Tap Lube

[Gitanes]

I would like to hear of different ways of lubing a tap
Gitanes

[Unabiker]

Tap Magic.
They make a different formula for steel and aluminum. The stuff is incredible. Like cheating.
For instance, tapping a M6x1 blind hole, 25mm deep; no lube, I can get 3-4 threads, then I need to back it up and clear it out. With the tap magic, I can do the full depth until the tap bottoms in a single plunge.
I'll give the tap a quick squirt before the plunge. If it sticks in the hole, a few more drops frees it up.
Best cutting juice I've tried.

[dmgdesigns]

Tap Magic -No dought the best!!!!!!

[sbrpollock]

Tap Magic!

Even Smells Good Too!

[Gitanes]

What I really meant was, how do you lube a tap on a cnc automatically? (without stopping the program and lubing manually)
Gitanes

[Unabiker]

Depends on the number of holes involved.
If there are just a few, I'll manualy dibble some TM down each hole. If there are a lot of holes to be tapped, I'll hook up a resivoir with some loc-line and have it dribble the TM right down the tap. If this is won't work, I'll back up the nozzle a bit and mist the TM onto the bit.
I'll be getting a new to me machine soon that will see lots of tapping work. For this, I'm planning to build a system that will be triggered by the controller to shoot a load of juice for a prescribed squirt duration at a specific time...like when the tap is making it's approach to the next hole.
My CAM software already has coolant on/coolant off options. It shouldn't be too tough to build the controller so that it reads those. I'm thinking that I will pressurize the coolant resivoir with a bit of shop air. Then the coolant on/off can be activated by a simple solenoid. Sort of a robotic Ron Jeremy.