Ed McDonnell
Member
I've been working on a new custom design the last couple of days. The design includes a M7 x 0.75 coupling. I had just gotten my M7 x 0.75 die from Victor Machinery Exchange ("VME") yesterday. Spent all morning today making my parts and the last operation needed was to cut a male M7 x 0.75 thread.
My new VME die cut the aluminum like butter. Threads looked really clean as well.
But....wait a minute.....those look like a finer pitch than 0.75. 
Get the magnifier and check the printing on the new die and what do I see? 
7 x 0.5 !!! Grrrr...(actually made other sounds than grrrrr, but let's not delve into those details).
Called VME and they are sending the correct die (no cost to me, as it should be) and I keep the wrong die. I was going to buy a M7 x 0.5 tap and have them toss it in the box with the die, but they are out of stock.
Looked on ebay and found someone in china selling a M7 x 0.5 tap for 8.99 with free shipping. The stuff I've been getting from VME lately has either been coming from brazil or china, so I figure "what the heck" and ordered it.
Assuming comparable quality here's how VME and China direct (via ebay) work out:
VME (via amazon) = Tap $5.90 + shipping $7.00 + 2 - 3 day delivery
China (via ebay) = Tap $8.99 + shipping $0 + 10 - 20 day delivery
If you are not in a hurry and are OK with chinese tooling (it's not always bad...just sometimes) and you aren't ordering enough to amortize shipping costs from someone like VME, then ordering from China can work. But I find myself wondering if there is a reasonably priced (< 2X china price) USA made alternative that has a full line of metric taps available. Really common sizes (e.g. 7 x 1.0) can be found lots of places, but when you start getting into the less common sizes I've not had much luck. At least not without being willing to pay way more than 2X china.
Anyone have a good source for metric taps / dies that you are willing to share?
Ed
My new VME die cut the aluminum like butter. Threads looked really clean as well.
But....wait a minute.....those look like a finer pitch than 0.75. Get the magnifier and check the printing on the new die and what do I see? 7 x 0.5 !!! Grrrr...(actually made other sounds than grrrrr, but let's not delve into those details).Called VME and they are sending the correct die (no cost to me, as it should be) and I keep the wrong die. I was going to buy a M7 x 0.5 tap and have them toss it in the box with the die, but they are out of stock.
Looked on ebay and found someone in china selling a M7 x 0.5 tap for 8.99 with free shipping. The stuff I've been getting from VME lately has either been coming from brazil or china, so I figure "what the heck" and ordered it.
Assuming comparable quality here's how VME and China direct (via ebay) work out:
VME (via amazon) = Tap $5.90 + shipping $7.00 + 2 - 3 day delivery
China (via ebay) = Tap $8.99 + shipping $0 + 10 - 20 day delivery
If you are not in a hurry and are OK with chinese tooling (it's not always bad...just sometimes) and you aren't ordering enough to amortize shipping costs from someone like VME, then ordering from China can work. But I find myself wondering if there is a reasonably priced (< 2X china price) USA made alternative that has a full line of metric taps available. Really common sizes (e.g. 7 x 1.0) can be found lots of places, but when you start getting into the less common sizes I've not had much luck. At least not without being willing to pay way more than 2X china.
Anyone have a good source for metric taps / dies that you are willing to share?
Ed
