I'm looking for a good set of tap and dies. I'm trying to get a simple machinist toolbox together. Now that I can stop throwing money at my motorcycle [finally fixed!] [Well.. It runs at least] I ordered a pair of calipers from HF after seeing a decent review comparing them to a 100 dollar pair of calipers, only slightly off.. Thats fine because I won't be doing any major machining work any time soon.
So what's a good place to get them, or what's a good company that sells a set that'll last me a lifetime?
I'm also looking for a drill press. craigslist hasn't offered me anything good yet!
I don't know where you'd buy them locally... Maybe home Depot? Any GOOD hardware store should have them. Stick to the name brand stuff. I made the mistake of buying a chinese tap and die set the first time through, and ruined a couple taps in very short order. Yeah- it'll probably cost you, but then again, you do tend to get what you pay for.
While I use HF for some things, consumable tooling is not one of them. That means drills, tap, dies, abrasive products; anything that gets used up/abraded/worn out doing it's job. I also don't have much use for "sets" that are sold for consumer use;(my forum name is "Machinistatlarge" because that's what I am; a machinist by trade).
The best way to build a tap & die set for yourself is to buy them as you actually need them/ and/or plan to need them. A good hardware store (Ace/ True Value/ Do It Best/ an Old School Local) should carry decent brands such as Vermont/ Morse/ OSG/etc. in individual pieces. You'll pay a little more for each piece up front, one at a time, but you can spread your purchases out to match you budget/ use cycle (buy it as you need it).
If you are looking to buy all the pieces you desire up front, you'll want to shop at the industrial suppliers; since you live in Florida (please correct me if I'm wrong) you'll have to hit the phonebook; I personally have used Production Tool Supply, J&L Supply, MSC, and Enco, as well as several local, family owned one shop suppliers.
Now, as for brands; many of the best brands have several levels of quality. Their prices reflect this. One thing I would be wary of is "World Class" generic imports; while many are decent, some can make HF look good (which is a sign of just how bad they are).
If you do decide to sample HF's offerings, I've personally found several threads as well as a stand alone web site that review HF tools. The first is HF reviews.com (a stand alone web site), then two site's that have extensive threads, HF tools that suck, and HF tools that
don't suck. Weldingweb.com and MyTractor.com. You'll have to key in HF tools to search the forums (sorry, I'm just barely computer literate enough to even get online).
Please be aware that any quality tooling is actually going to cost real money; one 1/4-20 NC tap can cost $2~$4 dollars; when you see an import
SET for $20 ~$40 dollars,you begin to see the quality gap.
I hope this helps; I'm not on top of my game tonight. I had to hit a deadline at work yesterday, and, well lets just say flipping ~500 lb frames over to weld them is costing me today. As soon as the latest dose of Ibuprofen kicks in, I'm off to bed.....
