Stop programming taps like drills, check your feed rates

Been seeing guys burn up taps left and right at the shop near Toledo. Took me a solid few weeks to realize tap feed needs to match the pitch exactly, not just whatever the machine defaults to. Last week I watched a guy snap 3 M8 taps in an hour because he ran 60 IPM instead of the right 40 IPM. Anyone else catch this mistake in their setup sheets?

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charles_kelly431mo ago

Saw the same thing happen at our place a few months back... guy was running a 1/4-20 tap and had the feed set at like 12 inches per minute. Took him four broken taps before he even looked at the pitch. What gets me is the machine will basically tell you the right feed if you just check the damn thread spec, it's printed right on the tap box half the time. I started writing the pitch and feed directly on the setup sheet with a sharpie so nobody messes it up again. Also noticing a lot of guys use the same peck cycle they use for drills on taps, that kills them too. Once you match the feed and slow the rpm down a bit, taps last way longer. It's a simple fix but people get in a hurry and skip the basics every single time.

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