Two new dimensions to hole drilling

Citation

(2007), "Two new dimensions to hole drilling", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 79 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2007.12779ead.022

Two new dimensions to hole drilling

Two new dimensions to hole drilling

Designed for deep hole drilling applications of up to 30 times diameter without peck feeding, the Titex Alpha XD (extreme deep) solid carbide twist drill available from Walter- Titex-Prototyp is said to offer productivity gains of up to six times higher than conventional deep hole drills in steel and cast irons, non- ferrous materials, stainless steel and titanium alloys.

With internal coolant supply and applied at cutting speeds of up to 100m/min and feed rates of up to 300m/min (in AISi cast alloy), Titex XD is also claims a high process reliability/excellent hole quality via the production of short broken chips combined with excellent chip evacuation (via the design of the drill helix).

In practice, the generation of a batch of 300 blind holes of 180mm deep by 6mm diameter in high-alloy steel saw a Titex Alpha 4 XD30 drill applied at a cutting speed of 63m/min and a feed per revolution of 0.09mm, and it reportedly slashed machining time to under just 4h compared to 87h with a HSS tool applied at a cutting speed/ feed per revolution of 5m/min and 0.04mm, respectively.

XD drills are available in diameters from 3 to 20mm.

Also now available and reported to be able to double the number of workpieces produced – invariably producing holes of twice the diameter – the Titex Alpha Ni drill from Walter- Titex-Prototyp has been developed for the efficient machining of hard-to- machine resistant Ni-based alloys such as Inconel 718.

It is also said to be capable of drilling up to five times diameter, and applied at cutting speeds of up to 50-70m/min (on titanium alloys), the carbide drills are supplied uncoated for Ni-based alloys and with the Titex Tinal Futura Top coating on request for Co- and Fe- based alloys. The drill is available in diameters from 3 to 12mm, as standard, and specials from 3 to 16mm can also be supplied.

In use producing a series of holes in a gas turbine combustion chamber, the drill claims to effectively created 50 percent savings in the production of 338 holes of varying diameters from 3.5 to 11.9mm compared to a competitor tool.

Applied at a higher cutting speed – 25m/min as opposed to 11/15/18m/ min – and higher feed rates varying from 91 to 114mm/min, the Titex Alpha Ni drill was reported to be able to produce 50 workplaces per tool compared to 25.

Figure 2 The Titex Alpha XD twist drill from Walter-Titex-Prototyp is designed for deep hole drilling of up to 30 times diameter without peck feeding

Also available from Walter-Titex- Prototyp is the complementary XD Pilot, with 150° tip angle, to provide initial “soft” drilling and to extend the life of XD drills (Figure 2).

Details available from: Walter GB Limited, Tel: 01527 839450, Fax: 01527 839499, E-mail: gerrv.ohagan@walter-tools.com, web site: www.walter-tools.com