rookie tapping mistake

[fltchr]

I bottomed out while threading a piece of mild steel and snapped the tap. I'm wondering if there is a good way to remove it or if I should go back to the scrap yard for a new piece of steel.

[Mrleft8]

Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...................
You could try heating it up really hot and drilling a hole in it and use an easy-out.......
But that'll probably do bad things to the surrounding steel too..... Can you make it into a sculptural detail?....

[_QB_]

If the flutes are mostly clear of chips, try a tap extractor, for example http://tool.wttool.com/tools/Walton%20Tap%20Extractor.

Unless the tap extractor costs more than the piece, and you're sure you won't do this again...

[John Meachen]

If its just a piece of steel-get another piece.If it was something really important you could take it to a machine shop and have the piece of tap spark eroded.

[fltchr]

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking I could spend ~15 min lining the piece up on the drill press to see if I could catch the tap from the other side and twist it out enough to grab it with a pair of vise grips.

[Ron Williamson]

How far down the hole is it broken off?
I watched a guy mig weld a nut onto the top of one that was almost flush.
R

[JimConlin]

I've never done it, but...
Maybe one of these might turn it.

[ramillett]

Try tap removers in the yellow pages , They EDM them out pretty fast .

[Ian Marchuk]

How thick is the material, dia. of tap, UNC, UNF or pipe thread?

[Michael D. Storey]

Because of the difference in hardness between the tap and what you are tapping, I suggest picking at it, or Jim's approach, above. I have had success with this method. Sometimes, a nail, or a dental probe, something like that, is all that you need.

[noddyone]

A squirt of easing oil first, try gripping the flutes with a circlip pliers and turning, try chipping the tap around if it's not too far down -WEAR EYE PROTECTION. Often helps to heat around the hole, but don't allow the tap to get hot, the trick being to expand the hole a little, keeping the tap cool so it doesn't expand. Spark erosion in a machine shop or toolroom if you have to.

[the_gr8t_waldo]

and go slow, youre not likely to get a good grip on the remaining tap, let alone just unscrew the offender! screw it out a lil and back in a lil...incrementally inching it out of that hole. all the while clearing chips away....that or as others have suggested. get a new peice of steel

[oldsub86]

I have one that I broke off and need to remove too. I have yet to try it, but I bought a small carbide burr for my Dremel tool.

Randy

[Dale Genther]

I broke a 1/4 - 20 tap off in a piece of stainless once. I took a thin center punch and hammer and carefully broke-up the stuck tap into a few piece that I could remove. This was possible because the tap was harder and much more brittle than the stainless.