Advice on taps and countersink bits

[HormusPeston]

Hello All.

I hope to get some suggestions from the great cabinet builders on this forum on the following:

(1) I have used Irwin M4 and M5 taps and dies at home for many years (used a really nice Miranda set at work). It is time to replace them. Has anyone used the "GSK cut" taps that are available on Amazon? Are they good? Typical usage would be on aluminium but I do need a good-quality product for the occasional MS job. I don't use dies as much apart from re-threading stripped bolts (usually the bolts in the pump on my blessed air cooler) but am willing to pay for dies if the set is good quality.
(2) Any suggestions for a good quality metric (90 degree) countersink bit?

Thank you, in advance, for your suggestions.

~HP

 

[SIDEWINDER18X]

Hello All.

I hope to get some suggestions from the great cabinet builders on this forum on the following:

(1) I have used Irwin M4 and M5 taps and dies at home for many years (used a really nice Miranda set at work). It is time to replace them. Has anyone used the "GSK cut" taps that are available on Amazon? Are they good? Typical usage would be on aluminium but I do need a good-quality product for the occasional MS job. I don't use dies as much apart from re-threading stripped bolts (usually the bolts in the pump on my blessed air cooler) but am willing to pay for dies if the set is good quality.
(2) Any suggestions for a good quality metric (90 degree) countersink bit?

Thank you, in advance, for your suggestions.

~HP

Ask Makita India. They have quite a variety of countersink bits listed in their accessories catalogue.
Vivek

 

[HormusPeston]

Thank you Sidewinder18x.
Might have to go to the shops and do this the old fashioned way.
Any ideas on taps and dies? I remember seeing photographs of Sadik (?) using a tap on a heatsink.
~HP

 

[sadik]

Thank you Sidewinder18x.
Might have to go to the shops and do this the old fashioned way.
Any ideas on taps and dies? I remember seeing photographs of Sadik (?) using a tap on a heatsink.
~HP

TOTEM taps are very good. Refer below photos for your reference.


For Countersink you can use Makita bits search it on amazon for same. one more thing when using taps on aluminium make sure you use a drop of oil on tap. This will make your work easy.

 

[mshifi]

Hello All.

I hope to get some suggestions from the great cabinet builders on this forum on the following:

(1) I have used Irwin M4 and M5 taps and dies at home for many years (used a really nice Miranda set at work). It is time to replace them. Has anyone used the "GSK cut" taps that are available on Amazon? Are they good? Typical usage would be on aluminium but I do need a good-quality product for the occasional MS job. I don't use dies as much apart from re-threading stripped bolts (usually the bolts in the pump on my blessed air cooler) but am willing to pay for dies if the set is good quality.
(2) Any suggestions for a good quality metric (90 degree) countersink bit?

Thank you, in advance, for your suggestions.

~HP

You could also consider Totem tapps

 

[Spinekar]

+1 for totem, we used them a lot when i was working in Bosch (Fuel pump manufacturing company i used to work for), also always use oil, especially for aluminum and break the chip every 3/4th of a turn, in case you didn't know


Edit: clarification on the company i used to work for

 

[HormusPeston]

Thank you all for your suggestions. The hardware shops too recommended Totem taps and am glad to see that Sadik suggested the same.

Have also purchased a no-name set of three countersink bits. The finish looked good and a quick test with a file showed that they were hardened. I couldn't detect milling marks on the outer diameter, which indicates that they were ground to size after hardening (or that my eyesight is not what it was). The bits have a centre locator drilled into the shank, which the cheap ones on Amazon lack -- these allow the use of a drill press to exert perpendicular force on the tool while manually turning the tool. Most importantly (and I will admit that I am old-fashioned) the kindly gentleman at the shop staked his reputation on their quality.

Thank you all.

Cheers,

~HP