How have I never seen these before?

This popped up on my Instagram “Things you may like” feed. 

Drill and Tap at the same time. Huh. 

The only place I've seen them so far is direct from China. I've been curious though. 

I have a set of these. they kinda work, the bits are really soft.

I know just enough to be skeptical of that actually working. Something about different parts of the same tool not liking the same RPM and feed rate.

I once witnessed a grad student, who had never even seen a tap used before, chuck one up in a drill press and attempt to thread a hole in an unclamped piece of aluminum at a couple hundred rpm.  This seems like it would have similar results.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

I once witnessed a grad student, who had never even seen a tap used before, chuck one up in a drill press and attempt to thread a hole in an unclamped piece of aluminum at a couple hundred rpm.  This seems like it would have similar results.

Wow, that made me pucker.

You can get a cheap set up to 1/4" at harbor freight.

I am a tap snob. I love high quality high speed steel taps. I pay a premium at industrial tool suppliers for them.

I also use that little HF set all the time.

They are called gun taps. I've known about them since the early 90s. We used them in hand drills for drilling mounting holes for different items that couldn't be drilled before assembly. The problem with them is when you are drilling you have to be really careful when you break through because if the drill lunges forward like normal the tap catches and busts. We went back to using two drills. One with a bit and one with a tap. You might be able to use them in a drill press with a tapmatic where you would have better control. 

Are the shanks completely round or do they have a square section to chuck into a tap handle?

Edit, I looked at pic again.

If I knew they were made of decent steel (I may be a tap snob too, but only because I've dealt with crappy ones before on the job) I may try them

You can get them from a variety of sources. There are domestic manufacturers who make them. We sell them with square shanks, 1/4 hex quick change shanks and standard drill shanks. The good quality ones do work well but with any kind of tap in a drill you can break them if you aren't careful. 

They are primarily for production work. No tool change to drill through then tap a hole, save up to 10 seconds for a tool change.

glueguy said:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

I once witnessed a grad student, who had never even seen a tap used before, chuck one up in a drill press and attempt to thread a hole in an unclamped piece of aluminum at a couple hundred rpm.  This seems like it would have similar results.

Wow, that made me pucker.

 

That would make my hand propellor.

zordak said:

They are primarily for production work. No tool change to drill through then tap a hole, save up to 10 seconds for a tool change.

Yep, I've seen CNC mills fitted with these to allow faster production of tapped holes.

Semi-useless outside of a production environment, unless you want the challenge more than you want the finished part. If there was such a thing as a 'machinists rodeo' i could see using one of these in a hand drill while being heckled by your friends being one of the goofy challenges. 

Primarily for use w/ a tapping machine. I've used 'em 25 years ago so they been around.

Don't know if I'd spin a tap as fast as I would a drill.

I only use those on thick sheet work as in building electrical panels, they work great for that and probably not much else.