Tapping Heads Galore!

Today I got a deal on yet another tapping head, this one a Tapmatic 30 TC/DC. A few weeks back, I just missed a real deal on two of them by a few hours. But,I now have one of the generic Chinese heads, the Tapmatic 30 TC/DC, and a Procunier. I expect, before too long, to probably sell the Chinese one and the Tapmatic, and keep the Procunier. But, in the meatime, should be interesting to see how they all compare. I expect the Procunier to be the best of the bunch the Tapmatic second best.

Regards,
Ray L.

For anyone interested in tapping heads, I've made a post in a related thread on the Tormach forum about my observations on the Chinese, Procunier, and Tapmatics heads I now have. They are three very different animals!

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/tormac...ml#post1588806

Regards,
Ray L.

Man those guys in the Tormach forum sure get their panties in a twist real quick...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by keithmcelhinney

Man those guys in the Tormach forum sure get their panties in a twist real quick...

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Keith,

It's mostly two or three of the guys there that would rather insult people, and encourage pointless arguments, than learn anything, or help anyone. I can't understand why the admins haven't banned them, as they rarely, if ever, contribute anything of value, and have been responsible for many threads being closed. The worst of them don't seem to own any kind of machine, so they're here only to make trouble, and have been doing so for years.

Regards,
Ray L.

yep, you get dragged through the coals. Course, I got labelled a Novakon shill/troll by the same unpleasant pair, which is ironic since I just bought a Tormach a few months ago....

Your post on tapping head use was very informative, and I recommend everyone stop by to read it.

Or maybe you should just repost it here.

Ray,
After your raving about the first Procunier I had my employer buy a Procunier Tru-Tap Model 15001 from ebay, for some parts I was running. I am very pleased with how smooth the tapping action is, and it is a well made unit. This is saving me a lot of time that would have been spent hand tapping parts. My only gripe with the tapping head is how tall it is, the usable Z axis travel gets eaten up quick.

I am hoping to have some working code in the next month (just no free time) that will allow me to start using a tension and compression tapping head with the KFLOP instead of the Procunier. They are much shorter, and can be cheaper.

There is too much cussing going on in this thread. "Hand Tapping". That just hurts my sensitive ears. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by engnerdan

Ray,
After your raving about the first Procunier I had my employer buy a Procunier Tru-Tap Model 15001 from ebay, for some parts I was running. I am very pleased with how smooth the tapping action is, and it is a well made unit. This is saving me a lot of time that would have been spent hand tapping parts. My only gripe with the tapping head is how tall it is, the usable Z axis travel gets eaten up quick.

I am hoping to have some working code in the next month (just no free time) that will allow me to start using a tension and compression tapping head with the KFLOP instead of the Procunier. They are much shorter, and can be cheaper.

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Dan,

Glad to hear it worked out. It is a nice little head. The Tapmatic is almost as nice, and a lot smaller. Even the Procunier is tiny compared to the Chinese tapping head I have. Just remember with the Procunier to either KNOW your spindle speed, or under-feed a bit, to be sure you never get ahead of the tap. It's fine with under-feed, not so much with over-feed.

Regards,
Ray L.

Hi guys:

Going from memory on this. I understand that the novakon can do rigid tapping. Down to what size is rigid tapping practical? I expect in the future to be doing a lot of tapping and will likely have to buy a tapping head at some point. The smallest size I see doing is 4-40. At what thread size does a tapping head become necessary?

Thanks

Pulsar can do rigid tapping, not Torus. It would seem to me that the limit is torque at larger sizes,

I have used the Pulsar to tap from 6/32's to 3/8-16's so far. No hint of any torque issues. I don't have a reason to tap anything bigger and 1/2-13 might be the largest practical tap you would want to use. Anything larger then thread milling would probably be the best option. As for smaller taps, it should have no trouble with those either. It is very smooth when tapping and it just doesn't break taps unless it is operator error. :eek:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by engnerdan

Ray,
After your raving about the first Procunier I had my employer buy a Procunier Tru-Tap Model 15001 from ebay, for some parts I was running. I am very pleased with how smooth the tapping action is, and it is a well made unit. This is saving me a lot of time that would have been spent hand tapping parts. My only gripe with the tapping head is how tall it is, the usable Z axis travel gets eaten up quick.

I am hoping to have some working code in the next month (just no free time) that will allow me to start using a tension and compression tapping head with the KFLOP instead of the Procunier. They are much shorter, and can be cheaper.

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I'm not sure what the kflop needs specifically but I wrote a code that works with mach3 you just input your thread pitch, speed, depth etc and it writes code for t/c tapping head. I can post it here if you're interested

Haven't used t/c since having rigid tapping but it worked flawlessly for 10k or so holes

Brian
WOT Designs

I do have to say also-regarding tapping - that the 3/8 drive tap holders from Irwin a fan damn tastic for short run tapping. They self align and I've run hundreds of 3/8 with a 20v hand drill. Also for 1/4 and below I just throw a tap in a hand drill and go to town. Many many many holes done the way as well. Never any issues. Course.... My employee can't hold a drill straight and isn't allowed to do this.

Brian
WOT Designs