My move from hardware store taps, dies, and drills to high-quality taps, dies, and drills has been worth every penny. The difference in performance is amazing.
Also, I recently discovered (by reading their website) that the "famous" brand of hardware store taps and dies I have always used are made for CHASING threads, no matter what the actual packaging "hype" might say. I have been using this brand to CUT threads for decades. Because this is what I was taught to do. Because this is what the packaging says. Because this is what the salesman told me. Because false advertising is the norm in America in this day and age.
No matter what the packaging says, Hanson-Irwin taps and dies are for thread chasing, and if you break one while CUTTING threads they won't even listen to you on the phone. "You abused or misused the product."
Irwin taps can SUCK IT.
I have finally learned to spend a lot of money on quality up front so I don't have to run to the hardware store over and over to replace snapped taps and don't have to repeatedly spend $$$ on materials that chasing taps destroy when used to cut threads.
Lesson learned.
Why am I saying this right now?
Because there is some sort of design flaw in the shape of the flutes of Irwin's M3x0.5 tap. It snaps at the same location, every time. If you have to tap beyond a certain depth it *will* break. Guaranteed. Even in soft copper. I have used up about two dozen of this specific model number over the last ten years. For the amount of tapping I do, in the usually soft materials I work with, I ought to be on *maybe* my fifth one. Not my twenty-fifth.
This is the only size Irwin tap that does this for me on a regular basis. I have excellent tapping skills, and have been using taps and dies successfully since I was about 12 years old. (That's four decades for those of you filling in the box scores.) Anyway, I finally called them to ask what was up with my technique that would cause this one size to keep snapping off in my workpieces. I was told — very clearly and sort of rudely — that I was cutting threads and that their taps are only rated for chasing threads. I was also informed that hex dies are for chasing threads; only round dies are made for cutting threads.
Seriously?
Whatever, I decided to visit Grainger and discuss this with a human face-to-face. (I know this guy and he is a non-BS-er.) He also told me that Irwin no longer rates their taps for cutting threads and that this was not new. He said sometime after 2015 they quietly made this change. The metal they use nowadays is a bit more brittle, so the very small taps cut just fine, but they snap once you get about halfway up the threads. To cut with them you must only cut no more than 5º per turn, and you must break the chip after *every* turn. If you can see the flutes twisting AT ALL, it is about to snap. And, once you have seen the flutes start to twist the tap is junk;n get rid of it or it will snap off on the next use.
Now I am ordering all my taps and dies from McMaster-Carr. I got some great help on the phone and know which specific series of taps, dies, and drills I need for what I work on. I also had him suggest what I need for working on the mild steel of my vehicles, as well as the nodular cast iron of the Jeep's differentials (which will soon have air lines plumbed for my lockers) and the DOM steel I am welding into a hardcore roll cage. I have to run wires through some of that mess, and I want to weld in some threaded bungs for a few things. Grainger and McMaster-Carr have some very knowledgeable folks if the phone jockeys can figure out how to get you to them.
Do not use Irwin taps to cut threads. I know you used to be able to do so but I guess this is no longer the case.
Last night I drilled and tapped the end hole for the Minibal on the rod I made. I used a good quality carbide bit and it cut like butter. My old Chinese drills broke off in this same alloy stainless rod a few times. Then, if I could manage to get a centered hole at the depth I needed, the Irwin M3x0.5 taps regularly snapped off in the hole. This became so common that I ended up doing these operations first because it was frustrating to make the object and at the very end have it turned into junk due to a snapped tap.
Last night the high-quality drill (specifically made for working in stainless steel) drilled the hole in about 30 seconds without a hiccup. Then the high-quality CUTTING tap's tapered point made it to the bottom of the hole with no issues, and the bottoming tap finished up without a hitch.
tl;dr — Irwin apparently no longer rates their small taps for thread cutting. They are now listed as thread chasers. Never cut threads with a thread-chasing tap. Always use a cutting or tapping oil. I use
Tap Magic.
