Good Inexpensive Tap and Die Set

Married2Allis

Well-known Member
Anyone have a recommendation on a decent tap and die set for not much money? Just need it once in a blue moon (like now). - thanks
 
If it's not made in the USA, it won't be worth bringing home. Therefore it won't be cheap but a set that you can use for years to come.
 
I was going to recommend the Blue -Point set I paid 80 bucks for [which was a bargain in 1977] . I went on Snap-On 's web site and see they are now 229 . Good set if you want to spend a little.
 
Those are some big fasteners, LOL! I bought a standard coarse and fine thread up to 1/2" set from one of the traveling tool shows many years ago for $30 or thereabouts and had good service from it until I replaced it with better ones I picked up here and there. I still use it on occasion when I don't have a particular size of better quality around. If all you're using it for is an occasional clean-up of threads and such, they'll do fine with proper care. However, if you actually use them a lot, bear in mind that taps and dies are cutting tools, and like every other cutting or abrasive tool, they're an expendable--even the best ones won't hold up to long-term use, and will need to be replaced. Using them beyond their limits will result in extra effort and poor threads at best, and snapped off taps and ruined workpieces at worst. All of the cheap sets are just standard carbon steel, not the high-speed steel that you'll get with better sets, and don't be fooled by some impressively-named coating over cheap steel--it's the base material that counts, not 2 cents of coating. A coating on a good set does help with wear and tapping effort, but on a cheap set it's just lipstick on a pig.
 
As Tim said stay away from the TiN (gold color) coated cheapo sets, never seen any that were any good.
Quality of other sets from HF or other China supply is all over the place from pretty dang decent to
garbage and you cant tell much by looking at them or by brand name. I do keep a set of them around for
cleaning rusty threads. For general non-production thread cutting work I like Hanson, now Irwin. Check
out the current offerings from Irwin/Hanson on the link. Find a set you like then punch that part number
in ebay lowest price first. The prices are not that scary unless you need to go up to 1" usually around half
list price.
Irwin/Hanson
 
at the very least buy an irwin set or even craftsman. if you buy the hf sets get a tap extractor set, if you break a tap off in a blind hole, you got a problem..
tap extractor
 
No such thing as good an inexpensive the two mean different things. That said buy a tap in the size you need and that way you get by cheaply and yet get the job your doing done.
 
Thanks for the great advice, I'll stick with the high speed steel. But plenty of 'good inexpensive' tools out there ... my Craftsman 1/2 drive socket wrench wasn't expensive 20 years ago and still isn't, and I can't seem to destroy it even when I use it for a breaker bar.
 
Watch ebay... sometimes some older, good used American-made sets such as Greenlee show up reasonably.
 
This is one of those tools where a good one should last for your lifetime, and a bad one can cause serious problems.

I bought two unused Ace Hanson sets, (standard and metric) at an auction for $30 each. They go to young friend 40 miles away who I help with his repairs, so they will be there when I need them.
 
I agree with Old, down below, just buy the one you need and get a good one. People have "sets" of everything sitting around and NEVER use 80% of them. The rest sit around and rust or get lost or "borrowed" but boy do they look good when your buddies come over to your shop. Just buy what you need and save the money. "Sets" are one of the oldest marketing tools known to man.
 
While I agree that just buying the tap you need is a good plan, where I live it's an 80 mile round trip to where I can buy one. So it's better to just have anything I might need on hand, even if half of them never get used or only used once. A lower priced(not the cheap) set is a good plan for me. If one does happen to break, then I can replace just that one with a better-quality tap one at a time, and the "set" will eventually end up with better quality taps for the most commonly used ones.
 
Someone tested some half inch ratchets to their breaking point recently. The
chinaman craftsman took nearly 900 ft-lb before it let go.

They only tested bargain brands. No snap-off, Mac, blue point, etc. I know of
a 3/8 snap-on that's probably taken that much torque a few times.
 
When I buy replacement taps or dies I also go to ebay. I have bought a box of China made taps on ebay that are better taps than I can buy in a card pack in a hardware store. Cheaper also. When I buy taps thru ebay I buy a set of three most of the time. I get a lead tap, a plug tap and a bottom tap. The time I can run into town and pick up a replacement is from days gone by.
 
Deals are around on used sets I have a huge complete Greenfield set I paid $80 for at an auction and two Greenfield sets not complete but mostly there I bought at a yard sale for
$50.I have sets of things plus kits of things like O Rings,key stock,snap rings etc etc.Nothing I hate worse than to have to go run down a tool when I'm working on something.
 
Well, I wasn't sure if you meant 1/2" or 12mm (close enough to 1/2" to be a common break point in metric sets) but figured a bit of teasing was in order--hey, you DID say "under 12", and 1/2" is certainly well under 12", LOL!
 
Look on ebay. Be sure to use the word "vintage" in your search to weed out all the HF junk.Or search by brand name, Snap on, Craftsman etc.Lots of them there now for cheap.
 
another ebay vote.
Takes some time to wade thru, but there are sellers
that deal only with the old used/NOS good ones.
I've bought many of my largest taps/dies that way.
reasonable and good stuff.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top