Recoil taps differ from standard taps dimensionally and only Recoil Screw Thread Insert (STI) Taps are suitable for use with Recoil Wire Thread Inserts.

Recoil taps are manufactured to precise standards from High Speed Steel (HSS) with ground threads and have a larger diameter but the same pitch as a standard tap in order to accommodate the wire insert.

Recoil hand taps are available with taper, intermediate, and bottoming leads.

• Taper (or Roughing Taps) are used for starting precision and difficult holes. This tap has a lead of eight threads, but no size reduction.
• Intermediate (or Plug/Second), used in most general purpose applications to facilitate thread cutting true to the drilled hole. The tap has a lead of four threads, but no size reduction.
• Bottoming Taps are used to ensure the minimum thread runout when tapping to the bottom of blind holes. The tap has a lead of two threads and would normally be preceded by a taper or an intermediate tap.

Spiral point and spiral flute machine taps are also available for volume production purposes.

Spiral Point Taps are recommended for machine tapping through holes. These taps provide for chip clearance within the lead of the tap.

Spiral Flute taps are recommended for machine tapping for all blind hole applications, particularly in soft materials such as copper, magnesium and aluminium which produce long stringy swarf.

For all sparkplug applications, pilot nose taps are recommended and are available for common metric thread sizes.