Just a quick question - for those of you that use tapping/cutting fluid, how do you clean it off of your parts? Soap, or some kind of solvent?
OH, ok. I thought you were talking about some kind of industrial chemical. I got confused with the "washing up fluid." Google said that Fairy is dish soap and is typically used for pots and pans?
Yup but not being able to find proper stuff its the next best thing I have found but I am sure there is better. Graphite is also quite good.
I like the idea of using dish soap since it's easy to find and excess amounts can be safety disposed of. But what do machine shops use?
Not quite they use a green stuff I think is called tallow or an synthetic oil. Give a quick search of suitable compounds.
You can get a non petroleum based cutting oil at Lowe's (Kobalt brand) it works well if your tapping/cutting steel or other ferrous metal. For plexi and non ferrous metals I use dish soap and water in a spray bottle... The Kobalt cutting fluid cleans up easily with soap and water hagatha
I think I'll try that. Right now I have two bottles of Craftsman's cutting oil (I had oupons), and planned on getting some Tap Magic and some biodegradable/water based fluid that I can load up into a syringe dispenser. I just wanted to do things properly for once.
At my school we use Orange Pumice Lotion to clean Sulflow and RapidTap off of everything, It works prety well.
does it make that big of a difference when tapping thin (1/8") materials? im wondering as im going to be tapping holes in my case as soon as my stuff arrives.
At school we used cutting compound (disgusting greasy gunk) for tapping and hand tools which wiped off with paper towels quite well. Once you've put a bolt through the tap most of it comes out anyway. For power tools there was 'soluble oil' which formed a milk like liquid when mixed with water to lube it - which just rinsed off with plain water. "swarfega" is the beez neez for washing your hands.
Basically any detergent will do, for really stubborn stains you can use alcohol (as in Ethanol and not vodka), surgical spirit or any degreaser that you can get from car accessory shops. I find that it helps if you use an old toothbrush to get into the nooks and crannies. You can of course buy the official stuff but its not necessary and its really throwing money away. PS if you're tapping thin materials make sure you use a fine thread so that you have as many threads as possible on your material.
No, you don't "need" it, you can get any tap through 1/8" without it. However using a little lube will make for cleaner threads. WD-40 works fine for tapping for the stuff we deal with too.
