Them little round thread dies can be a pain.
The cheap sets usually come with a Chinesium POS tap wrench in the first place. I ran across this and thought I would share it because it looks ;like it works.
Bustednuckles
Documenting The Death Of America
If only I’d seen this 40 years ago. But no. Like most of us here, I had to learn the hard way. Used to judge the success of a job by the amount of bloodshed involved.
The mandatory blood sacrifice?
Yes, I am quite familiar with that.
Pretty cool. Not I just need to build a shop for it.
I’m no machinist, but aren’t most failures due to rushing the process and being over torqued?
Yes
Plenty of times you’re fixing someone else’s over torque or rust.
You may find that your hex shaped die holding tool will also hold the round ones, with the tension screw acting as a driver. Works for me.
I suspect that you could use a six point socket, with a tapped hole through a thick section of the wall for the screw. This would enable the use of a socket wrench to drive it.
Or, you could get a good used one on ebay made by Greenfield Tap and Die (marked “GTD”, originally from Greenfield, MA): vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=402
GTD Tap Wrench FTW. Of course, if you’re in a PINCH and need a solution NOW, this home-brewed doodad would also suffice I guess.
Looks like a handy gadget
My dad would have kicked my ass if I used a tap or did without oil.
Guess I am just a lucky SOB. My dad’s tool collection (the part not stolen by assholes that broke into his shop in ’67) had an all steel U.S. made tap and die set from probably the 1940’s (nothing metric there). The small machined steel die holder will probably outlast the dies.
I am always on the lookout for U.S. made tools at yard sales and auctions. Only downside is that I am running out of space to store stuff (not that Phil knows anything about that).
My Dad trained to be a machinist as a yute. He had a 24″ lathe and great bench drill press which he sold when retiring. I inherited a few hand tools, dies and handles. I’m sharing with my sons & grandsons.
Couldn’t help but notice he had that thing clamped in the vise by the threads when the hex would have served better. Also not shown was boring the inside to the O.D. of the die. Keep an eye on that one.
Curved jaw Vise Grips hold round dies quite well.
I liked his modified wrench tool as well