Gunsmithing Where to get oddball taps

[Parallax]

Can anyone give me a source to purchase a couple oddball through hole taps ? I need a #3-20 tpi and #3-24 tpi tap to complete restoration of a couple Civil War era firearms. I assume it will have to be a custom job... sometimes staying 100% original is hard

Thanks,

 

[Wintermute]

Re: Where to get oddball taps

Well, there's Victornet.com. I didn't see a #3-24 tap listed with them though.

Wellstool.com may be able to just make you a tap...probably won't be inexpensive though.

--Wintermute

 

[x ring accuracy]

Re: Where to get oddball taps

MSC also has some odd-ball sizes. Worth a try

 

[Wintermute]

Re: Where to get oddball taps

One more idea...if you have a lathe. Just make your own. Making a tap (if you have a good lathe you can thread on) isn't all that hard. We used to make custom ones all the time for really oddball threading.

--Wintermute

 

[2156SMK]

Re: Where to get oddball taps

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Parallax</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I need a #3-20 tpi and #3-24 tpi tap to complete restoration of a couple Civil War era firearms.</div></div>

Are we talking wood screws here?
It would seem to me that the typical 20tpi thread depth would not leave much root diameter on a #3 machine screw.

 

[671RTO9513]

Re: Where to get oddball taps

Wholesale Tool out of Tulsa,OK (800 331-4075) has a bunch of oddball taps and dies.

If that really is a #3-20 tap, it's pretty coarse for the size so the web of the tap will be quite thin. If I were making it, I'd thread it out of mild steel and give it a quick kasenit surface hardening only about .001" deep, but still draw it to 450 or 500 deg. The softer steel inside will give that thin web a little more strength than tool steel, and a thou of case ought to work on that job. It should be pretty soft stuff.

 

[Parallax]

Re: Where to get oddball taps

I ended up taking a screw to a local shop and thay made me a quick and easy tap based on it and threaded my part at no charge. Nice guy and he apparently liked the challenge. It worked perfectly...

I gotta ask if I had the thread pitch correct. It wouldn't fit in any of my thread gauges, but I only have standard thread gauges. Something tells me my method of counting turns in .25" and multiplying by 4 didn't work correctly and the thread was actually somethuing around 32 or so... The screw did measure .099 so it was a #3.


Mike