40 Piece Carbon Steel Metric Tap and Die Set

Comments about Pittsburgh 40 Piece Carbon Steel Metric Tap and Die Set:

This has refreshed threads to rusty screws and bolts with their holes several times in mainly steel applications.





I think expectation is key here. For the price, I have expected it to make older fasteners usable again on the car and around the house and it does great for these jobs!





I have not yet tried making new threads in anything. And I suspect that it may not be up to the task but have yet to prove this.





I also am on the idea that taps and dies are consumable and you can buy a new one!





Overall, this has does its job awesome! Keep your expectations within the price!

Comments about Pittsburgh 40 Piece Carbon Steel Metric Tap and Die Set:

I bought this for use as a cheap set for my mobile repair unit- don't feel like losing hundreds worth of Hanson and Starrett taps and dies. Anyhow, my suspicion with the number of bad reviews is that folks aren't using these correctly. First, make sure you lubricate the tap. If working with steel, use cutting fluid. ONLY. This is important. With other metals, you can get away with grease or motor oil. Second, make sure your hole is the correct diameter. Again, this is important- a little bit too small, and you'll break the tap or get bad threads. Too big, and you'll get bad threads. Drill size charts are available online. Finally, when using a die, turn the die 1/4 turn, then back off a little to break the chip. Then turn another 1/4 turn, then back off a tiny bit. Again- this is important. You're supposed to do this with any tap/ die set made.

I've had good luck with these so far... but the tap wrenches aren't great.

Comments about Pittsburgh 40 Piece Carbon Steel Metric Tap and Die Set:

I was a tad skeptical at first due to the reviews, but I picked one of these up the other day because it was the only set I could find with a 10x1.25 bit - it worked like a charm and didn't show any signs of trouble. My only complaints would be that the case lets the bits slide around quite a bit and they can get out of order, and that the taps aren't labeled, which makes finding the right one slightly annoying.

It definitely gets the job done, which is all I can ask of any tool.

Comments about Pittsburgh 40 Piece Carbon Steel Metric Tap and Die Set:

While removing my starter motor, I slightly stripped and damaged the threads in the aluminum housing of the transaxle, because the steel bolt was fused into the aluminum tranaxle housing. I bought a new bolt from the auto parts store, but wanted to also chase the threads in the transaxle before reinstalling the starter, because they were damaged and this could have turned into a very expensive problem if I didn't clean up and chase the threads. I bought this set and it worked great. Granted I was only chasing threads in aluminum, but it worked great. One thing I noticed is that you should carefully examine the taps first before use, and remove any burrs from the tap. Also, use plenty of lubricant. Then only turn a couple turns until it gets tight. Then back out. What I did was lube good, turn a couple turns, then back it out. Then blow the tap and hole out with compressed air, then repeat the process. It is a slow process, but if you take your time the taps work great. I also tried a die on a piece of high grade steal, just to test it out on something harder than the aluminum I was chasing. And as long as you lubricate, blow with compressed air, take your time, this set gets the job done.

Comments about Pittsburgh 40 Piece Carbon Steel Metric Tap and Die Set:

I have both sets SAE and Metric. And for being carbon steel they work well. I use them all the time on the kids minibike and go-karts, plus my lawn and garden equipment and cars. keep them oiled and you'll have no problems

Comments about Pittsburgh 40 Piece Carbon Steel Metric Tap and Die Set:

use candle wax to lube it up befor you use it, and will work great! Works good for drill bits and threaders to. hope this info helps.

Comments about Pittsburgh 40 Piece Carbon Steel Metric Tap and Die Set:

Never had an issue with these taps and did quite a bit of work with them on everything from steel to aluminum. Key to using any taps is to use some kinda lubricant, be it oil or my fav wheel bearing grease (holds the metal chips for ya so they dont go anywhere).





Im not sure how many have broken these, if it isnt cutting right then the hole isnt drilled to the right size folks.





About the only con is the smaller tap wrench is junk and only fits some of the taps, I had others so it didnt bother me. And the die holder is cheap but does the job.





For the price it cant be beat, you cant expect snap on or the likes quality for the money however.

Comments about Pittsburgh 40 Piece Carbon Steel Metric Tap and Die Set:

Good quality and well made, perfect for light duty use. 'Saved my day' quite a few times already, but remenber, 'light duty use' that means ocasional and on material that is not too hard like cast iron or regular steel. Heavy use will wear it out quicky. Awesome set for the price.

Comments about Pittsburgh 40 Piece Carbon Steel Metric Tap and Die Set:

Had a welder with damaged threads towards the end of the torch. Was unable to screw in new tips. No one I knew had a tap and die set. It was either fix it or replace. I was able to fix it quite easily with this tap and die set. One issue I noticed, is that the markings on some of the taps are extremely hard to read. I worry that over time, the markings will disappear altogether. Once you have determined which one you need from the included gauge, it could be difficult to figure out which one you need.

One other thing of note. There were no instructions included. This might not be an issue for most, but I have never used a tap and die set. At first, I wasn't sure if I was doing it right or not. Eventually I looked into it more online and got it working.

Comments about Pittsburgh 40 Piece Carbon Steel Metric Tap and Die Set:

The dies are not heavy duty enough to even die a somewhat rusty brake bleeder screw that I wanted to refresh the threads on...I figured carbon steel would have no problem with this.





It seems the other reviewers are right, only good for soft metal like aluminum...