Papa John'S ToolboxPapa John's Toolbox 30 Pc. Mini Metric Tap & Die Set

First, I was surprised when I got the set that the die holder and the outer diameter of the dies was so small. My other dies measure a bit over 3/4" blanks; the smaller ones in this set are less than 1/2". It doesn't seem to be a problem, although people with big fingers might find them a little tedious to handle. The die holder works, but yeah, as others have mentioned, the Phillips-head screw is kind of cheesy. Probably you could put in a better quality screw--maybe even a thumb screw to eliminate the Phillips head. I had to do a little fiddling to install the dies--be sure you have them seated all the way down into the collar so they don't pop out on you.I agree with the other reviewer who said that the taps are so small that you need magnification to read the sizes. They're marked clearly, it's just that the print has to be small to fit and that the color of the markings is close to the color of the metal.The fact that they give you two taps of each size is great! For my purposes, I was able to grind down the end of one of them to turn it into a bottoming tap for threading holes that aren't drilled all the way through.I don't understand the two pieces marked 1 and 2. I assume they're for using the taps in the die holder, but I didn't have the patience to fool with it--especially since I have a good little pin vise/tap holder that works great. I haven't thrown them out like the other reviewer did; instead, named them Thing 1 and Thing 2, like in the Dr. Seuss book, The Cat in the Hat. Yes, I sometimes name my tools.These do seem to cut okay--at least for brass. They might not last too long for steel. All in all, I'd say this set is worth the money. It's not for all-day, everyday use, but for me, it's getting the job done.

This set was better than I had expected. I looked online for tap and die sets which had sizes under 2.0mm and this was one of two that I found. It has two each of the following tap sizes: M1, M1.1, M1.2, M1.4, M1.6, M1.8, M2, M2.2, M2.5. And one each of matching size dies. This was perfect for making parts for my hobby with micro-size helicopter. So far, I've only used them on Aluminum, but seems to work great. The case is not so good since it's just two pieces of brittle plastic... and mine had been chipped when it arrived. This is not the reason I'm not giving it five stars though. A star is deducted for the tap holders. It's inconvenient since it uses a screw to hold the taps in place. You'll need to keep a phillips screw driver handy if you're making different size holes. And because it's small with not much thickness, the taps don't align perpendicular, which makes turning the tap a bit more difficult to get a really nice thread in the hole at the start. Not a problem unless the amount of material you're trying to thread is very thin, such as the case for miroc-size helicopter hobby parts. I'd give it 5 stars if the tap holder mechanism was better designed.

Works great! I bought this to allow me to get more use out of parts purchased from HobbyKing.com for my RC hobby. Their rods are threaded on only one end so with this I can cut a rod to a certain length for one plane then instead of throwing out the remainder I can just rethread the end and keep using it.I looked at several different small metric tap and die kits and this was one of the cheapest and has worked extremely well. The only negative is that sometimes the die can pop out of the tool and you have to stick it back in and re-tighten it down. But, if you are careful while cutting threads it isn't much of an issue. I would certainly buy it again.

If you're not into miniature engineering this thing probably isn't for you. If you want to be able to tap or thread things that are really very small and need metric options, this is a must-have.I first bought mine to try my hand at making small parts with a view to servicing and repairing clocks and watches. Despite having very limited experience it wasn't very long before I made what looked like a miniature dumb-bell, having threaded both ends of the center bar and drilled and tapped holes in two very small brass discs.Obviously you need to be more gentle with a tiny tap than with a huge tap but these things have also lasted me well.

Good set of taps/dies for the money. I've used the smallest on brass and they worked well. Like any "micro" sized tap, you need to be VERY careful with them, and use proper lubricant, but these so far have done the job. Not sure what the two odd shaped things are in the set, unless they're supposed to be "handles" for the taps, but those I threw out, as they're fairly worthless. I use a small pin vise to hold the taps in use and that works well.

the taps and dies seem ok, but, watch what they charge you, i feel i was overcharged from the stated amount of $39.05, they charged me $ 49.50 plus a higher shipping rate,i used the dies last night, the die handle is junk, there is one screw to tighten the die to the handle, the screw will not get tight, causing the handle to wobble and then fall off. the screw is like a 6-32 pan - phil drive.I am trying again today, if it still wobbles i am going for a refund.THE SCREW HEAD JUST STRIPPED, SO,THERE IS NO WAY TO TIGHTEN THE HANDLE TO THE DIE WITH THE STRIPPEDPHIL SCREW HEAD...ALSO I PRINTED OUT A METRIC CHART THAT TELLS IN INCHES/METRIC WHAT THE ROD DIAMETER SHOULD BE, SEEMS LIKE THEY MISSED FROM THE CHART I HAVE TO THE WIRE DIAMETER THAT WORKS. E.G., A MM 2.0 IS SUPPOSE TO BE .0787INCHES, NOPE, .0787 WORKS WITH MM 2.2 JUST FINE, BUT NOT 2.0MM., I POINTED THE ROD, STILL COULD NOT GET THE DIE TO START.************************DO NOT BUY THIS PIECE OF CRAP, I AM RETURNING**************************I FEEL I SHOULD GET PAID FOR QC'ING THEIR TOOL

The set is good, except I couldn't tighten the 2 MM die in the handle. Maybe it was me, but tightening a die isn't that hard to do. Ihad to use a small pair of Channel Locks over a rag to get the job done.

wish the handle was a better quality as well as the case, but it's the only set available for these size taps!! bummer, but it worked. it's a shame if i need to buy a whole set again just for replacing an M2