Google-Fu

So, two of the few mentioned they MIGHT have a 40 tpi tap that could be suitable to chase the threads on the two inch mic.  And after a frustrating measurement session, it appears that it's an odd duck.

So digging around the worldweb for a ab-nominal size tap I found a .275"-40 55° whitworth tap.  Well how odd would that be?  Whitworth??  Is Tumico an English company? 

No, Tumico is from the good, wonderful USA:  "For more than 70 years, SCHERR-TUMICO measuring products have been produced in Southwestern Minnesota. The tubular frame micrometer was introduced in the early 1940's..."

Okay, 5/16 is too big, and a 1/4 is too small......

Laying in bed last night, it was running through my mind like the uneven pavement on the old I-10 bridge to N.O. ..... too big, too small....too big, too small....  5/16.... 1/4....  5/16.... 1/4.....   

hmmmm....  10/32, 8/32....... click!

HEY!  is there a 9/32-40 tap?????

Yes Virginia, there IS a 9/32-40 tap.  And it's on it's way to my little shop of horrors.  Who'd a thunk it?  (Well a plug tap, but that should work if it's a fit: if I trust me to measure it right)

We live in a wonderland.  

In 1989, I was given a Chameleon computer.  The power supply kept blowing out, so it wasn't any good.  I found out we had a resource in the library, that listed just about every manufacturer in the USA.  After digging around and finding the company name on the circuit board of the supply, I went to the library.  Only took about an hour all told, and there was the address of the company.  I typed up a letter, introducing myself, and began the sob story.  College student, broken pc, no schematic, would make a great project, etc.  Two weeks later, I got a letter back.  IF you promise to keep this a secret and not publish the information, you may have a copy of the schematic.  I sent it back signed, and a week or so later, I got the latest and greatest version of the power supply.  It wasn't the version I had, but it was close enough.  One of my classmates had done bench work on Navy sonar transducers and helped me with the parts order and eventual repair.  It worked once, then fritzed again.  I was an old married student and the budget was only so big for dead ends.  It was relegated to the graveyard.

 All that took two months.  Last night, I discovered, sourced, and ordered what I needed, even confirming that I had the proper tap drill if I decided to make my own hole someday.  In the space of 5 minutes. 

We have the entirety of human knowledge at our fingertips and use it to watch morans hurt themselves or cats get into mischief.  It's nothing more than a caveman's campfire for the majority of humans.  But if you need a tool, or a part, it's a quick, word search away.  It's almost magic.