I was working on a mini bike engine the other day. The hole in the crank where the clutch mounts had buggered threads.
I got out my tap and die set to clean up the threads. As I was turning the tap the engine shifted and the tap snapped off.
This left a 1/4 to 3/8 inch piece in the hole.
I was up to Harbor Freight the other day, got a coupon for their $62 1/3 hp 3 gallon air compressor that was on sale for $59 for $39. I had a coupon to get one of their multi meters for free. I picked up a few other things for the Air compressor as well.
As I was browsing around I saw a 20pc set of rotary diamond point tips. Item #69653 $7.99. When I saw them I thought they might come in handy sometime. Didn't pick them up though.
Turns out they did, after I broke the tap I remembered I saw them, so I ran back up and picked up a set.
I have the Sears Craftsman version of a Roto Zip tool. It has a flex drive adapter that uses 1/8 inch tips.
I used the straight ended tips, wore out two cutting the broken bit of tap apart to remove it.
Worked very well. Well worth the money.
I then ground the 8x1.25 tap off to make a bottoming tap, carefully used it to clean up the threads, Now the engine is in the mini bike and runs just fine.
So for those who have broken a tap and had to take whatever to a shop to fix, you might want to try a set of these tips first, might save a few bucks.
Leo
I got out my tap and die set to clean up the threads. As I was turning the tap the engine shifted and the tap snapped off.
This left a 1/4 to 3/8 inch piece in the hole.
I was up to Harbor Freight the other day, got a coupon for their $62 1/3 hp 3 gallon air compressor that was on sale for $59 for $39. I had a coupon to get one of their multi meters for free. I picked up a few other things for the Air compressor as well.
As I was browsing around I saw a 20pc set of rotary diamond point tips. Item #69653 $7.99. When I saw them I thought they might come in handy sometime. Didn't pick them up though.
Turns out they did, after I broke the tap I remembered I saw them, so I ran back up and picked up a set.
I have the Sears Craftsman version of a Roto Zip tool. It has a flex drive adapter that uses 1/8 inch tips.
I used the straight ended tips, wore out two cutting the broken bit of tap apart to remove it.
Worked very well. Well worth the money.
I then ground the 8x1.25 tap off to make a bottoming tap, carefully used it to clean up the threads, Now the engine is in the mini bike and runs just fine.
So for those who have broken a tap and had to take whatever to a shop to fix, you might want to try a set of these tips first, might save a few bucks.
Leo
