Featured This Month:
Features
22 MANUFACTURING:
Top Tips for Taps
by Nick Martin
26 Cheap Power
by John Frizell
Events
24 Completed Feb/Mar 2008
Events and May/June 2008
Upcoming Events
25 EVENT REPORT:
DragonCon Robot Battles
Moves South, Surface as
MegaCon Robot Battles
by Kevin M. Berry
25 EVENT REPORT:
Gulf Coast Robot Sports
Holds Inaugural Event
by Kevin M. Berry
ROBOT PROFILE
28 Ultimate Ant by Kevin M. Berry
22 SERVO 05.2009
MANUFACTURING
Top Tips for Taps
● by Nick Martin
Still holding your bot’s frame
together with hot melt glue?
In this two part series, you will
learn all the theory and practical
tips you need to cut perfect
threads and make stronger parts
for frames, weapons, and general
winningness!
are often out performed by the
specialized designs. Straight taps
do not transport the chips out of
the hole so you will need to back
the tap out of the hole and clean
it regularly. They work best in
shallow depth through holes and
in materials that produce short
chips like steel.
Different Types of
Taps and Their Uses
Straight
These taps are the cheapest
and most common. They are
acceptable for almost any job but
Spiral or Gun Point
These taps don’t have
anything spiral about them; they
have an angle cut on the end of
the flutes that pushes chips
ahead of the tap to reduce
clogging the flutes.
This makes them ideal
for tapping through
holes and the shearing
action of the angled
flutes lowers cutting
pressure and reduces
the tap breakage.
These taps can be
used in blind holes as
long as some extra
hole depth is allowed
to hold the chips
PHOTO 1. Various types of taps.
