Tap, Die, Drill Bit Care

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Gilrock

Gilrock

Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
560
Location
Tucson, AZ
Since I've recently purchased some expensive taps, dies, and drill bits I'm worried about what I need to be doing to keep them in good condition. For the drill bits I'm often spraying water on the drill bit and in the hole for cooling so it leaves me worried about corrosion. I've been trying to dry off the drill bits afterwards and have been spraying liquid wrench on them. For the taps and dies I've mainly been using Olive Oil as a cutting fluid so I wasn't sure if the oil is ok the leave on the tools or not. I thought maybe the oil naturally acts like a protectant but not sure. So just curious how you experienced machinists protect and store you're tools.

Thanks,
Gil
 
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Im not sure that the olive oil wont build up and clog the teeth on the tap and dies. I generally wipe them off with a small square piece of rag soaked in 3-1 oil after use that I keep in a small plastic bag. I re wet the rag from time to time with more 3 in 1. I also use Boeshield the same way. I buy it in a gallon size put it in a smaller platic bottle I get from Monty for ca with the really fine long applicators for spot applications as well. Spray cans waste a lot of material and can draw moisture to the surface your spraying on.
 
Definitely the Boeshield, great stuff. Especially if you use any of the tooling with wood because there's no silicone in it to stain the wood.

Mike
 
Great question Gil. That is not something I had thought of. I have bought a few of the triple tap and die sets as well. Thanks for the tips Mike and Mike.
 
You live in Tucson so rust is not a big issue as long as you wipe off the tools and store them where air can flow. We have always cleaned our tools with carb cleaner when they get REALLY dirty. Works wonders, so does dawn dish soap. We do lightly oil them after a good cleaning. The biggest issue is not dropping them, especially the taps. We have concrete floors and I have dinged the thread cutters on a tap before. One of our mechanics dropped a die and it broke in half but there was a bigger issue with that die. This is why we buy tools with life time warranties at the shop. The tools I buy for this stuff gets treated with kid gloves because there is no life time warranty.
 
Last edited:
Haynie said:
You live in Tucson so rust is not a big issue...
Click to expand...

It is when you have a dryer vented to the garage. In Dec. when I left for a week for an elk hunt I came back and all my flat machined surfaces like the drill press and band saw table and the flat part of the lathe where the tailstock slides were all covered with a thin layer of rust.

The previous owners of my house apparently clogged up the vent going straight up so they ran a new vent out into the garage. We called someone to come and clean it out and he said "Oh yeah I remember this house, the vent is clogged up with so much stuff from them trying to clean it out..." He said there is too much stuff jammed in there like coat hangars and things that he can't clean it out and we need to open up the wall in our living room to replace the pipe.

Anyways I digress....I'm just still upset about the whole thing.... Our home inspector missed so many things we ended up settling out of court for $1400. We had a sliding glass door in our bedroom that wouldn't open past 18" cause the floor is bowed, electrical wiring not up to code, etc.

Gil
 
Clean the Olive, Canola and other food oils off the machinery as they will not protect them from rust and can even make it worse. :mad:
 
Wow, that sucks. You should listen to the wisdom of those folks from the east then. They know humidity.

I have yet to meet a home inspector who cared about his job. We had one come inspect our house after my father-in-law passed (we live in his house) because the insurance wanted an inspection before they would insure us. I KNOW what is wrong with the house and the guy missed ALL of them and invented a few.

For the vent-I have heard of people getting a plumber's snake and clearing them. Sounds like a last resort type of solution though.
 
Yeah thanks everyone for the advice. I'm glad I found out early that the cooking oils aren't giving protection.

Gil
 
When drill I use automatic transmission fluid. A little AFT goes a long way, lubricates, and protection from rust. I buy the cheap stuff at the dollar stores, and transfer it to smaller squeeze bottles. Old CA bottles work pretty good, the long thin nozzles lets me "shoot" it inside of the hole. I also use like a cutting oil when cutting threads. Being RED, I can keep from using it where it shouldn't be used.
 
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