Every bust a tap in a hole you were threading?
Ever bust off an E Z Out while trying to remove a busted bolt?
If you have, then you know what a PITA it is to get a broken tap out of a hole.
Sometimes you can break the tap up into individual pieces and pick them out, but what if you can't?
When I worked at Hughes Aircraft, if somebody broke a tap in one of the very expensive milled aluminum housings we used, we'd strip the housing down to bare metal, and send it out the have the tap "burned" out with an EDM process.
It worked beautifully, but was expensive and time consuming.
I happened to find several references where guys were raving over how good The Omegadrill worked at an automotive website I like to visit, and it looks like somebody has come up with an answer to the busted tap problem.
They're not cheap, at $175 for a 9 piece set, but if they get you out of a jam, they're could be money well spent!
Drilling out a tap takes a hell for stout bit! No wonder that kit is expensive.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they're made out of some kind of proprietary sintered carbide.
DeleteJust DON'T drop one on the shop floor!
That would DEFINITELY have its uses...
ReplyDeleteAnd there were many times in the past I could have used one!
DeleteVERY interesting.
ReplyDeleteI have seen quite a few pieces of machinery get scrapped because a tap got broken off in a hole.
No one near enough to justify the expense of sending it to, it winds up being cheaper to buy a new piece.
I have had to dig broken taps and eazy outs out before and it is an experiment in patience and determination.
I was restoring a 73 Honda CB200, and the fuel tank was a mess, and one of the petcock bolts was stuck. I broke the top half of the bolt off with an easy outand then proceded to drill through the rest of the bolt and pry the threads out of the female threads on the tank itself. A scary endeavour. But it worked. I'd like to see more of this thing.
ReplyDelete