Thread: Need to borrow some taps and dies

Why dont you just give yourself the practice and cut them on your new lathe.

I can't cut left hand threads on my lathe

Originally Posted by funkychicken

I can't cut left hand threads on my lathe

cut a right one and turn it around

Originally Posted by Matty5700

cut a right one and turn it around

Somehow I doubt that'd work

I bet you can cut left hand threads on your lathe. Put one extra idler gear (it doesn't matter how many teeth it has, it won't change the pitch) on the gear train and left hand she will cut. This is how it was done on many old fashioned lathes made for the amature. You can make an internal screwcutting tool out of silver steel and possibly not need a tap or a die

A small tip about taps if you end up buying any. The toolshop usually sells them made of HSS with the threads ground. These are expensive. It is also possible to get good carbon steel taps which are much much cheaper and don't have ground threads. Carbon steel taps are at least as hard as HSS, but can't stand as much heat. Why you need hand taps to take heat I'm not sure. If your tool shop doesn't have carbon steel taps they can probably order them in for you. Personally I never buy HSS taps.