Exploring the world of deep-hole drilling

Figure 1. Examples of deep-hole drilling in specialty materials are displayed at UNISIG’s facility in Menomonee Falls, Wis.

Do you perform deep-hole drilling on your machining centre? If so, that’s not unusual, but would you be better off with a dedicated deep-hole drilling machine?

That’s the question that Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based UNISIG wants metalworkers to consider. While they may be finding success with conventional drill tools that might do the job at half of the programmed feed rate when drilling shallow holes, perhaps they could be doing more.

During a trade press event on Nov. 2, Anthony Fettig, UNISIG’s CEO, described how these dedicated deep-hole drilling machines are much more than traditional gun-drilling machines, which are amazingly still in use in some manufacturers’ facilities. Fettig said today’s modern machines can drill 2.5-mm-diameter holes 200 mm deep in titanium and stainless steel components (see Figure 1) without too many problems because the application has been proven out in UNISIG’s technology center. In fact, he said his company’s equipment shines when it comes to projects that may call for as much as a 300-to-1, depth-to-diameter ratio.

Also, for many manufacturers that perform deep-hole machining and deep-hole drilling, these dedicated machines, matched with the right cutting tools, can address surface conditions and internally machined profiles, again, at great depths.

“Drilling is the very first step of many to achieve a variety of internal part requirements,” said Cory Funk, UNISIG engineering manager.

Besides covering the basics of gun drilling and BTA drilling, Fettig provided an overview of how the company has moved into the area of mouldmaking (see Figure 2) and how automation can be used in different ways to minimize labour costs when it comes to setting up deep-hole drilling operations.

--Dan Davis, Editor-in-Chief

Figure 2. Anthony Fettig, UNISIG’s CEO, stands in front of a mould that was made using one of the company’s USC-M series machines, which offers milling precision as well as deep-hole drilling capabilities.