Am I a Dumbass or what

As a machinist I have removed many, many broken taps. People bring them to me all the time. There are numerous tricks that can help you get a broken tap out of a hole. A pic would really help here because the things that you can do are dependent on whether the broken tap is inside, flush or slightly protruding. Tap extractors are very useful if you're careful. Tap extractors will also break/fail if you put excessive pressure on them. Getting a small hammer and a flat punch to hit the broken tap on it's face will help dislodge the tap, this doesn't always work but it doesn't hurt to try. Putting "tap magic" in the hole will allow the tap to back out easier if you go with the tap extractor. If you can get a punch (small pointed punch) on the flukes of the tap you can try (carefully) to force it to unscrew. The reason we do this is that if you can get it to break loose then the tap extractor has a much better chance of working. If the tap is really jammed in there the tap extractor may not work BUT if you can break it loose with a punch it increases the chances of getting it out in one piece. You have to work very slowly and carefully because the tap is brittle and the more you hit it the more likely it is that it will break (which isn't a bad thing) but you need the exposed flukes to be able to hit them with the punch and hammer. I usually use a pointed punch (a small one) to hit each fluke just a little, you alternate to each fluke to distribute the load. If you can get the tap to move (even just a little) you'll greatly increase the chances of being successful with the tap extractor.
If the tap extractor fails, and as last resort, you can break the tap into a million pieces but the threads will get some damage in the process. You can also buy a carbide drill bit which will drill a hole in the tap. Carbide is much harder than the tap BUT BE CAREFUL because if you break the carbide drill in the tap you make things worse (I've had to do some of those "screw ups" also). Since the carbide drill is very, very hard (and brittle) it can't handle any radial loads (it won't flex like a regular drill bit). So if you put any radial/lateral load on the carbide bit it will break very easily.
You have no idea how happy you can make someone with a broken tap when they see a machinist walk into the room!!!!

PS - Don't beat yourself up too much.....I've also broken many taps because as a machinist I've had to tap millions of holes .....BUT don't tell anybody!!!!:rofl:

Treblig