At the HAM, Andreas Maier Carbide Tool Factory, the technical advancement continues in the true sense of the word: The series of deep hole twist drill bits introduced several years ago is now in its third generation.
Where single lip deep hole bits or straight fluted deep hole bits were previously used as a rule for applications such as cylinder blocks, cylinder heads, pump housings, steering elements, oil pumps, housings for ABS or fluid systems, this situation has changed significantly within a very short time, according to the company. On the one hand, according to HAM, these solid carbide deep hole twist drills allow drilling feed rates to be increased by up to 200%, leading to a drastic reduction of the processing time. On the other hand a special carbide alloy, the special geometry and the so-called aluminium speed coating guarantee extremely good processing results with adequate surfaces.
Moreover, in comparison to previous deep hole drilling tools, the service life has been increased by 30%. A further advantage is the optimized chip groove geometry, which provides exceptionally good chip transport. The specially rounded cutting edges and tip geometry with a tip angle of 137° as well as double lands guarantee stabile, smooth and precision processing. Moreover the aluminium speed coating prevents formation of droplets. This makes it possible to drill holes to a depth of 40 x D infinitely without intermediate chip removal, which significantly reduces composite processing times.
Line of solid carbide deep hole bits expanded
The cutting values for processing a cylinder head with a 7.5t mm diameter drill and a hole depth of 210 mm clearly show the increase in productivity possible with the new solid carbide deep hole drill bits: Cutting speed 150 m/min (previous version 120 m/min), spindle speed 6370 RPM (5100 RPM), feed rate 0.4 mm/R (0.3 mm/R). The drilling processing time for 1000 parts is 1.36 h in comparison to 2.29 h previously, which means a time savings of 55.8 minutes. This is the reason HAM is expanding its product line to include solid carbide deep hole drill bits for up to 40 × D in aluminium. Tools are now available in diameters from 3 to 12 mm for drilling steel up to 40 × D as well as for aluminium with diameters greater than 15 mm, also up to 40 × D.