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Broken Tap, any suggestions?

Tacco

Well Known Member
It’s the nose gear fairing attachment hole(s).
 

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Apply tons of oil, grab it with some vice grips and back it out. Now if it had broke below the surface, now you’d be in for some real fun.
 
What Bob said above.

Depending on the size of the hole / tap, a RESCUE BIT may work. I once used a RESCUE BIT to get a broken tap out out of a 1/4-20 hole in aluminum.
 
Freeze spray

When this happened on my canopy frame, I was able to shatter the tap.

I used a can of compressed air -- inverted -- to freeze the tap; gave it a long cold soak. I then used an automatic center punch on the broken tail of the tap and it fractured. I was able to remove the chunks with tweezers.
 
And...

What Bob said... try not to clamp down on it any harder that necessary and twist kind of gently back and forth as it comes out. Taps are ‘way brittle. If it breaks off below the surface, (may it never be!) you can get tap extraction tools for that, too.
 
Pliers and gently back out. After breaking a few (good quality) 6-32 hand taps, I bought some spiral flute taps. Holy smokes, what a difference. Like butter. Highly, highly recommended. Check eBay for surplus NOS.
 
I was a machinest for many years and have removed many broken studs and the occasional broken tap. As others have said.... gently back and forth twisting is most likely to succeed. If that fails and it's splintered down inside then removing any piece however you can will help... vacuum, magnet, tweezers etc. The absolute last resort is to get forceful because you can damage the hole/threads you've cut. One more thing... Definitely wear safety glasses! If any tiny pieces shatters off such as gripping the exposed area with pliers, that little thing can be quite the projectile.

Good luck!

One more thing.... when tapping threads always use a lubricant, (even in this removal attempt). Not something heavy like oil but Tap magic or something like that. A thin fluid is much better. I have even used mineral spirits, (just dipped the tap in before use) and it worked great.
 
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I’m nut familiar with RV12 construction, but...

... is it normal to drill and tap into the hardened, spring nose gear???
Terry, CFI
RV9A N323TP
 
On the 9A it is free floating except for worm gear clamp at base of nose gear leg where nose gear swivels. Fairing that screws to bottom of cowl for gear leg opening supports top of nose gear leg fairing. Works wonderful. Also not familiar with the 12 set up.
 
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Just Curious

As a metallurgist, I don't see many applications that actually drill into the working part of a spring. The hole is a stress riser and the drilling itself can effect the temper as well as introduce micro-cracks. Normally something you don't want on a structure subject to fatigue. This is part of the RV12 plans?
Terry, CFI
RV9A N323TP
 
Me too

I did this, and I called Vans. They said try to smash the tap (it's brittle) else leave the broken tap in-situ and drill another hole two inches away. Ten years later it's still there ;-)
 
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Thanks guys. I used a combination of the suggestions above and managed to get it out. Then, promptly went to drill and tap the other side ....AND DID THE SAME THING! 😫 This time it broke flush! By the way, I normally turn a couple of well lubricated turns before backing it out to clear chips. This time, it fractured while backing out. The nose gear is tough heat treated steel!

This time, I used a very small diamond tipped Dremel tool to hollow out the tap a bit then a small punch to shatter it. Fortunately it worked.

Have purchased a spiral fluted tap to finish the job. We’ll see how it goes.
 
Frankly, I mostly do it by feel. But your right, I usually see a couple of turns in aluminum, quarter turn in steel.
 
Steve, did you have carbon steel or HSS taps? I have been getting HHS as they are much stronger than the standard carbon steel, especially the #6 taps. They seem sharper too. The spiral taps may well be HSS anyway. Good luck.
 
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