Taps — material & coating
A tap works in full engagement inside a closed hole: every edge cuts at once, the chips have nowhere to go, and the torque climbs until something breaks. Coating and material here are not about speed — they are about whether the tap comes back out of the hole in one piece.
THE MATERIAL YOU ARE CUTTING6
Start here. Pick the material you are cutting and the collection filters down to only the tools that work it. The letters P/M/K/N/S/H are the ISO 513 standard, used by every manufacturer — the same letter means the same material in any catalogue.
In detail, per group: [P] Steel · [M] Stainless · [K] Cast iron · [N] Aluminium · [S] Titanium · [H] Hardened.
Plain and alloy steels — the largest and most forgiving group. They give a long, continuous chip, so chip control is what matters.
Stainless steels. They work-harden locally as you cut them, weld to the edge, and do not carry heat away. They want cobalt, a steady feed with no dwelling, and plenty of coolant.
Cast irons. They give a short, crumbling chip, but the material is abrasive and eats the cutting edge. Here you need abrasion resistance, not heat resistance.
Non-ferrous: aluminium, brass, copper. Soft and fast, but they throw a bulky chip that sticks. They want few flutes, large flute valleys and high revs.
Superalloys and titanium (Inconel, Ti). Very low thermal conductivity: the heat does not leave with the chip, it stays in the edge. Low speeds, steady feed, lots of coolant.
Hardened materials, typically above 45 HRC. They demand carbide and a thermally stable coating — plain HSS simply dulls immediately.
THE TOOL MATERIAL4
Click a material to filter the collection. For a detailed description of the grades see the Cutting Tool Materials article.
High speed steel with 5% cobalt for increased resistance to high temperatures. Suitable for stainless (INOX) and hard steels.
The classic high speed steel with high hardness and resistance to fracture, ideal for straightforward work.
Powder metallurgy steel with a perfectly uniform structure and excellent wear resistance. A top-tier solution offering longer tool life than conventional high speed steels.
Tungsten carbide with cobalt, extremely hard and rigid. For very high cutting speeds in CNC and maximum tool life, but sensitive to vibration and impact.
THE COATINGS7
The coatings you will find on our taps. (On taps the coating is not a collection filter — it is chosen together with the thread and the workpiece material.)
A surface oxidation that creates a porous layer to hold coolant and reduce friction. It is ideal for low-hardness steels and stainless, as it prevents material from welding to the edge (built-up edge).
A hard ceramic coating with the characteristic gold colour that provides effective wear protection. It is the standard solution for longer tool life across a wide range of materials.
A composition with added carbon that delivers excellent hardness and a very low coefficient of friction. It is the ideal choice for extended tool life in demanding work on aluminium, cast iron and stainless steel.
A coating offering high thermal stability during cutting. It delivers maximum tool life in hard materials and high-speed machining (HSC), and even makes dry cutting possible.
A premium YG-1 coating offering excellent resistance to heat and wear, especially for CNC. It delivers increased tool life in production machining, reducing frequent tool changes.
A hard coating combined with an outer layer of extremely low friction so chips slide away quickly. It delivers long tool life in deep cuts by preventing the tool from clogging and overheating.
A heat treatment that enriches the surface with nitrogen, increasing hardness without adding an external layer. It is the ideal solution for abrasion resistance in materials that eat the cutting edge, ensuring consistent tool life and smooth chip flow.