Spiral Pointed & Spiral Fluted Taps - Which Tap, When?

When you're threading a hole, which type of tap should you use, and when? Is a spiral pointed tap or a spiral fluted tap best? Watch our video to learn the difference between spiral pointed and spiral fluted taps and which is more suitable for your application and workpiece material. And be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel to find more application videos like this one!

spiral pointed taps

Spiral pointed taps have straight flutes that provide efficient coolant distribution. Each flute is equipped with an angular design at the cutting chamfer to better manage the chips. Spiral pointed taps push the chips forward, ahead of the tapping direction.

• Spiral pointed taps are best suited for through hole tapping applications.
• The cutting torque of a spiral pointed tap is the lowest of all cutting taps.
• The flute design of these taps is shallow for added resistance against breakage.
• Spiral pointed taps rarely develop cutting edge chipping caused by ejected chips.

spiral FLUted taps

Spiral fluted taps have flutes that wrap around the axis of the tap in a spiral configuration. Spiral fluted taps evacuate chips from the hole.

• Spiral fluted taps are best suited for tapping blind holes.
• Spiral fluted taps are recommended for use when threads are required close to the bottom of the hole.
• Spiral fluted taps are generally not recommended for use in materials over 45HRC.