Why Form Tap? Better Yet, Why Use Carbide To Form Tap?

The answer to both questions is WHY NOT? Form tapping is internal thread rolling. It offers the same advantages as thread rolling an external journal.

  • Faster cycles.
  • Longer tool life.
  • Stronger threads with at least a 40% improvement in tensile strength.
  • Much higher yet in difficult to thread materials.
  • Most importantly, cost per thread and cycle time.

We can all agree that cycle time is the greatest contributor to overall part cost.  Indeed, TIME IS MONEY.

What materials can be form tapped? Aluminum, the higher tensile strength of a form taped Aluminum part makes it a choice for carbide form tapping but the advantages don’t stop with Aluminum. Let’s explore the other materials that benefit from form tapping with carbide. Low carbon steels A36, 1005-1029, Free steel 1213,12L14. Medium carbon steels 1030-1055, 4130. Heat treatable steels 4140,6150. Cast Steel and Stainless steels 400 series,17=4PH,15-5PH. Aluminum, pure,6061T6,6063. Copper alloys, long chipping. Brass 7075. Magnesium alloys, Thermoplastics 40-70 Newton meters. All the materials mentioned run at operating speeds from 65 to 200 SFM. Imagine the return on tooling investment with 3-5 times the speed of powdered metal and ten times the life.

If your job shop depends on part cost to successfully bid for job opportunities, form tapping is too beneficial to ignore. We offer two styles of traditional form taps. Solid carbide and carbide nib tap heads mounted on a steel shank for lateral strength. The latter style is produced by only one manufacturer, LMT Metalworking Germany.

The most dramatic application we’ve been a part of was a transfer line running a stainless-steel part. The very best performance they could achieve with a powdered metal tap was 300 holes. This forced a shutdown of the transfer line every 300 pieces to replace the tap. The carbide nib replacement tap ran a full shift of 7000 pieces before tap change. The reduction in down time was staggering. The value of the higher cost carbide nib tap was beyond everyone’s expectation.  

What do you run? Are you ready to experience tooling performance beyond expectation? Contact us to discuss your application. We’d like to offer a solution that will change everything you thought you knew about tapping.