Taps

Threading Taps

Taps are cutting tools used to produce internal threads in drilled holes. AIMS carries a comprehensive tapping range from Sutton Tools, Bordo and Goliath — covering hand taps, spiral point gun taps, spiral flute taps, thread forming taps and thread repair inserts in metric, imperial, UNC, UNF, pipe and other thread standards.

Tap Types

Hand Taps — Taper, Intermediate and Bottoming

Hand taps are the traditional three-tap set used for hand or light machine tapping. The taper (or starting) tap has a long lead chamfer for easy thread entry. The intermediate (or plug) tap is the most commonly used — it starts easily and finishes close to the bottom of a blind hole. The bottoming tap has the shortest chamfer and threads to within one or two pitches of the hole bottom in blind hole work. Sutton, Bordo and Goliath all supply metric and imperial hand taps individually and in sets.

Spiral Point Gun Taps

Spiral point taps have a geometry that pushes chips forward ahead of the tap rather than packing them into the flutes. This makes them the preferred choice for through-hole tapping on CNC machines and power tapping applications — faster, more consistent and with fewer chip-jamming problems than hand taps. Sutton's HSSE V3 spiral point range is a benchmark choice for production tapping in steel and stainless.

Spiral Flute Taps

Spiral flute taps are designed to pull chips back up and out of the hole — making them the right choice for blind-hole tapping where chips cannot exit forward. Used extensively in CNC tapping cycles on machining centres, the spiral flute geometry reliably clears chips from short blind holes that would jam a spiral point tap.

Thread Forming Taps

Thread forming taps produce threads by cold-forming material rather than cutting it. No chips are produced, which eliminates chip jamming and makes them ideal for high-production blind-hole tapping in ductile materials. Cold-formed threads are also stronger than cut threads due to work hardening of the thread flanks.

Tap Extractors

AIMS also stocks Goliath tap extractors (Walton USA design) for removing broken taps from blind holes — an essential workshop tool for recovering expensive components when a tap breaks.

Thread Standards

The AIMS tapping range covers metric (M), metric fine (MF), imperial (BSW/BSF), UNC, UNF, pipe (BSP/NPT), machine nut and other specialist thread standards. When ordering, confirm the thread standard, nominal diameter, pitch and tap style needed for your application.