Tag Archive for: flat bottom drills

Selecting the Right Harvey Tool Miniature Drill

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Among Harvey Tool’s expansive holemaking solutions product offering are several different types of miniature drill options and their complements. Options range from Miniature Spotting Drills to Miniature High Performance Drills – Deep Hole – Coolant Through. But which tools are appropriate for the hole you aim to leave in your part? Which tool might your current carousel be missing, leaving efficiency and performance behind? Understanding how to properly fill your tool repertoire for your desired holemaking result is the first step toward achieving success.

Pre-Drilling Considerations

Miniature Spotting Drills

Depending on the depth of your desired machined hole and its tolerance mandates, as well as the surface of the machine you will be drilling, opting first for a Miniature Spotting Drill might be beneficial. This tool pinpoints the exact location of a hole to prevent common deep-hole drilling mishaps such as walking, or straying from a desired path. It can also help to promote accuracy in instances where there is an uneven part surface for first contact. Some machinists even use Spotting Drills to leave a chamfer on the top of a pre-drilled hole. For extremely irregular surfaces, however, such as the side of a cylinder or an inclined plane, a Flat Bottom Drill or Flat Bottom Counterbore may be needed to lessen these irregularities prior to the drilling process.

harvey tool miniature spotting drill with dimension callout marks

Tech Tip: When spotting a hole, the spot angle should be equal to or wider than the angle of your chosen miniature drill. Simply, the miniature drill tip should contact the part before its flute face does.

infographic showcasing proper spot angle for spot drilling in relation to drills included angle

Selecting the Right Miniature Drill

Harvey Tool stocks several different types of miniature drills, but which option is right for you, and how does each drill differ in geometry?

Miniature Drills

Harvey Tool Miniature Drills are popular for machinists seeking flexibility and versatility with their holemaking operation. Because this line of tooling is offered uncoated in sizes as small as .002” in diameter, machinists no longer need to compromise on precision to reach very micro sizes. Also, this line of tooling is designed for use in several different materials where specificity is not required.

harvey tool extended depth miniature drill

Miniature High Performance Drills – Deep Hole – Coolant Through

For situations in which chip evacuation may be difficult due to the drill depth, Harvey Tool’s Deep Hole – Coolant Through Miniature Drills might be your best option. The coolant delivery from the drill tip will help to flush chips from within a hole, and prevent heeling on the hole’s sides, even at depths up to 20 multiples of the drill diameter.

harvey tool miniature deep hole coolant through gun drill

Miniature High Performance Drills – Flat Bottom

Choose Miniature High Performance Flat Bottom Drills when drilling on inclined and rounded surfaces, or when aiming to leave a flat bottom on your hole. Also, when drilling intersecting holes, half holes, shoulders, or thin plates, its flat bottom tool geometry helps to promote accuracy and a clean finish.

harvey tool miniature flat bottom drill with dimension callouts

Miniature High Performance Drills – Aluminum Alloys

The line of High Performance Drills for Aluminum Alloys feature TiB2 coating, which has an extremely low affinity to Aluminum and thus will fend off built-up edge. Its special 3 flute design allows for maximum chip flow, hole accuracy, finish, and elevated speeds and feeds parameters in this easy-to-machine material.

miniature drill for aluminum from harvey tool with dimension callouts

Miniature High Performance Drills – Hardened Steels

Miniature High Performance Drills – Hardened Steels features a specialized flute shape for improved chip evacuation and maximum rigidity. Additionally, each drill is coated in AlTiN Nano coating for hardness, and heat resistance in materials 48 Rc to 68 Rc.

miniature drill for hardened steel with dimension callouts

Miniature High Performance Drills – Prehardened Steels

As temperatures rise during machining, the AlTiN coating featured on Harvey Tool’s Miniature High Performance Drills – Prehardened Steels creates an aluminum oxide layer which helps to reduce thermal conductivity of the tool and helps to promote heat transfer to the chip, as well as improve lubricity and heat resistance in ferrous materials.

miniature drill for prehardened steel with dimension callouts

Post-Drilling Considerations

Miniature Reamers

For many operations, drilling the actual hole is only the beginning of the job. Some parts may require an ultra-tight tolerance, for which a Miniature Reamer (tolerances of +.0000″/-.0002″ for uncoated and +.0002″/-.0000″ for AlTiN Coated) can be used to bring a hole to size. harvey tool straight flute miniature reamer with dimension callouts

Tech Tip: In order to maintain appropriate stock removal amounts based on the reamer size, a hole should be pre-drilled at a diameter that is 90-94 percent of the finished reamed hole diameter.

Flat Bottom Counterbores

Other operations may require a hole with a flat bottom to allow for a superior connection with another part. Flat Bottom Counterbores leave a flat profile and straighten misaligned holes. For more information on why to use a Flat Bottom Counterbore, read 10 Reasons to Use Flat Bottom Tools.

harvey tool flat bottom counterbores with dimension callouts

Key Next Steps

Now that you’re familiar with miniature drills and complementary holemaking tooling, you must now learn key ways to go about the job. Understanding the importance of pecking cycles, and using the correct approach, is vital for both the life of your tool and the end result on your part. Read this post’s complement “Choosing the Right Pecking Cycle Approach,” for more information on the approach that’s best for your application.

Choosing the Right Pecking Cycle Approach

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Utilizing a proper pecking cycle strategy when drilling is important to both the life of your tool and its performance in your part. Recommended cycles vary depending on the drill being used, the material you’re machining, and your desired final product.

Start to Boost Your Accuracy with Harvey Tool’s Drilling Guidebook.

What are Pecking Cycles?

Rather than drill to full drill depth in one single plunge, pecking cycles involve several passes – a little at a time. Peck drilling aids the chip evacuation process, helps support tool accuracy while minimizing walking, prevents chip packing and breakage, and results in a better all around final part.

Miniature Drills

miniature drill pecking cycles

High Performance Drills – Flat Bottom

high performance drill pecking cycles

High Performance Drills – Aluminum & Aluminum Alloys

aluminum pecking cycles

Note: For hole depths 12x or greater, a pilot hole of up to 1.5X Diameter is recommended.

High Performance Drills – Hardened Steels

hardened steels chart
High Performance Drills – Prehardened Steels

prehardened steels chart

Key Pecking Cycle Takeaways

From the above tables, it’s easy to identify how recommended peck drilling cycles change based on the properties of the material being machined. Unsurprisingly, the harder the material is, the shorter the recommended pecking depths are. As always, miniature drills with a diameter of less than .010″ are extremely fragile and require special precautions to avoid immediate failure. For help with your specific job, contact the Harvey Tool Technical Team at 800-645-5609 or [email protected]

Multi-Functional Tools Every Shop Should Have

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If there is one thing that all machinists and shop managers can agree on, it’s that time is money. CNC tooling and material costs, employee wages, and keeping the lights on all add up, but most would agree that saving time is one of the best ways to make a shop more efficient.

Tool changes mid-job quickly add up when it comes to cycle times (not to mention tool costs), so using a tool capable of multiple operations whenever possible is an excellent first step. The following multi-functional tools are designed to save time and money at the spindle.

Drill/End Mills

harvey tool combination drill end mill

One look at Drill/End Mills or “Drill Mills” and it’s obvious that these multi-functional tools are capable of more than a standard end mill. Two of the intended operations are right in the name (drilling and milling). Besides the obvious, though, drill mills are intended for grooving, spotting, and chamfering, bringing the total to five separate operations.

infographic showcasing 5 unique drill mill operations

Considering the amount of tools normally required to perform all of these common operations, keeping a few drill mills in your tool crib ensures you’re always ready to tackle them, not to mention the potential extra spots in your tool magazine.

Undercutting End Mills

harvey tool undercutting lollipop end mill

Undercutting End Mills, also known as lollipop cutters or spherical ball end mills are surprisingly “well-rounded” tools. Besides milling an undercut feature on a part, which is typically very difficult with a standard end mill, these tools are capable of a few other operations.

infographic of four unique uses for undercutting end mills

Using an undercutting end mill to deburr in your machine is an excellent way to save time and effort. Some slotting and contouring operations, especially when 5-axis milling, are made far easier with an undercutting end mill, and in some situations, clearance challenges make them necessary.

Double Angle Shank Cutters

harvey tool double angle shank cutter

Often referred to the “Swiss Army Knife of Machining” due to their versatility, Double Angle Shank Cutters are 6-in1 multi-functional tools worth keeping on hand in any machine shop. Since these tools cut on all sides of their head, they are useful in a variety of situations.

infographic showing 6 different uses of double angle shank cutters

With the ability to thread mill and countersink, Double Angle Shank cutters are perfect for holemaking operations. On top of that, their clearance advantage over standard end mills makes them extremely well suited to a variety of finishing operations in difficult to reach places.

Flat Bottom Tools

two stacked harvey tool cnc tools, top being a flat bottom drill and bottom a flat bottom counterbore

Flat Bottom Drills and Flat Bottom Counterbores are better suited to holemaking, but they are capable of a large variety of operations. They belong in a category together since their flat bottom geometry is what sets them apart from other cnc tooling in the same category. Flat bottom geometry keeps the tool from walking on irregular or angle surfaces and help to correct, straighten, or flatten features created by non-flat bottom tools.

Flat bottom drills are designed for the following operations:

infographic showing 5 uses of flat bottom cnc tools. thin plate, cross hole, irregular surface, angled, and half hole drilling

While similar in some aspects, flat bottom counterbores are particularly well-suited for these uses:

infographic showing the five unique uses for flat bottom counterbores

Adjustable Chamfer Cutters

harvey tool adjustable chamfer mill set to 45 degrees

As discussed in a previous post, chamfer mills are capable of more than just chamfering – they are also well-suited for beveling, deburring, spotting, and countersinking. However, these adjustable chamfer cutters aren’t limited to a single angle per side – with a quick adjustment to the carbide insert you can mill any angle from 10° to 80°.

adjustable chamfer cutter inserts and hardware

When you account for the replaceable insert and the range of angles, this tool has a very high potential for time and tool cost savings.

Tools that are capable of a variety of operations are useful to just about any machine shop. Keeping your cnc tooling crib stocked with some or all of these multi-functional tools greatly increases your shop’s flexibility and decreases the chances of being unprepared for a job.

10 Reasons to Use Flat Bottom Tools

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Flat bottom tools, or tools with flat bottom geometry, are useful in a variety of situations and operations that tools with typical cutting geometry are not. The standard characteristics of drills or end mills are useful for their primary functions, but make them unsuitable for certain purposes. When used correctly, the following flat bottom tools can make the difference between botched jobs and perfect parts.

Flat Bottom Drills

Flat Bottom Drill

Flat bottom drills are perfect for tricky drilling situations or for creating flat bottom holes without secondary finishing passes. Consider using these specialized drills for the operations below.

infographic showing 5 different Flat Bottom Drill Operations

Thin Plate Drilling

When drilling through holes in thin plates, pointed drills are likely to push some material out the exit hole and create underside burrs. Flat bottom drills are significantly less likely to experience this problem, as their flat bottom geometry generates more even downward forces.

Crosshole Drilling

When drilling a hole that crosses the path of another hole, it is important to avoid creating burrs, since they can be extremely difficult to remove in this kind of cross section. Unlike drills with points, flat bottom drills are designed to not create burrs on the other side of through holes.

Irregular/Rounded Surface Drilling

Flat bottom drills initially engage irregular surfaces with their outer edge. Compared to making first contact with a standard drill point, this makes them less susceptible to deflection or “walking” on inclined surfaces, and more capable of drilling straighter holes.

Angled Drilling

Even if the surface of a part is flat or regular, a pointed drill is susceptible to walking if it engages the part at an angle, known as angled or tilted drilling. For the same reason flat bottom drills are ideal for drilling on irregular surfaces, they are perfect for angled drilling.

Half Hole Drilling

When drilling a half hole on the edge of a part, the lack of material on either side of the drill makes the operation unstable In this situation, a pointed drill is susceptible to walking. A flat bottom drill makes contact with its entire cutting geometry, allowing for more versatility and stability when drilling half holes.

Flat Bottom Counterbores

Flat Bottom Counterbore

Flat bottom counterbores are an excellent choice when a flat bottom hole is needed and a tool without flat bottom geometry was used to create it. Keep some of these tools on hand to be prepared for the operations below.

infographic showcasing 5 different uses of flat bottom counterbores

Bore & Finish Drilled Holes

Drill geometry is designed first and foremost for factors like stability, rigidity, and chip evacuation. Some holes will need secondary finishing operations. Flat bottom counterbores are often designed with a slow helix and low rake, which help them avoid part engagement and control finish.

Straighten Misaligned Holes

Even experienced machinists may drill a less-than-perfectly-straight hole or two in new and unfamiliar jobs. Fortunately, flat bottom counterbores are well-suited for straightening misaligned holes.

Spot Face & Counterbore on Irregular Surfaces

The unique geometry of flat bottom counterbores makes them  effective at spotting on irregular surfaces. Standard drills and spot drills are susceptible to walking on these kinds of surfaces, which can potentially ruin an operation.

Remove Drill Points

When a standard drill creates a hole (other than a through hole) it leaves a “drill point” at the bottom due to its pointed geometry. This is fine for some holes, but holes in need of a flat bottom will need a secondary operation from a flat bottom counterbore to remove the drill point.

Remove End Mill Dish

The dish angle present on most standard end mills allows proper end cutting characteristics and reduces full diameter contact. However, these end mills will naturally leave a small dish at the bottom of a hole created by a plunging operation. As with drill points, flat bottom counterbores are perfect to even out the bottom of a hole.