where the coolant goes directly to the cutting edge. The AFC system can supply coolant to one port that supports all the tooling positions, or it can supply two ports and divide the tooling positions with the needle valve.

The tooling system only needs to be plumbed once and, according to the company, after that, a high-pressure coolant line should not need to be touched again. With proper setup, the high-pressure lines are moved behind the machine guards, creating a clean machining environment. This enables operators to complete safer routine maintenance. Also, the AFC’s low-profile clamps do not collect as many chips compared with a typical clamping system.

When replacing a split-shank tool, the operator simply loosens two clamps to remove the cutting head and then replaces it with a new one, the company says.

Using the AFC system, Arno reports that it takes 17 seconds to change a tool, a vast improvement to the typical 7 to 10 minutes it can take using a traditional gang plate. The conventional method might take five minutes to change a tool, a minute to touch the tool off and another minute to adjust the spigot, for instance.

In comparison, when an operator is working with the AFC system, retouch is not necessary because the tool will repeat within plus or minus a thousandth of the previous tool positions. There is also no need to factor in time for readjusting coolant lines because the new system is a true, coolant-through system.

It is also not necessary to factor in the clearing away of chips because those surfaces have mostly been eliminated with the smooth AFC design, according to Stroup. Therefore, the 17-second tool change time is the only time to factor in.

​But, for a real-world example, he increases the time to one minute to consider a distracted operator that might use extra seconds

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!

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.

The Dümmel Minimill-System with three or six cutting edges is the next big thing for ultra groove milling and threading machining from 0mm to a 32mm bore diameter.

The indexable carbide heads are screwed on with three ribs coupling. This guarantees the best possible rotation and repeatable accuracy. A large selection of standard inserts as well as toolholders from steel and carbide are available from stock.

With six cutting tools available, there's sure to be one that you can use to generate higher feed rates, longer tool life with higher stock removal rates.

The six cutting edged Minimill-system is also available with an anti-vibration carbide toolholder or a steel tool holder.

North American Tool realizes how confusing the painstaking math is to get preplate part limits and a Tap “H” limit, but don’t worry, all you have to do is contact us with your thread information, and we will do the work. Call us at 800-USA-TAPS.

If you want to know how it's done, we’ve included the formulas for the engineer in all of us.

Arno Werkzeuge USA has reintroduced the H.B. Rouse brand of carbide cutting tools and inserts.

Formerly sold and marketed under the Arno-Rouse name, the company has reintroduced Rouse as a standalone product offering a broad range of carbide boring bars, tools and inserts for manual turning operations.

The carbide insert turning tools have triple-sided inserts for quick change turning operations.

Triple-tip boring bars offer an improved triangular insert located within a precision-machined pocket to eliminate shifting under heavy cuts; the insert requires the simple removal of one screw for indexing.

Boring bars feature carbide inserts that provide three cutting edges instead of only one (as is common with brazed-tip tooling).