-2

Old shop foreman showed me a trick for tapping on the machine that saved my butt friday

I was running a job on the Haas last week and a 1/4-20 tap snapped off in a $400 part, and the foreman just told me to program a reverse spiral with a rigid tap cycle to back it out clean. Anybody got other tips for getting broken taps out without scrapping the whole piece?

2 comments

2 Comments

diana_park1mo ago

Right, because nothing says "Friday fun" like a $400 paperweight with a souvenir tap stuck in it. That reverse spiral trick works until it doesn't and then you're just making a bigger mess with a carbide bit. I've had decent luck hitting the broken end with a punch and a small hammer to break it loose first, just have to aim straight or you're chipping the part.

betty1441mo ago

49% of the time heat from a soldering iron right on the tap shank is enough to soften loctite or expand things just a hair so the reverse spiral actually bites. I keep a cheap harbor freight iron under my bench for exactly this, you just let it sit on there for a minute or two before running the program.