Hi All,
I am rather new to this machinist stuff and I am ripped with enthusiasm for it. In my various trades and hobbies I have acquired knowledge of who makes good stuff and who don't!
aka DeWalt for cordless drills!
So, as I eye all these $20 - $40 Chinese tap and die sets on Ebay, I KNOW they would never hold up to the EXTREME grade steel I am looking to get into working with.
*** Who makes the good stuff for reliably tapping into the hardest of alloys?
I'm not exactly wealthy, so if I have to buy one tap at a time to get heirloom-quality then that's what I'll do! Ok, so I am near broke and taking this one step at a time... heh heh But what are my options? I at least want to minimize my general costs and frustrations of tap breakage by starting with quality maker(s).
All my hand-tools are Craftsman... and they aren't even the best stuff! (anymore?)
Who's the better-than-Craftsman manufacturer(s) for quality taps...?
Feel free to plug any other names who make good machine tools at will! (Though I do understand some of you might work for manufacturers, I hope the answers are un-biased...)
I know this info is of PRICELESS value and have been watching you all share that sort of info for a month or so now, impressed!
So, THANKS a TON in advance!
KC
San Antonio
PS: This should be a fun thread!