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How To Make A Bottoming Tap

Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 8:15 am
by lloyd430
As I was surfn' the other day in Wiki section, that section is amazing on the tips and general information that everyone shares is great to say the least. Anyways, Rudi had posted about where to buy taps and all sorts of good stuff, but he said he trouble finding a bottoming tap :shock: This is where I come in :idea:

Taps are very hard and brittle, but that is what makes them so easy to alter :idea: :!:

Yep , whenever I need a bottoming tap I just grind a broken Standard Tap off :idea: :!: It grinds very fast. See the picture below. The only difference between a Standard Tap and a Bottoming Tap, is the tip. The Bottoming Tap is flat (this is what you want to clean out old threads. Aa Standard Tap with a tapered lead-in, is my likely choice to cut new threads!

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Now be careful not all taps are created equal!!!! Pipe threads are not the same as NC and NF taps Pipe threads are actually tapered, so as you tighten down the fitting it is actually wedgeing its self in the the hole. This helps look the joint for a water tight fit with no teflon or sealers. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE A BOTTOMING TAP OUT OF A PIPE TAP- you have no way to know whee the correct size it. Take a look at the Pipe Tap below-

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