Wonderful! How Much Do You Know About Spiral Flute Taps?
Publish Time: 2025-05-12
In the field of mechanical processing, thread processing is a crucial process, and Spiral Flute Taps, as one of the key tools for thread processing, plays an important role in many processing scenarios with its unique design and excellent performance. However, for many people, Spiral Flute Taps may still be a bit mysterious. Today, let us unveil its veil and have a deeper understanding of this magical processing tool.
Unique structure of Spiral Flute Taps
Spiral Flute Taps is a type of tap, and its name comes from its unique spiral chip groove. The design of this spiral groove is not random, but contains profound mechanical principles. Spiral Flute Taps can be divided into left-handed Spiral Flute Taps and right-handed Spiral Flute Taps according to the different rotation directions. When tapping, the left-handed Spiral Flute Taps will discharge the chips downward, which is more suitable for through-hole processing; while when tapping, the right-handed Spiral Flute Taps will discharge the chips upward, which is an ideal choice for blind hole processing.
The geometric parameters of Spiral Flute Taps mainly include helix angle, chip groove, rake angle and back angle. The size of the helix angle has an important influence on the performance of the tap. Generally speaking, the larger the helix angle, the better the chip removal performance. Common helix angles include right-hand 15° and 42°, and different helix angles are suitable for different working conditions. The shape and size of the chip groove determine the chip holding and discharge capacity. Reasonable chip groove design can effectively avoid chip blockage and ensure smooth processing. The size of the rake angle and back angle will affect the cutting performance and strength of the tap. Properly increasing the rake angle can make the tap sharper and reduce cutting resistance, but it will also reduce the strength and stability of the tooth tip; the back angle plays a role in relief grinding, further optimizing the cutting effect.
Significant advantages, stand out
The reason why Spiral Flute Taps can stand out among many taps is due to its series of significant advantages.
①Long life
Compared with ordinary straight groove taps, the life of Spiral Flute Taps can be increased by 30%-50%, and some are even up to 2 times or more. This is because during the tapping process, the chips are easily discharged along the Spiral Flute Taps, and will not be blocked in the groove and cannot be discharged, thereby greatly reducing the occurrence of chipping and breakage, and thus increasing the service life of the tap.
②High efficiency and low consumption
Spiral Flute Taps has high processing efficiency and low cost. It can achieve good cooling and lubrication conditions during the processing, stable cutting, easy to tap, and low torque. This makes the processing speed faster, and can complete more thread processing tasks in the same time, reducing production costs.
③Smooth cutting
The actual cutting front angle of Spiral Flute Taps will increase with the increase of the helix angle. During processing, the chips are continuous, the cutting is stable and light, and the cutting torque is significantly reduced. This not only improves the processing accuracy, but also avoids the surface quality problems of the workpiece caused by unstable cutting, making the processed thread surface smoother, without burrs, hair pulling and other defects.
Widely used, each showing its strengths
Spiral Flute Taps has been widely used in many processing scenarios due to its unique advantages.
①The first choice for blind hole processing
In blind hole processing, the advantages of Spiral Flute Taps are particularly obvious. Because its chips can be discharged upward along the spiral groove, it can effectively avoid the accumulation of chips in the hole, thereby reducing the risk of tap breakage. Whether it is a thread with a processing depth of less than or equal to 2D, or a thread with a depth of 3D or even 3.5D (special working condition 4D), Spiral Flute Taps can easily cope with it. For example, in the blind hole thread processing of automobile engine cylinder blocks, Spiral Flute Taps can ensure the quality and efficiency of processing and ensure the normal operation of the engine.
②CNC machining tool
When drilling blind holes in CNC machining centers, Spiral Flute Taps plays an irreplaceable role. It has fast processing speed, high precision, good chip removal, good centering, and can meet the requirements of CNC machining for high precision and high efficiency. In high-end manufacturing fields such as aerospace and electronic equipment, the precision and quality requirements for threads are extremely high. Spiral Flute Taps has become the preferred tool for CNC machining in these fields with its excellent performance.
③The nemesis of difficult-to-process materials
Spiral Flute Taps also performs well for some difficult-to-process materials, such as stainless steel, alloy structural steel and various non-ferrous metals. When using Spiral Flute Taps to process blind holes of these materials, only one tap is needed to complete the processing, without the need to use a group of taps, which greatly simplifies the processing technology and improves the processing efficiency. For example, in the manufacture of medical devices, many parts are made of difficult-to-process materials such as stainless steel. Spiral Flute Taps can meet their high requirements for thread processing and ensure the quality and safety of medical devices.
Reasonable selection, twice the result with half the effort
Although Spiral Flute Taps has many advantages, in actual use, it is necessary to reasonably select according to the specific situation to give full play to its performance.
①Consider the material type
Different workpiece materials have different performance requirements for taps. For ferrous metals, the helix angle is generally selected to be around 30 degrees to ensure the strength of the spiral teeth; for non-ferrous metals, the helix angle can be selected to be around 45 degrees to make the cutting sharper. For example, when processing ferrous metals such as cast iron, choosing Spiral Flute Taps with a suitable helix angle can effectively improve processing efficiency and quality; while when processing non-ferrous metals such as aluminum alloys, a larger helix angle can make it easier to discharge chips, reduce cutting force and tool wear.
②Determine the hole diameter and thread specifications
The hole diameter and thread specifications are also important factors to consider when selecting Spiral Flute Taps. Different hole diameters and thread specifications require the selection of taps of corresponding sizes and tooth shapes to ensure the processing accuracy and matching quality of the threads. When selecting taps, it is necessary to carefully consult the relevant technical data and standards and make accurate selections based on actual processing requirements.
③Pay attention to the processing environment
The processing environment, such as the rigidity and cooling conditions of the machine tool, will also affect the use effect of Spiral Flute Taps. When the rigidity of the machine tool is poor, the speed of the tap needs to be appropriately reduced to reduce vibration and impact and avoid tap breakage. At the same time, good cooling conditions can effectively reduce the cutting temperature and extend the service life of the tap. Therefore, when using Spiral Flute Taps, it is necessary to reasonably adjust the processing parameters and cooling methods according to the characteristics of the processing environment.
Spiral Flute Taps, with its unique structure, significant advantages and wide application, has become an indispensable and important tool in the field of mechanical processing. By deeply understanding the characteristics and usage of Spiral Flute Taps, and rationally selecting and correctly using Spiral Flute Taps, we can improve the quality and efficiency of thread processing and make greater contributions to the development of the mechanical manufacturing industry.
