Holemaking

Whether it’s using drills to make holes, borings bars or reamers to enlarge their IDs, or taps to thread them, this is where to read up about holemaking. Holemaking is a process used to cut a hole in a part or a workpiece.

Custom PCD Tools Extend Shop’s Tool Life Upward of Ten Times
Holemaking

Custom PCD Tools Extend Shop’s Tool Life Upward of Ten Times

Adopting PCD tooling has extended FT Precision’s tool life from days to months — and the test drill is still going strong.

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Horn USA
IMCO

ESSENTIAL READING

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How to Turn Machine Shop Downtime Into Process Expertise

To take advantage of a lull in business, JR Machine devised a week-long cutting tool event that elevated the shop’s capabilities with aerospace alloys.

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Holemaking

How to Tackle Tough Angled Pocket Milling With Two Tools

Milling a deep pocket with a tight corner radius comes with unique challenges, but using both a flat bottom drill and a necked-down finishing tool can help.

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Basics

Choosing Your Carbide Grade: A Guide

Without an international standard for designating carbide grades or application ranges, users must rely on relative judgments and background knowledge for success.

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Toolholders

Cutting Tool Technology Aids Lights-Out Machining Applications

These features can help improve cutting tool stability, standardize cutting performance and extend tool life, enabling shops to confidently run unattended shifts.  

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How to Improve Peck Drilling Canned Cycles

Most CNCs don’t have a canned cycle for machining deep holes into malleable materials. Here’s what you do.

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Basics

Tips for Thread Milling Tricky Materials

Compared to tapping, thread-milling technology offers advantages for creating threads in challenging materials, such as tool steel, stainless steel and high-temperature alloys. Here are a few tips for establishing an effective thread-milling process in those materials.

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CERATIZIT OptiLine Solid Carbide End Mills
Iscar
Ingersoll Cutting Tools
T.J. Davies
Sumitomo

Latest Holemaking News And Updates

Holemaking

Walter Indexable Drill Inserts Provide High Wear Resistance

The WNN15 drilling grade features a hard substrate, which provides high cutting-edge strength and sharpness on indexable inserts.

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Holemaking

Monaghan Solid Carbide Drills Optimize Holemaking Performance

MK Tools’ Speed Drill S2 and S4 series are said to be ideal for high-volume production runs to one-off machine shop projects.

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Workholding

Ceratizit Product Update Enhances Cutting Tool Solutions

The company has updated its MaxiMill 273-08 face mill, WPC – Change Drill, as well as the HyPower Rough and HyPower Access 4.5-degree hydraulic chucks.

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Holemaking

Sandvik Coromant Drill Provides High Hole Integrity

CoroDrill 860 solid carbide drill is optimized for drilling in nickel-based, HRSA materials.

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Holemaking

Tungaloy Key Bits Improve Drill Body Service Life

The KHS key bits are designed to enable easy measuring of the drill head release torque.

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Holemaking

Big Daishowa Enhances Boring Tools With Vibration Damping

Smart Damper technology shortens the distance from the damping mechanism to the cutting edge, which is the source of vibration.

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Kyocera MA90
Sumitomo
OASIS Inspection Systems
JTEKT
SGS H-Carb

Featured Posts

Holemaking

Form Tapping Improves Tool Life, Costs

Moving from cut tapping to form tapping for a notable application cut tooling costs at Siemens Energy and increased tool life a hundredfold.

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10 Ways Additive Manufacturing and Machining Go Together and Affect One Another

Forget “additive versus subtractive.” Machining and metal additive manufacturing are interconnected, and enhance the possibilities for one another. Here is a look at just some of the ways additive and machining interrelate right now.

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Holemaking

New Machining Technology Works With Old to Restore WWII Submarine

A set of donated boring bars that can be used in a 1954 boring head will enable volunteer machinists to recreate a pair of binoculars for the USS Pampanito.

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How to Turn Machine Shop Downtime Into Process Expertise

To take advantage of a lull in business, JR Machine devised a week-long cutting tool event that elevated the shop’s capabilities with aerospace alloys.

Read More
Holemaking

How Lowering Torque Improves Tapping Tool Life

Escaping the tap breakage trap requires a long look at torque and the many factors that influence it.

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Holemaking

How to Tackle Tough Angled Pocket Milling With Two Tools

Milling a deep pocket with a tight corner radius comes with unique challenges, but using both a flat bottom drill and a necked-down finishing tool can help.

Read More
Techspex
Paperless Parts
MMS Made in the USA
SolidCAM
Iscar

FAQ: Holemaking

What Are Carbide Coatings?

Most modern carbide inserts and solid carbide tools are coated with a thin film (between 3 and 20 microns, or 0.0001 to 0.0007 inch). The coating is typically composed of titanium nitride, aluminum oxide and titanium carbon nitride layers. This coating increases the hardness and creates a heat barrier between the cut and the substrate.

Source: Choosing Your Carbide Grade: A Guide

What is a counterbore?

Counterboring is a machining operation that will enlarge an existing hole’s diameter to a specified depth. Traditionally, counterboring is done with either a special counterboring tool that has a pilot, or it is done with an end mill. In either case, the diameter of the tool (end mill or counterbore) must match the diameter that is counterbored.

Traditional counterboring is great for smaller holes, but as holes get larger, the cutting tools get more expensive.

Source: Custom Macro To Helically Mill A Counterbore

What is countersinking?

A countersink is a functional surface upon which a fastener head bears. Because fastener performance is so important, countersink tolerances are critical.

Source: Gaging Countersunk And Chamfered Holes

What is a chamfer?

Hole chamfers are usually specified simply to make it easier to insert a screw, pin, bushing, or other assembly component. The component doesn't bear on the chamfer, so diameter and angle tolerances are usually not critical to the part's performance.

Source: Gaging Countersunk And Chamfered Holes

Koma Precision
DN Solutions
Retention Knobs
Horn USA