Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Hi Byron! For ME tapp/die I recommend the fine product from PM research here in the states. Here is a link to their tap/die page
https://www.pmmodelengines.com/product-category/tools/
They offer tapered, straight, and their own breed "UST" which is something in-between and is supposedly compatible with both tapered and straight. So far the tools seem well made and cut very well. I just bought a set of the 1/4-40 UST tap/die and they work wonderfully with all the fittings I have. PM research also sells all sizes of little fittings that you can imagine and are of very nice quality. Can make your build quite a bit simpler if you can pick exactly what you need. It is important to note and you probably know already that NPT threads are a lot larger than their name. A 1/4-40 ME is very small in comparison to a 1/8-npt. Might be preaching to the choir, but I figured I would mention! Sounds like you are making a lot of progress towards what you want!