that was stupid

[Joe S.]

So I drilled and tapped for my lock bolts,good.Then to my tang,drilled thru the tang,thru the wrist down thru the trigger plate,good.Switched over to a extra long tap to go all the way thru the wrist and rather than get a couple of threads started,take it apart and finish it off the job with the short tap.......no this dummy trys to hit a home run with the log tap and.......yup broke it off in the trigger plate in the wrist.I was able to get things apart and thought with about a half inch of tap still in the plate I could back it out but no it broke off in the plate.Should be able to drill it back out and run the tap back thru it and all's well.Lesson learned

[Joe S.]

probably to hard to drill so I will try to bust it out with a punch,just the tips in there and can see day light on two sides of it,any other ideas?My drills just want to walk and I don't want to bugger up the hole

[Joe S.]

crisis averted, used a punch to break it up and will run the short tap thru to finish the threads and clean up the hole

[LRB]

  You could have also annealed the broken tap and drilled it.

[Bob Roller]

probably to hard to drill so I will try to bust it out with a punch,just the tips in there and can see day light on two sides of it,any other ideas?My drills just want to walk and I don't want to bugger up the hole

IF it's a carbon steel tap it can be annealed and then,IF you have the use of a milling machine a small mill cal be used to level out a spot for a drill or the milling cutter can be used. You might get it out with a punch and there is only one way to find out.

Bob Roller

[Joe S.]

didn't even think of annealing it,that would have worked also.I'm good to go though I have a real small punch that's more like a small screw driver and its real hard and made short work of that tap.I was lucky it was pretty much just the tip and had day light on two sides so it wasn't solid in the hole.

[Mark Elliott]

Omega makes a carbide, broken tap extraction kit that can be used for HSS taps.    It has saved me a couple of times.  I am pretty sure I bought it from MSC.   It is a challenge, but I have used it in my drill press.   I am sure a mill would be a lot easier if I had one.  Remember that being a master means one has the tools and experience to fix ones numerous stupid mistakes before anyone ever sees them.  

[Joe S.]

Remember that being a master means one has the tools and experience to fix ones numerous stupid mistakes before anyone ever sees them. 

Mark you got that right!Really did not even need the 4" tap,I was doing the thin part of the wrist.Just wasn't thinking I quess.When I fixed that mess went back and did the thick end near the breech and was able to use a standard size tap get a couple threads started take it apart and finish the process no problem.

[frogwalking]

Joe,

I would not say you are stupid to tap through the hole.  I say this because that is how I do it. It was either Larry or Curly Joe who said "I resemble that remark".   (I tried it the other way and always got the threads a little crooked.) I bought some extra long taps that are a little thinner than hardware store taps.  I normally drill the hole first from each end using an under sized drill.  Then open it up with the tap drill.  Next I remove the trigger plate and drill the hole in the tang and wrist with the clearance drill.  Now I reassemble and, using lots of tapping oil and many forward and back movements, (and chip clearing with compressed air) tap the hole in place.  I have even done this with a 6-32 tap on a Tennessee rifle.  (I seal the hole with a warm steel rod coated in melted beeswax to minimize oil soaking into the wood.)

I may break a tap on the next one, but hope that I don't.

[Pete G.]

A little gadget called a tap extractor can work wonders. It has small fingers that engage the flutes of the broken tap so that it can be backed out with a wrench.

[Joe S.]

Frogwalker its the best way to keep the threads straight,to use the hole to keep the proper angle.I would just do it differently next time,just run your long tap down the thru and just get couple of threads started and take it apart and put the plate in the vise and finish with a short tap with the couple of threads started you should have the angle.You won't have near the torque and less chance of the opps I had.Pete I will be looking for that tool also,will be nice to have if it happens again

[davec2]

Joe,

I have broken several taps off in exactly the same way.....until I did something that helped greatly........When working on a stock in the white, I would always try to run the tap through the lock plate or trigger plate dry so as not to get any oil on the wood.  No matter how careful I was, I would often have trouble including washed out threads or broken taps.  Then I discovered "Boelube".  It is a drilling and tapping lubricant developed by Boeing engineers for working on aircraft.  You can get it several places but here is one link:

http://www.mscdirect.com/browse/tn/Lubricants-Coolants-Fluids/Lubricants-Lubrication-Equipment/Lubricants/Multipurpose-Lubricants-Penetrants?011=boelube&009=e&pcrid=795353882&006=795353882&005=6763880885&004=439267395&002=2167518&mkwid=eKn9PIQa1&cid=ppc-bing-Suppliers+-+General_eKn9PIQa1_boelube_e_795353882_c&025=c&navid=12107437+4294625250&searchterm=Boelube

The beauty is that it comes as a liquid, a paste, or a solid bar.  The solid bar works fantastic and doesn't contaminate the wood at all.

Just for future reference.......Here is is as a solid bar.......Have not broken a tap since I started using this.  And the tap cuts noticeably easier as well and with better thread form.

http://orelube.com/products/solids/

[Metalshaper]

I'm just a bit redneck I guess??

 I melted some bee's wax and put some sulphurized cutting oil into it.. stirred things until it was fairly well mixed and then poured/cooled it off in a small cardboard tube I rolled up.  to use, just swipe a lil bit onto the teeth of the tap and go at it!  For a blind hole, lube the tap(s) with it.. but also drop a lil ball of the wax/oil into the hole. once you get the 'start' and switch to a bottom tap, the wax/oil lubes while pushing the chips up out of the hole!

works for me anyway?

Respect Always
Metalshaper/Jonathan