The internet is rife with anxious machinists that are either iffy about their tapping techniques or they avoid tapping with any method beyond the familiar. Understandably so… taps aren’t always cheap and breaking one off in a hole will (at worst) ruin your part or (at best) waste hours of tedious work trying to get it out. While there is no easy answer to breaking a tap, knowing your options can help avoid breakage. So, here are four of the simplest ways to tap.

Don't forget about slitting saws when you have a part that calls for a deep slot. With a slitting saw, slots with a large depth-to-width ratio can be made both faster and straighter than with a long and skinny endmill. There are two slitting saw arbor sizes available in our TTS toolholder lineup: 1" and 1/2". These are keyless arbors, so they will work with both keyed and keyless slitting saws. We also have a selection of HSS slitting saws to fit these arbors.  

A popular tech line request is  for more information about setting up a 4th axis.  Earlier, we showed how to true a 4th axis to the mill motion using shims and how to set up a 3 Jaw chuck.   In this new video, Mike  C. demonstrates  how to set up a 4-Jaw chuck on a 4th axis.  He also shows basic tail stock setup.

Just got a 4th axis and not sure how to start?  First things first - make sure you know how to properly set it up and align it to your PCNC mill.  Check out our latest Fab Lab Skill builder video to learn how to do it right.

We've had a few questions on how to use the ER-series Tension/Compression Tapping Heads.

We have recently started offering a new auto-reversing tapping head, made exclusively for us by Procunier in Lakeland, Florida.  You'll find Procunier tapping heads used in machine shops around the world - they're a bit pricier than some of the other tapping head options we sell, but also really excel when using very small taps or when there is a need to tap a lot of holes at once (high duty cycles).