I'm an engineer, I work closely with machinists and I can run machines, but I wouldn't call myself a machinist. I have messed around with a few different types of taps on CNC machines and I absolutely love forming taps. No chips to worry about, amazing tool life, excellent bottoming performance, and stronger threads. In a shop where 90% of parts are either aluminium or pretty conventional steels like 1018 and 4140, forming taps seem like a no-brainer, but we we don't use them, and I very seldom see them in other shops.

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What's behind the resistance to forming taps? I can understand not using them if you run a substantial amount of cast iron, but even shops that run almost exclusively aluminium don't seem to use them often.

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