Metric Tap and Die Sets

Well if you are talking draper may as well talk aldi. the ALDI ones are quite good ...been using them for 18 months now ...they ain't monkey metal and they do the job well without chewing up wearing or going blunt so far. ..

They stock them about every 6 months ...they are about due now

Think they are about =A36 for the whole set .

But if you want the best ...look for split dies .

all the best.markj

Although I've not bought anything labelled Draper for many years, of the half-dozen Draper brand things I have bought have been useless with the modest exception of a wire brush and a tool roll. Useless items included a countersink bit which didn't cut, a ratchet which failed first week, pozi screwdrivers which didn't work - the common factor appeared to be Draper. Apparently they're better these days, but I've not risked it further.

J&L industrial might be a good start as they do stuff on their flyer fairly regularly, which can be (albeit slowly) read on their website. They do cheap, medium and Dormer grade stuff. Might find something there, but I can't comment on the brands as such

Hywel

tracytools.com £40 for carbon steel metric coarse set taps+dies M2 to M12 inclusive.

Their stuff comes from various manufacturers, but is usually ok. If you want good rather than ok expect to pay twice as much, from them or anyone else..

Mark Rand RTFM

YMMV

-- Peter Fairbrother

I always worry a bit when advertisers have to call their kit 'professional quality'

AWEM

On or around Thu, 7 Aug 2008 14:49:33 -0700 (PDT), hyweldavies enlightened us thusly:

Stuff called "expert" is OK, but of course has a higher price tag. It's like Kamasa, they do a whole range ogf quality from "utter s**te" to "not as good as snap-on", the high end of both ranges is pretty good. Draper also own Elora now and still sell Elora tools which are still OK.

The "Value" J&L is pretty good - I've not had anything that's s**te. Branded stuff tends to be better though, such as Dormer or Hertel or Cleveland for drills.

However, for mild steel and occasional use the Value stuff will be fine. There's an issue with price though, J&L are only cheap if you happen to find what you want on special offer.

Picked up a 7"x4" approx magnetic clamp, "Value" brand, the other day, for about half normal in the August flyer. It's quite good - holds 2-3" sort of sized flat work well enough for light milling (making a 10mm slot, in this case) although cutting too hard/fast will make it move.

It also usefully has bars on 2 sides which can be raised or lowered, so you can position your workpiece up against same.

The "Linear" range of HSS taps are not bad. I have a set 3-12mm (1st, second and plug and split dies) no problems, cost £40 IIRC. Quite nice as shanks are reduced for the 8mm 10 and 12mm allowing deep tapping.

Yeah - it normally means the exact opposite.

BugBear

Is the Magnetic Chuck part number AUIMG-00407C the one you mean ?

On or around Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:23:46 +0100, Boo enlightened us thusly:

sounds like the right number. ah, I see I still have the paper to hand... yes, that's the one. I've no idea how it shapes up CF "good" ones, mind, but at the price it's not bad.

You need the AU bit in the code.

I was milling using a 10mm 2-flute cutter, in BMS, the piece is about

A lot less hassle than setting it up in a normal vice and getting it level.

I daresay it'd be fine for surface grinding.

Yes, that's why I queried whether it as the same one. I'm tempted, but my main application would be aluminium and they don't make one that will work with that :-)

On or around Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:11:07 +0100, Boo enlightened us thusly:

you'd have to generate eddy currents or something.