BA Taps for Stuart Casting

[bwal74]

Hi,

Next year I'll be making a Stuart 10V casting. I don't have any BA taps or dies.

From what I can tell, I'll need: BA 5, 7, 8 taps.

Will I get away with just buying the three taper taps or will I need a intermediates and plug taps?

I can get the three starter taps for about $20.00 second hand or between $15 to $30 for full set including die new, or a complete set including dies from $100 to $130.00 (which I'm hesitant to buy as I'm not sure is I'll use them that much).

Cheers Ben.

 

[Charles Lamont]

Quite a number of the holes are blind, so it is better workmanship to finish them with a plug tap. However, in most cases on the No 10 the hole can be drilled deep enough for this not to matter. The connection between the piston rod and crosshead (5 BA, IIRC) does really need a plug tap. You can almost always do without a second tap.

 

[charlesfitton]

Hi,

Next year I'll be making a Stuart 10V casting. I don't have any BA taps or dies.

From what I can tell, I'll need: BA 5, 7, 8 taps.

Cheers Ben.

Where do you live, Ben...maybe someone is nearby..

 

[kvom]

You can convert to the nearest imperial size, which is what I would do.

 

[RonGinger]

I was about to say the same thing, but Stuart kits come with some very nice fastenings. They are much better sized and just look right on a model. So for some Stuart kits I have acquired a set of BA taps and dies.

 

[BaronJ]

Hi Ben,

Since you don't indicate where abouts you are, I would recomend "Tracey Tools" <http://www.tracytools.com> for good quality individual taps and dies. Having said that I tend to use only second cut taps and drill for a 50/55 % thread depth rather than the normal 75%. However there may be holes that need more thread depth than I would use.

The Stuart is a nice engine and a very nice runner.

 

[Blogwitch]

Baron,

I think Ben lives in another country, most probably the US because he is talking dollars not pounds.

If he lived here I could have sent him one of my full sets (4 at last count) to use while building his engine.

It seems like we are very lucky here as BA sets can be bought very cheaply.

http://www.rdgtools.co.uk/acatalog/BA-TAP---DIE-SET-0-10-ba-65545.html


John

 

[Charles Lamont]

It seems like we are very lucky here as BA sets can be bought very cheaply.

http://www.rdgtools.co.uk/acatalog/BA-TAP---DIE-SET-0-10-ba-65545.html

As it does not say those are high speed steel, they probably aren't. I would not recommend carbon steel taps to anyone

 

[bwal74]

Hi Fellas,

Sorry about the location. Just fixed it. I'm just north of Sydney, Australia (the land of the Great Consumer Rip Off - we constantly pay too much for Chinese & Indian products and a real premium for Australian, American or European products).

I'd really like to use the Stuart fasteners so I will probably just buy some second hand taps. If I look around enough I'll find them.

Thanks Ben.

 

[Mechanicboy]

Originally Posted by Blogwitch View Post
It seems like we are very lucky here as BA sets can be bought very cheaply.

http://www.rdgtools.co.uk/acatalog/B...-ba-65545.html

As it does not say those are high speed steel, they probably aren't. I would not recommend carbon steel taps to anyone

I has set of BA tap and die from RDG tools. Never had problem with the carbon steel taps and die. Use turpentine when you are tapping into cast iron parts and cutting fluid for other metals. I has 3 Stuart 10D, 1 Stuart triple expansion steam engine, 1 Stuart compound steam engine. All was done with same BA tap/die set from RDG tools.

 

[Blogwitch]

Charles,

95% of my tap and die sets are made of good quality carbon steel (these cost a lot more than HSS).

http://www.tapdie.com/

I have some original well used ones that are about 35 tears old, and although used a lot are still razor sharp.

Great for cutting stainless.

John