Question about collets and ridged tapping.

[l u k e]

Is it acceptable to use ER32/ER16 collets for ridged tapping?

[Geof]

I do. I use ER16 up to 1/4" or M6 and ER32 for larger sizes. I have never had a tap spin in a collet but I have stalled the spindle.

[Donkey Hotey]

Ditto, ER collets are all I have. What else were you considering?

[behindpropeller]

Originally Posted by Geof I do. I use ER16 up to 1/4" or M6 and ER32 for larger sizes. I have never had a tap spin in a collet but I have stalled the spindle.

Geof-

Curious what happens when you stall the spindle? What is the process of getting out of the jam??

A few companies make tap collets with the correct diameter and a square built into the end of the collet.

Tim

[Ydna]

I have a set of the square collets he mentioned above. It works good when the regular TG or ER collets slip on the tap, which has happened to people in front of me a few times (though perhaps their own fault, who knows). Only thing about the square collets is they seem to be less resilient than a typical spring collet due to their design, or at least the ones I have are. What I mean is that one of the "spring" connections is not present on them (meaning the collet collapses like a spring pin to tighten). Not sure if all of em are like that. But I've broken about half of them. I just use ER now but then again I haven't had to "push" a rigid tapping cycle time in a while using anything other than small threads in aluminum...

[Geof]

Originally Posted by behindpropeller Geof- Curious what happens when you stall the spindle? What is the process of getting out of the jam?? Tim

Onr time I just loosened the vise then raised the spindle and took everything out and unscrewed the tap holding the part in a bench vise.

That was the easy one. The hard one was a part that needed more machining so I didn't want to disturb the setup. So I unscrewed it by hand which involved unscrewing slightly then jogging Z up a few thou then unscrewing a bit more. It was a taper tap so it became loose quite quickly and then the unscrewing and jogging was easy becaus if I jogged too far it would get tight.

The actual stalling was very peaceful. It just came to a halt and I hit E-stop quickly before any alarms where triggered.

[l u k e]

Originally Posted by Donkey Hotey Ditto, ER collets are all I have. What else were you considering?

Nothing really, I just wasn't sure if there was other tooling available other than a standard collet. Just checking.

[underthetire]

And that's when the rigid tap holder is very nice. Just pull up on the quick release and raise the head. Plus no tools required to change the tap.

[KenFoulks]

I like the square collets because of the hard stop. When I have stalled the spindle, I loosen/remove the collet nut and jog z up, remove collet, and hand tap the hole.

[Donkey Hotey]

Originally Posted by l u k e Nothing really, I just wasn't sure if there was other tooling available other than a standard collet. Just checking.

And I just wanted to make sure you weren't thinking about Tapmatic heads, floating shanks or other such complications.

[fuzzyracing1967]

I must be the odd one out, but all I use for taps is split sleeve tap drivers in tapered holders. I have collet holders but I use them more for endmills.

[l u k e]

How do the ridged tap holders work? Is it similar to a collet but can be changed in the spindle?