| Vermont American 40-Piece Metric Tap and Die Set
Fasteners--nuts and bolts. You can never find the size and grade you need at the auto store, and you can't fire stripped ones out of a blunderbuss into your neighbor's golden plastic yard orb. You can have a 40-drawer bolt bin filled with what should be enough hardware to assemble a small ocean-going yacht, like I do, and you still won't have what you need lots of times.
Sure, you can go to a commercial hardware store and buy 50 grade 10.9 8x20mm bolts because you need four to install a new brake backing plate on a 1970 BMW 2800CS, which is how my 40-drawer bolt bin got filled.
Or you can order the bolts from BMW or another manufacturer, wait two days to get them, and pay $2 each.
Or you can clean up the threads on the original bolts you were forced to heat to 3,000 degrees in order to get them out. This is one of the many reasons why it helps to be able to not only repair damaged threads, but also, in a pinch, create the size fastener you need out of the size fastener you have.
A tap and die set can do that for you.
Say you have 49 8x45mm bolts left out of that box of 50 you bought because you needed one, and now you need a 6x45mm bolt. All you need to do is brace the bolt in a bench vice and rethread it to 6mm in the correct thread pitch. It will take some time, and you can't change the bolt head, but it will work.
Say you're installing a set of sway bars and your mildly disconcerting Uncle Larry, who everyone pretends is not strange, insists on showing you his mechanical expertise by helping out, but he strips the special threaded stud that fits into the adjustable end link for the rear bar. After you dispose of the body, where are you going to find one of those studs if you can't fix the threads?
It's cool to have a tap and die set.
When my friend Vince and I used to work on cars together, I had full access to a ridiculously expensive set of Snap-On taps and dies he kept in his toolbox. Now he's got a dump truck and he does some sort of work with rocks and stuff, I guess. I don't understand it, but I knew I'd need my own tap and die set straight away. I had a BMW M10 engine that was freshly rebuilt, but it had sat around for a while and needed to have all the threads chased in the boltholes around the block. At the same time, I couldn't spend a zillion dollars on a tap and die set, and Vince was MIA.
Imagine my surprise when I found this gem at the local mom and pop auto parts store for $125.
Each high-carbon-steel tap and die in this 40-piece Vermont American Metric Tap and Die Set has size and starting side permanently marked on each. All taps are plug style and have the recommended drill-size laser marked on the side. It comes with all the fixin's in a sturdy plastic storage case.
Vermont American part number 21749 includes tap and 1-in. hexagon die sizes 3mm x 0.50 taper, 3mm x 0.60 taper, 4mm x 0.70 taper, 4mm x 0.75 taper, 5mm x 0.80 taper, 5mm x 0.90 taper, 6mm x 1.00 taper, 7mm x 1.00 taper, 8mm x 1.25 taper, 9mm x 1.00 plug, 9mm x 1.25 plug, 10mm x 1.25 plug, 10mm x 1.50 plug, 11mm x 1.50 plug, 12mm x 1.50 plug, 12mm x 1.75 plug and 1/8-28 BSP pipe; one tap wrench for tap sizes No. 4 through 1/2 in.; one die stock for 1-in. round or hexagon dies; one T-handle tap wrench for tap sizes No. 0 through 1/4 in.; one T-handle tap wrench for tap sizes 1/4- through 1/2 in.; one metric thread gauge for 0.45mm to 2.50mm threads; and one No. 5 screwdriver.
Vermont American bills itself as the world's largest manufacturer of power tool accessories. Certainly, the name is familiar to anyone who has ever gone to Home Depot to buy a hacksaw or circular saw blade. According to its Web site, it's been in business for over 50 years.
Best of all, the tap and die set I bought was proudly marked, "Made in USA." There is a photograph on the site of this charming old-timer, company founder Lee B. Thomas, Sr. I'd certainly rather buy a tool set from him than Chinese General Secretary Hu Jintao. But, of course, one never knows who owns who these days, so I called the Vermont American customer-service 800 number to find out more about the company. After 5 minutes navigating the computerized answering system, I found a live human being who wanted to transfer me to marketing. I politely declined, finding it instructive that said answering system began with, "Thank you for calling the Robert Bosch Tool Corp." So there you go.