Tapping with the Tormach Tapping Head

[bobs_charger]

So the other day I felt brave enough to mess around with tapping. I first air cut a cycle using G84 for the tapping. I noticed that the z-axis would retract before the head had reversed. Is this possibly because the tap was not in the metal to stop it? I also gave the tapping head a try. I don't like how the arm of the tapping head sits in the machine and will be machining some parts to make it more robust, and will post them later. No as far as my spindle speed and feed rates.

I do most work in metric units. So for tapping an M8x1.25 hole, i would assume that if my spindle speed was 100RPM then the z-axis feedrate would be 125mm per minute. Seeing that a pitch of 1.25 means that for every revolution you transverse 1.25mm. Am I correct in thinking this?