Small holes in aluminum

Pecking sucks! With the right drill & feed curling chips shouldn't be a problem,

You will probably do the drilling from the same side as the pockets? It just *might* be better to face the hassle of turning the part over and drill from the back. Better flush of chips this way, and you can use a stub drill and skip spotting.

Consider a multiple spindle head for the machine and act as if it were only

I know a good source...

Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. (800) 871-5022

Seems like a good laser drilling job, possibility may be less expensive to job it out for the drilling.

I'd get a good parabolic flute drill and go through in one shot, no pecks

Best, Steve

And at 100 IPM. I've drilled 304L at 10X dia. with no peck in a hole that size at 22 IPM and

"Jerry" wrote in news:fKaOn.27292$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe20.iad:

Ostrum Dib2 coated drill, how many RPM you got?

I run 2.0-3.5 mm drills up to 10xD at 10k RPM and 3200 mm/min feed (125"/min), single shot-no peck. Guhring parabolic uncoated carbide drills will work the same, just won't last as long. (100,000 holes for the Guhring vs. 1 million or so for the coated ostrum - in 14-16% Si Aluminum alloy).

I have 10000 rpm max. Outsourcing is not an option. I'm not at home for the weekend so I can only view this using usnet but thanks for all the replies. I will try to get the drills you recommend. Jerry

Do you HAVE to spot? How are you deburring the exit? If you have to chamfer/deburr the hole then maybe drill thru and follow up with easy burr tool that will chamfer and deburr both ends with one quick shot.

Antony, did you really mean 125"/ min? Where do you get those drills? I'm hoping to drill it without spotting as even at 2 seconds per hole,

A grinding shop can easily modify a drill to put a chamfer on the hole.

wouldn't a center cutting high helix endmill work more reliably in this situation ? I'd be worried about the flutes getting packed up and causing the hole to go non-round and oversize-

I found Guhring drills online but I can't seem to find Ostrum. Does anyone have a link for a supplier? Jerry

"Jerry" wrote in news:fKaOn.27292$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe20.iad:

Crazy Drill Alu -

Don't feed this drill slower or it will break. Don't use it in anything ther than aluminum or it will break.

Thanks, I'll check it out. Jerry

Use an endmill. Do chipbreak pecs every .010, retracting back .020. Clear the endmill leaving .03 approx of flutes. Clear the flutes by .02/side. Turn the flush up high, the rapid and rpm all the way up, feed like a madman. This will run all night no problem (if it makes it thru the first hole)

that many pecks per hole ( 26 x 40 000 holes ) will take forever, maybe you meant every .100" ( 3 pecks per hole ) ?

As I pointed out 2 seconds per hole is 12 hours so if I use endmill and peck it will take a week or so. Jerry

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you might be able to do a one shot mill through with a ballnose.... (I just can't get along with drills)