Mech Engineers/Tool Makers Help with tapping

[Monomer]

The only countries I could specifically remember buying taps from where U.S, Polish, and Chinese, in the order of good to bad. I couldn't remember buying Japanese taps, but their machine tools are top notch.

Self tapping screws are readily available here in the U.S. and great for sheet metal. It is the way most siding is attached to steel buildings. They are removable. If you can get those to work for you then that would be the best bet.

-Japan has some of he greatest tools around - just look at mitutoyo measuring tools.

Self tapping screw are the best bet - I've used hundereds myself. Simply use a "spot" (or, center drill) to creat a dimple to align the screw up (really, a nice "Drive' puhch will work just aswell)

Where I work (as a machinist) we do A lot of electrical; mostly retrofitting old relay-logic machines to a new Allen Bradley Micrologix PLC; this usually includes mounting and wiring motorstarters, DC PS's, prox. switches, etc...

 

[jady]

What are you useing to produce the part itself? Is it a laser, turret punch, mill? if it is a turret punch you can get tooling to tap or extrude the metal.

 

[theshadow2001]

What are you useing to produce the part itself? Is it a laser, turret punch, mill? if it is a turret punch you can get tooling to tap or extrude the metal.

I wouldn't consider what we build a "part" as such. We build electrical panels such as distribution boards, motor control panels, and switch gear. We get a back plate to mount various components such as variable speed drives Mould Cast Circuit Breakers among many others as well as cable trunking and DIN rail which is used to hold things such as minature circuit breakers and connection terminals. This back plate is then hung inside a panel which for all intensive purposes is a wardrobe for the back plate.

The plates vary in size and any machining is done with a hand drill either powered or battery. There's no mills lathes or any other types of machinery there that you think would be handy to have. (Chances are that there's a large insurance cost involved with this type of machinery and people would have to do training courses on them before being allowed used them) The company most likely doesn't want to pay these costs nor do they want to send everyone away on a training course to use them or pay for it either.

I metioned the self tapping screws to a colleague and he told me that they actually used them at one stage but they pose a health and safety hazard having such pointed screws. For most of the construction of the panels the rear of the back plate is exposed along wit the pointy screws. Also it could cause injury if left up turned on the ground or a bench. Health and safety is a very big thing over here.

Either way I'm after getting an M3 and M6 (the two most commonly used) spiral point machine tap off the internet since no one has them in my town. When ever they arive hopefully on monday or tuesday I'll give them a go and see what happens