--- title: "Tapping" description: "Tapping for custom fasteners: what the process suits, what it does not, and which parts it produces. Samples in 7 days, MOQ from 2,000 pieces." url: https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/tapping/ source: Engineering Hardware & Fasteners --- # Tapping Tapping · Fastener manufacturing process Send a drawing, a sample or a photograph. Samples follow within 7 days of the drawing being approved. Request a quotation One business day for a reply. Press-Fit-Nuts-Applications Tapping is used at Engineering Hardware to make custom nuts, threaded inserts, general components to a customer drawing. Cutting or forming an internal thread in a drilled hole. The minimum order is 2,000–5,000 pieces and samples follow within 7 days of the drawing being approved. Cutting or forming an internal thread in a drilled hole. The choice that matters is between a cutting tap and a forming tap. A cutting tap removes metal and produces a chip, which has to go somewhere — forward in a through hole, back out of a blind one, and getting that wrong is how taps break. A forming tap cuts nothing: it displaces the metal, leaving a stronger thread with no chip at all, and works beautifully in ductile materials and badly in brittle ones. Hole size differs between the two, which is the detail most often missed. ## What Tapping is the right choice for - Internal threads in nuts, blind holes and tapped components - Forming taps: ductile materials, where thread strength matters - Cutting taps: cast iron, brass, and anything that will not flow ## Where it is the wrong choice - Blind holes need the right flute geometry or the tap breaks - Forming taps need a different, larger pilot hole than cutting taps ## Parts produced this way - [Custom Nut](https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/nuts/) — [110 standard parts in the catalog](https://engineeringhardware.com/fasteners/nuts/) - [Custom Threaded Insert](https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/inserts/) — [6 standard parts in the catalog](https://engineeringhardware.com/fasteners/inserts/) - [Custom Machined Component](https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/components/) — [11 standard parts in the catalog](https://engineeringhardware.com/fasteners/components/) - [Custom Standoff & Spacer](https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/standoffs-spacers/) — [14 standard parts in the catalog](https://engineeringhardware.com/fasteners/standoffs-spacers/) ## Usually combined with Tapping is rarely the only operation on a part. On most jobs it sits in a sequence with: - [Drilling](https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/drilling/) - [CNC Machining](https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/cnc-machining/) ## Order terms - **Minimum order:** 2,000–5,000 pieces. The exact figure depends on the part: it is set by the tooling the drawing calls for, and is confirmed when the drawing has been reviewed. - **Samples:** Within 7 days of drawing approval. - **Drawing:** Preferred, but not required — a sample, photographs or a sketch is enough to start. ## What a quotation needs Nine things, and a drawing settles most of them at once. Where a field is unknown, say so — an assumption stated is better than a blank, and several of these can be recommended rather than specified. - **Drawing:** A 2D drawing (PDF or DWG) or a 3D model settles almost every other question on this list at once. - **Dimensions:** Diameter, length, head size and any features — enough to know what is being made. - **Tolerance:** Tolerance is the single biggest cost driver. Tell us which dimensions are critical and which are not — holding everything tight costs money on features nobody measures. - **Material:** Carbon steel, alloy steel, stainless, brass, aluminium, titanium — or the application, and we will suggest one. - **Strength grade:** Property class to ISO 898-1 (8.8, 10.9, 12.9) or stainless class to ISO 3506 (A2-70, A4-80). This decides the material and the heat treatment together. - **Thread standard:** Metric coarse, metric fine, UNC, UNF, BSW or a pipe thread — and the tolerance class if it is specified. - **Surface finish:** Zinc, hot-dip galvanised, black oxide, Dacromet, Geomet, nickel, passivation, or plain. Salt-spray hours if you have a requirement. - **Quantity:** Annual volume and first-order quantity. Volume changes which process is the right one, so it changes the price more than most buyers expect. - **Application & environment:** What the part holds together, and what it has to survive — temperature, vibration, chemicals, salt. This is what lets us catch a specification that will not work before it is made. ## Draw it here No CAD, no account, nothing to install. Draw the part in your browser, generate a real ISO metric thread from M1 to M100 with the end treatment it needs, dimension it, and export a PDF or a DXF to attach below. Sheets run to two metres for long studs and threaded rod. Open the drawing builder ## Questions ### What is the minimum order quantity for a custom part? Between 2,000 and 5,000 pieces for most parts. The exact figure depends on the part: it is set by the tooling the drawing calls for, and is confirmed when the drawing has been reviewed. ### How long does a sample take? Within 7 days once the drawing has been approved. The drawing stage comes first, and for a part being reverse-engineered from a sample it is where most of the time goes. ### Can you make a part without a drawing? Yes. A physical sample, photographs against a scale, or a dimensioned sketch are all workable starting points. A drawing is produced from whichever of those you have and sent back for approval before anything is made. ### When is Tapping not the right process? Blind holes need the right flute geometry or the tap breaks. Forming taps need a different, larger pilot hole than cutting taps. ### Which fasteners are made by tapping? In this catalog: nut, threaded insert, machined component, standoff & spacer. Whether it is the right process for a particular part depends on the drawing and the quantity. ## Parts of this kind we already make Showing 36 of 39 108 – All-Metal Prevailing Torque Hex Lock Nut (Type 1) — GB／T 6184 ／ ISO 7042 (Series 047) — GB／T 6184 ／ ISO 7042 109 – Castellated Hex Nut — GB／T 6180 ／ ISO 7036 (Series 048) — GB／T 6180 ／ ISO 7036 110 – Hex Slotted Castle Nut (Type 1) — GB／T 6180 ／ ISO 7036 (Series 049) — GB／T 6180 ／ ISO 7036 111 – Hex Slotted Castle Nut (Type 2) — GB／T 6180 ／ ISO 7036 (Series 050) — GB／T 6180 ／ ISO 7036 112 – Nylon Insert Hex Lock Nut (Type 2) — GB／T 6182 ／ ISO 10513 (Series 051) — GB／T 6182 ／ ISO 10513 113 – Hex Thick Nut — DIN 6330 ／ GB／T 56 (Series 052) — DIN 6330 ／ GB／T 56 114 – Thin Hex Castle Nut — GB／T 6181 ／ ISO 4035 (Series 053) — GB／T 6181 ／ ISO 4035 115 – Hex Slotted Nut — GB／T 6181 ／ ISO 4035 (Series 054) — GB／T 6181 ／ ISO 4035 116 – Thin Hex Nut — GB／T 6172.1 ／ ISO 4035 (Series 055) — GB／T 6172.1 ／ ISO 4035 117 – Thin Hex Nut, Fine Pitch — GB／T 6173 ／ ISO 8675 (Series 056) — GB／T 6173 ／ ISO 8675 119 – Thin Hex Nut — GB／T 6170 ／ ISO 4032 (Series 058) — GB／T 6170 ／ ISO 4032 120 – Hex Nut — GB／T 6170 ／ ISO 4032 (Series 059) — GB／T 6170 ／ ISO 4032 121 – Hex Nut — GB／T 41 ／ ISO 4034 (Series 060) — GB／T 41 ／ ISO 4034 122 – Hex Nut — GB／T 6170 ／ ISO 4032 (Series 061) — GB／T 6170 ／ ISO 4032 Adhesive-Mount-Nuts Aerospace-Corner-Self-Locking-Nutplates Aerospace-Two-Lug-Floating-Self-Locking-Nutplates All-Metal Lock Nuts — ISO 7042 ／ DIN 980 All-Metal-Hex-Flange-Lock-Nuts asme-b18-2-2-12-unc-hex-flange-nut asme-b18-2-2-13-unc-hex-coupling-nut asme-b18-2-2-1ab-unc-machine-screw-nuts asme-b18-2-2-2-unc-square-nut asme-b18-2-2-5-unc-slotted-hex-nut asme-b18-6-9a-inch-wing-nut-type-a Beam-C-Clamps-with-Set-Screw-and-Lock-Nut Blind-Rivet-Nut-Studs Cage Nuts – Snap-In Nuts Cage-Nuts-Applications Cap (Acorn) Nuts — DIN 1587 Castle-Nuts-Applications category-nuts Channel-Strut-Nuts Clinch-Lantern-Rivet-Nuts Clip-On Nuts Closed-End-Round-Body-Blind-Rivet-Nuts These are catalog parts, shown to say what the tooling already covers. A special is quoted from your drawing, not from this list. ## Drawing builder Draw the part, dimension it, and export a PDF or a DXF to attach to the form below. FASTENER **DRAWING** CMD Fastener drawing builder [https://engineeringhardware.com/](https://engineeringhardware.com/) Nothing you draw is uploaded until you send it, and the drawing lives in your own browser — export it before you close the tab. ## Send the part A drawing answers most of this at once. If you do not have one, fill in what you know and attach a photograph — samples follow within 7 days of the drawing being approved.