Incorrectly cut or incorrectly labelled die

[gbritnell]

Hi David, I had posted a lengthy thread on another forum in regard to this very thing. My old 0-80 die was getting dull and I wanted a new one. I ordered one from one of the lager supply houses, high speed steel, round and adjustable. To make it work at all I had to turn the adjusting screw as far as my little screwdriver would go before the tip started twisting. The next problem was it had no lead (chamfer) so It was very hard to get started. Naturally it was from China. In years past you could get Japanese or Polish dies and they worked very nicely, not now. I got fed up and asked my buddy who has a machine shop to check with his supplier. I told him that the catalogs don't list American made dies in that size figuring that they would be better. His supplier got me one. I couldn't even get it to cut. Upon examination with my magnifier I saw that one of the 3 flutes didn't even have any threads on it. So much for American and quality control. The vendor took it back without hesitation and got me an OS brand. Now remember I wanted round, adjustable and high speed steel. I got small round, non adjustable and carbon steel. The next time I ordered tools online I bought another one because they're so cheap I figured what the heck, maybe by the odds of probability I might get a good one, wrong! I don't know what I'll do when my old original won't cut any longer but the stuff they're importing is junk, well for that matter it's all junk. I forgot to say when I got the OS and the other 'American' brand die I paid almost $24.00 for it. I don't know what to tell you about your situation but you're not alone.
gbritnell

 

[tmuir]

The one thing I can get locally is good quality HSS adjustable taps and dies.
They nearly break the bank every time I buy them but they are quality.

I just checked the brand and went to their Australian website
http://www.goliath.com.au/

And low and behond they are made in the UK.

'Goliath's HSS Taps & HSS Dies are manufactured in Birmingham, England and Goliath is now the largest HSS Tap manufacturer in England.'

So there you go atleast some quality tools are still made in the UK
http://www.goliathinternational.com/

 

[David Morrow]

There's an ironic twist to this story too when you talk about the US made tools.

A couple of years ago, my elderly neighbour was moving out of his house. His had been a scrounger all of his life. He asked me to make him an offer to get all of the old tools out of his basement including two massive work benches. I honestly didn't want it all but said I'd give him $250 and hauled it across the lane. It took 3 of us about 2 hours to move it all. I threw away 70% of it. One thing that now sits in my workshop is half a shoebox chock full of taps of very nice quality. More than I will likely use in several lifetimes as, in some cases, I have 20-30 of some sizes. No, there were no 4-40 dies. Wahhhhh.....