A rule of thumb is that the right tap drill is around 85% for coarse threads and 90% for fine threads which feature a higher number of threads per axial distance. That would be a 3.7 mm drill bit, but using that drill would leave an inadequate margin for the creation of the appropriate thread depth. If that is the case, can we simply use the next smallest available drill size. The material will have to be cut and pushed out in order to create a thread in that hole. So, if we wanted to drill a hole for our example bolt, we would need to use a drill that is smaller than 4 mm. Finally, 20 is the length of the bolt in mm, measured from the tip of the thread to the bottom of the head (with the exception of oval headed bolts). The second number (0.7) is the pitch which corresponds to the distance between two adjacent threads in millimeters. The “M” indicates the “metric diameter” of its thread (see tap drill chart below), which in our case is 4 mm. Bolts are classified by specification codes such as:. Having determined the bolt that we want to use in the specific case, we already have a technical specification for the thread which will host it. Thread Geometry And Drilling The HoleĪs is evident from the above, to create the thread we first need to drill a hole on the workpiece. If the taper needs to go first, the intermediate tap follows second and the thread is finished with the bottoming tap. This minimises the risk of damaging the drilled hole.

The taper tap features a smooth diameter transition that allows for a less aggressive cutting action. The taper tap is only used in certain situations such as when the material is very hard or the hole is too small.

However, the bottoming tap cannot start the threading on an uncut hole, so it can only take part in the cutting process as the second or third tap. So next comes the bottoming tap that has the capacity to do this. Unfortunately, due to the shape it can’t create a thread all the way to the end of the hole. That is why it features a tapered bit, allowing the machinist to align it correctly. The intermediate, or plug tap, is used first to start cutting out material from a non-threaded hole. To create a thread properly, one would need a set of three taps that correspond to the same bit size namely the bottoming, the intermediate, and the taper tap. Therefore the tap drill chart is extremely important. As you would expect, taps come in all forms and sizes in order to accommodate standardised screw threads.

Printable starrett tap drill chart