RED RING: for difficult-to-machine materials
The red ring is what you keep in reserve for the jobs where nothing else holds up: materials above 1,200 N/mm², high-strength and hardened steels, titanium alloys. VÖLKEL makes 23 versions from M 3 x 0.5 to M 16 x 2.0, some in HSSE to DIN 371 in form A, some in powder-metallurgical HSSE-PM with a TiAlN coating to DIN 371 and DIN 376 in form C with a 15° spiral flute, plus the TwinBox with a matching twist drill.
Machine Tap RED RING DIN 371 Form C 15° Spiral Flute HSSE-PM TiALN - M 10 x 1.5
Machine Tap RED RING DIN 371 Form C 15° Spiral Flute HSSE-PM TiALN - M 3 x 0.5
Machine Tap RED RING DIN 371 Form C 15° Spiral Flute HSSE-PM TiALN - M 4 x 0.7
Machine Tap RED RING DIN 371 Form C 15° Spiral Flute HSSE-PM TiALN - M 5 x 0.8
Machine Tap RED RING DIN 371 Form C 15° Spiral Flute HSSE-PM TiALN - M 6 x 1.0
Machine Tap RED RING DIN 371 Form C 15° Spiral Flute HSSE-PM TiALN - M 8 x 1.25
Machine Tap RED RING DIN 376 Form C 15° Spiral Flute HSSE-PM TiALN - M 12 x 1.75
Machine Tap RED RING DIN 376 Form C 15° Spiral Flute HSSE-PM TiALN - M 14 x 2.0
Machine Tap RED RING DIN 376 Form C 15° Spiral Flute HSSE-PM TiALN - M 16 x 2.0
RED RING TwinBox Machine Tap + Twist Drill DIN 376 HSSE-PM TiALN - M 12 x 1.75
RED RING TwinBox Machine Tap + Twist Drill DIN 376 HSSE-PM TiALN - M 14 x 2.0
RED RING TwinBox Machine Tap + Twist Drill DIN 376 HSSE-PM TiALN - M 16 x 2.0
Why HSSE-PM
High speed steel produced by powder metallurgy has a finer and more uniform structure than conventionally melted steel. That makes it tougher at the same hardness, which is exactly what a tool working in high-strength material needs: it does not chip where a brittle tool would. More on this in the article HSS, HSSE and HSSE-PM explained.
TiAlN rather than TiN
At high temperature the titanium aluminium nitride layer forms an aluminium oxide barrier and keeps cutting heat away from the tool. That is the decisive difference in high-strength materials, where most of the energy ends up as heat.
Run it slowly
The guide value is 2 to 4 m/min, the lowest of the whole coloured ring range. Push harder here and you lose the tool. Use thread cutting oil, highly activated with special additives; see lubricants.
Form A and form C
Form A with a six to eight thread lead spreads the load over a long distance and suits short through holes. Form C with a 15° spiral flute lifts the chips backwards and belongs in blind holes. The other colours and their material groups are listed on the machine taps with coloured ring page.
