Tapping Carbon Fiber Composite

I have previously observed that tapping CFC does not seem to work.  I am beginning to wonder if I was right.  Online, I can find videos showing tapping CFC working and pages saying you need to use threaded inserts.

Yesterday, I had two parts that were supposed to have a through hole for 6-32 screws.  Somehow, I had failed to make a large enough hole (actually about .125" ID).  So i tried to turn the screw through the hole with a power screwdriver.   It went through and left pretty strong threads.

I think my previous tapping failure was because I used a tap in a power screwdriver.  I think i will take one of my small CFC scraps and trying to tap by hand.  If this works, it will be a giant improvement over other methods of binding pieces together.

 

UPDATE:  I just drilled and tapped a piece of 3/8" thick CFC.  The screws goes in smoothly and the hole is likely stronger the stainless steel screw.  This makes a lot of my complex ways to avoid tapping unneeded.  This should go much faster now!