[miljnor]

You pretty much covered it


But here are some thoughts.

You have to be able to do either.....taps are pretty much the only game in town for the small stuff. And the large stuff or (like you said) the OD stuff is pretty much all Thread milling.

Thread milling is also more friendly to large production runs and has the advantage of not ruining the piece (in a lot of the cases) when it goes bad...you can just re-run the new thread mill.

Taps often break in the piece and either ruin it or cost you money removing it.

Typically I use taps for all things less than 3/4" and thread mills for all things over 3/4" and thread mills for everything that is OD (obviously).


Also I almost NEVER use Solid thread mills as I don't like all the tears when something stupid happens....and in all my years machining have never destroyed a Indexable thread milling holder. (lucky I guess)