Unpopular take on rigid tapping: I think hand tapping still has its place

I know everyone online swears by rigid tapping now, but last month I had to tap some 1/2-13 holes in 304 stainless on an old Haas at my shop in Tulsa. The machine's rigid tapping cycle was pulling threads on the third hole because the spindle couldn't keep up with the material. I switched to a hand tap in a collet holder using a floating holder and G84 with a peck, and it worked perfect. Am I the only one who thinks rigid tapping gets too much hype for tough materials?

2 comments

2 Comments

walker.hayden27d ago

man I had the same thing happen on a 304 job last year and ended up just feeding it by hand after the first hole stripped out.

kaip1127d ago

yeah man that's exactly what I did on a stainless job last week. after the second hole started getting grabby I just switched to hand feed and it actually went smoother than running it on power.