[David Bord]

Figured Id ask before buying new if one is available.

David

[MichaelHenry]

I think that the new ones are on back order at present with delivery expected in a few weeks.

Mike

[SCzEngrgGroup]

So..... I'm curious why anyone with a CNC mill would WANT to use either a reversing tapping head, or a tension/compression tapping head, rather than thread milling? Thread milling seems to me cheaper, easier, and requires no special equipment, other than the thread milling cutters. What am I missing?

Regards,
Ray L.

[gsnorcal]

So..... I'm curious why anyone with a CNC mill would WANT to use either a reversing tapping head, or a tension/compression tapping head, rather than thread milling? Thread milling seems to me cheaper, easier, and requires no special equipment, other than the thread milling cutters. What am I missing?

Regards,
Ray L.

EMUGE - Articles > A Time to Tap, A Time to Mill

Always more than one way to do things, and it's almost never best to only do it one way.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

EMUGE - Articles > A Time to Tap, A Time to Mill

Always more than one way to do things, and it's almost never best to only do it one way.

Which really doesn't answer the question..... Most of the reasons for using tapping over thread-milling given in that article are not really pertinent here. The OP obviously HAS a CNC mill, so doesn't need to use other machines. Unless he's tapping very deep holes, or has some other special requirement (which the tension/compression head may not handle either....), why would spending hundreds of $ for a tension/compression head make more sense than spending $50 for a thread mill cutter, and doing the very simple thread-milling programming? For most common threading applications, thread-milling seems cheaper, faster, and more flexible. I'm not seeing the logic yet....

Regards,
Ray L.

[Gundawg]

Which really doesn't answer the question..... Most of the reasons for using tapping over thread-milling given in that article are not really pertinent here. The OP obviously HAS a CNC mill, so doesn't need to use other machines. Unless he's tapping very deep holes, or has some other special requirement (which the tension/compression head may not handle either....), why would spending hundreds of $ for a tension/compression head make more sense than spending $50 for a thread mill cutter, and doing the very simple thread-milling programming? For most common threading applications, thread-milling seems cheaper, faster, and more flexible. I'm not seeing the logic yet....

Regards,
Ray L.

I am looking at buying a CNC mill one of the jobs will require tapping 1/4-20 holes through 1" material according to that article 2.5 times cutter diameter would be 5/8" so I would need to use a tap. I am guessing though since they did not specify what material they were tapping maybe you could go deeper in AL and I would be tapping 6061 AL.

Mike

[mcphill]

...than spending $50 for a thread mill cutter....

Where are you finding $50 thread mill cutters? All the ones I am finding are over $100 each...

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Where are you finding $50 thread mill cutters? All the ones I am finding are over $100 each...

Ha! We just went through this a few days ago, on one of the forums, and I asked the same question:

UN THREADS

The endmills and threadmills from this vendor came highly recommend by another forum member. They apparently have the "single point" type as well, but don't list them, on the website.

Regards,
Ray L.

[MichaelHenry]

So..... I'm curious why anyone with a CNC mill would WANT to use either a reversing tapping head, or a tension/compression tapping head, rather than thread milling? Thread milling seems to me cheaper, easier, and requires no special equipment, other than the thread milling cutters. What am I missing?

Regards,
Ray L.

Maybe the tapping heads are significantly faster than thread milling. I haven't done the math, but a thread mill must follow a helical path for the length of the threads whereas a tapping head just makes a Z move at fixed X/Y coordinate. That seems like it could be a lot faster to me.

Anybody have a definitive answer?

Mike

[dbrija]

I think that the new ones are on back order at present with delivery expected in a few weeks.

Mike

Here is an alternative. ER20 3/4 Floating Tap Tool Holder MariTool Mine arrived Friday, along with a stomach bug, so no time to try it out yet.....

[mcphill]

Thanks for the source, I'll give them a try at that price!

[Freddy Bastard]

Maritool have nice threadmills too.

[David Bord]

Maritool have nice threadmills too.

Do they have single pitch thread mills? Are they on their website?

David