What is the Minimum Press Stroke Required for In-die Tapping

What is the Minimum Press Stroke Required for In-die Tapping?

What is the minimum press stroke required for In-die tapping?  The short answer is--it depends.  Because it depends is not a very helpful answer here are some general parameters to use when quoting or investigating new tapping projects.

The minimum press stroke required for In-die tapping is 3”.  Each tapping head generates a minimum amount of tap travel through the use of a gear ratio.  This gear ratio combined with the press stroke generates the total amount of tap travel from the open to closed position of the press stroke.  The 3” press stroke allows enough time to tap the part and allow time for feeding of the strip as well.

As the part thickness increases the more press stroke is required in order to get enough tap travel to completely tap the part.  The following are ballpark estimates of press stroke required with different part thicknesses.

Part Thickness    Minimum Press Stroke

.125” or less                            3”

.187”                              4”

.250”                              5”

.375”                              6”

.500”                              8”