Anyone suggest a cheap supplier for one of these. I thought Proops were a good price at £1.50, until they wanted £4.50 to post it (they justified this by saying "it would cost you more than that to get into a show and buy one from us").
That's what our toolroom manager at work says, I have a note stuck on the wall next to my crib sheet for screw sizes which says "avoid using M3" -he hates it when I design stuff with little screws in. I keep threatening to take some 12BA nuts & bolts in to work.
Having just recently finished a project using 12BA screws, I ca sympathise.
Some radio control model shops now stock M3 size taps and dies as the use these smaller sizes on model aircraft. There are also som questionably cheap chinese taps and dies to be had from motor spare shops
Thanks for that -I just popped in on hte off chance to have a look, the local Aldi is only round the corner. I thought they had all gone as there were none with the tools, but then I found some in the "bargain bin" reduced to £1.99 -Result!
I recently needed an M4 tap rather urgently & bought a metric tap & die set from B&Q - my local store reckoned that they weren't going to stock it any longer & let me have it for a fiver IIRC. You may get lucky with your local B&Q...
Be careful with cheap carbon steel made in itchifanni tap and die sets. The larger taps are usually close enough to size to do the job but the same dimensional error on the small ones can be enough to wreck a thread. Best to try the tap in a nut first and make sure it doesn't cut oversize or have any nasty burrs on it.
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.