Volkel 49513 3-12mm HSS Tap and Drill Set

I bought this Völkel set because I wanted to get a high quality German set of taps and was willing to pay a corresponding price, despite only needing them for occasional use. They look well made but there is a fundamental problem with their dimensions, and I have had exactly the same experience as the Spanish reviewer from 15 February 2016.For each thread size the set includes three taps. These are marked (in tiny lettering) with A for the starting tap, D for the second tap and no letter for the final tap - eg. AM8, DM8, M8. I believe that the final taps are the correct size, or close to it. Normally each successive tap should take off a bit more metal, never requirung excessive force. However the A and D taps in this set are too wide, making them almost impossible to turn, and risking the tap snapping off. When you eventually manage to deploy the final/third tap, it just spins through with no resistance, which is all wrong. It happened to me quite a while ago with one of the smaller sizes, and then yesterday exactly the same thing with the M12 taps. This time I measured the taps carefully, which confirmed the problem.So last night, to get myself out of trouble and be able to finish my work, I ordered a set of three Dormer M12 taps from RS. They arrived this morning and were as they should be; each tap in turn requiring just a reasonable effort and taking off a reasonable amount of metal. That was a further confirmation that this Völkel tap set has the first and second taps wrongly sized.I have ordered all sorts of other taps, dies and V-Coil sets from Völkel in the past 6 years, and they have all been perfect. This M3-M12 tap set is the only one which has not been OK, and it has a major problem. Völkel needs to look into this.

this set is very neat comes in it's own little box and is really good value for money.....looks good too