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In this episode of Tooling Up from MSC Industrial Supply, host Toni Neary welcomes Paul Larson, Product Manager at Guhring Inc., to explore the real-world benefits of synchronized tapping chucks. Discover how Guhring’s GuhroSync tapping chuck helps manufacturers extend tap life by up to 30%, solve spindle backlash, and improve thread quality.
Paul shares his hands-on journey from machinist to product manager and explains why Guhring’s family-owned, innovation-driven culture makes it a global leader in cutting tools. The discussion dives into common challenges shops face during tapping operations, including broken taps, poor tool life, and wasted time and material due to thread damage. Paul details how the GuhroSync’s hydraulic design with tension, compression, axial, and torsional control addresses these issues—reducing scrap, extending tool life, and ensuring consistent, high-quality threads.
Key takeaways include how synchronized tapping technology compensates for machine wear and spindle backlash, why tapping is such a critical final step in machining operations, and how shops using GuhroSync have seen measurable productivity gains and cost savings. Importantly, the GuhroSync is brand-agnostic, designed to fit both DIN and ANSI tap shanks, so manufacturers can use it seamlessly with taps from any brand.
Whether you’re looking to boost threading performance, reduce scrap rates, or maximize profitability on the shop floor, this episode highlights how Guhring and MSC work together to deliver smarter, more efficient tooling solutions.
To learn more about Guhring’s tapping solutions, visit mscdirect.com.
For even more metalworking insights and expertise check out MSC's Knowledge Center.
For more Tooling Up videos, check our MSC Tooling Up playlist.
And subscribe to our channel.
Video Transcript
PAUL LARSON: One of the questions I get a lot, and one of the statements I get a lot is my tap's not working or I'm getting terrible tool life with my tap, and there are a lot of reasons for that. Synchronized chucking can be one of them, because when a tapping cycle is run in a machine, it's all timed off of the threads and off of the pitch.
So if there's any slop or if there's any play in the machine, or a rigid tool holder that's going to have snap back from the spindle, that's going to cause those issues; that's where the crossing comes into play.
Narrator: This video is brought to you by Guhring, from drilling pioneer to complete round tool supplier. Nobody offers more. If you're looking for real-world insights and tips from leading industry experts, the latest trends in products and technology, you've come to the right place. From MSC Industrial Supply, this is Tooling Up.
TONI NEARY: Hello and welcome to Tooling Up. I'm your host, Tony Neary, and I'm so glad that you've joined us. Before I introduce our new guest, let me introduce you to the like and subscribe buttons. Go ahead and click those now because you don't want to miss a single episode of Tooling Up. All right, everybody subscribed? Great. Let's get going.
Today I'm excited to welcome Paul Larson. He's a product manager at Guhring Inc. to talk about synchronized tapping chucks and, more specifically, the GuhroSync chuck. Paul, thanks for joining us. And welcome to Tooling Up.
PAUL LARSON: Thanks, Toni. I appreciate being here. This is my first time on Tooling Up. I'm really excited to participate in this with you.
TONI NEARY: And we are excited to. But before we dive into all the very cool technology, I love to learn a little bit about how you found your pathway into manufacturing. So tell us, how did you end up where you are today?
PAUL LARSON: I started in manufacturing in 1996. I've been around for a minute, so I started running manual tool grinders and CNC machines programming, and worn a lot of hats in this industry. And now I'm the product manager for Guhring and loving every bit of it.
TONI NEARY: And I think it's an amazing path into your role. And I love the fact that you've got experience, you know, on the floor. But tell us a little bit about what you love most about being at Guhring now.
PAUL LARSON: The interesting thing about Guhring is that we are a global company that's family-owned. What's been a massive asset for me and for everybody that works here is that all of our opinions matter. Innovation, technology advancements, the opinion of the employees is listened to and it's acted on. So it's a great company to work for.
TONI NEARY: Speaking of always innovating, using the right tool holder is just as important as the tool in and of itself. Is that right?
PAUL LARSON: Absolutely. Especially when you're talking about tapping, a lot of customers are still using ER collets or tool holders that don't have the square drive in them. And that is incredibly important when you are tapping.
TONI NEARY: And let's talk a little bit more about synchronized tapping chucks, because I don't think this is, you know, the tabletop conversation that people are having while they're passing around the meatloaf. What are some of the problems or symptoms that a shop might see that would lead them to think, okay, synchronized tapping chucks is something that we should take a look at.
PAUL LARSON: One of the questions I get a lot and one of the statements I get a lot is my taps not working or I'm getting terrible tool life with my tap. And there's a lot of reasons for that. Synchronized chunking can be one of them, because when a tapping cycle is run in a machine, it's all timed off of the threads and off of the pitch.
So if there's any slop or if there's any play in the machine, or a rigid tool holder that's going to have snap back from the spindle, that's going to cause those issues, that's where the GuhroSync comes into play.
TONI NEARY: It was interesting to me that it's like spindle backlash, and that's generally one of the bigger issues that you're going to see. Can you talk a little bit about how the GuhroSync actually helps with that?
PAUL LARSON: Absolutely. On older machines, on machines that have maybe been more worn out a little bit with if there's any movements in the spindle that can cause problems, a tap is going to get fed in at a certain feed rate. That's going to mirror the pitch. Once it gets to the bottom, it has to reverse and pull itself back out.
If there's any hiccup, if there's any bump in the machine because of backlash, you're going to pull the threads right out, or you're going to break the tap is where the GuhroSync tap holder comes into play. Because of the tension, compression, axial, and torsional movements, it can actually alleviate some of that and help get that tap to guide itself out of the hole properly, avoiding tearing the threads and avoiding breaking the tap.
TONI NEARY: Which is amazing because you're looking at not just a scrap of a product, but loss of manufacturing time, labor, materials, and everything else. Let's talk about extending tool life, because if that's, you know, normally the symptom that you'll see. What are some of the numbers that you're seeing for extending tool life in the field?
PAUL LARSON: What's fascinating is that by using the gear tool holders, we're finding a 30% increase in tool life over using a standard rigid collet setup or an ER tap drive collet. When you're looking at threading. Threading is usually the last operation that's going to happen. All the machining, all the cut off, all the pocketing, all the work has been done.
Tapping is usually the last operation. So extending your tap life, increasing your output, that's only going to make you more productive. Because if you break a tap prematurely because you weren't expecting it, all of that labor and all of that time has already been wasted. So having the right tool holder, having the right application running, that's going to extend everything and make you and your company more profitable.
TONI NEARY: 30% is huge. I mean, that's a staggering number. So you've got your 30% tool life extension. We're looking at, you know, reducing the issues with spindle backlash. What are some of the other advantages with GuhroSync that you're seeing out in the field?
PAUL LARSON: The biggest advantage you're going to see is that it's basically a hydraulic tool holder to hold a tap. It's a hydraulic holder that has tension and compression, axial torsional control. So there is some movement in the tool holder to allow for machines to be able to produce those threaded holes routinely, consistently and with great quality. And along with that, you're Guhring territory manager in conjunction with the MSC metalworking specialist.
For those accounts, can work together to provide cost savings reports to show the customers to prove what advantages you can get by using the proper tool holder.
TONI NEARY: And let's talk a little bit about being brand agnostic, because I think that's really important for somebody looking to make the conversion.
PAUL LARSON: Sure. All shanks, all tap shanks fit into the GuhroSync tool holders. There's Din shanks and then there's Ansi shanks. Those are industry standards. So no matter what competitor or what manufacturer you're using for your tap, they will fit into our GuhroSync tool holders because all the shanks and squares are uniformed.
TONI NEARY: Paul, thank you so much for your time. It was great chatting with you today and so informative.
PAUL LARSON: Thank you. I really enjoy being here. This was a lot of fun. I appreciate the time. Thank you.
TONI NEARY: It was great hanging out with Paul today and if you enjoyed our conversation as much as I did and you want to see more discussions like this, please subscribe to our channel and to find out more about Guhring's tapping solutions, visit www.mscdirect.com/resources/guhring Thanks and we'll see you next time on Tooling Up.
Narrator: Want more insights and ideas to improve the efficiency and productivity of your operations? Check out the Tooling Up video playlist to hear tips that can take your company to the next level, and subscribe to our channel so you won't miss out.
