| Mahesh Todkar, Manager – Standard Product Engineering | Ravi Halasur, Engineer – Standard Product Engineering
Drilling or holemaking is a metal cutting process used to produce circular holes of desired sizes, depths, quality, and tolerances via three types of drills – solid drills, modular drills and indexable drills – each with their own unique advantages.
Solid drills are made of carbide/high speed steel (HSS) and are a popular choice among manufacturers due to their unique combination of toughness and hardness. These drills are made especially for small diameters at high productivity and tight tolerances and are ideal for use in general engineering, energy, and aerospace operations. Kennametal offers a wide range of solid drills such as KenDrill™ HP drills for the highest metal removal rates and GOdrill™ for versatile applications.
Modular drills feature a replaceable head, typically made of carbide, which can be exchanged when the tool reaches end of life, and a locking mechanism for convenient head replacement. The option of replaceable heads offers cost efficiency for users and are fit for projects where cost per hole is critical, the material has feed limitations or there is insufficient machine power. Kennametal offers different modular drills such as KenTip™ FS for small holes, KSEM™ for medium-sized hole diameters and KSEM PLUS™ for larger diameter holes.
In comparison with other types of drills, indexable drills utilize indexable inserts, mostly made of carbide, for hole creation. These inserts can be indexed or replaced after use or damage, making indexable drills a more cost-effective solution for holemaking. Driving the increasing popularity of indexable drilling tools across various industries is cost per part (CPP) optimization. CPP is a key consideration for manufacturers aiming to remain competitive. Currently, DFR, DFT and DFSP are the existing indexable drills offered by Kennametal.
Kennametal offers state-of-the-art solutions for all the major drilling portfolios mentioned above with easy tool setups, reduced costs and improved operations overall, but to meet constantly changing manufacturing demands, Kennametal has recently developed a next generation indexable drilling platform called Drill Fix PRO™.
Drill Fix PRO comes with four true cutting edges in every inboard and outboard insert, resulting in an extended application range that makes it incredibly cost-effective. It also features larger coolant channels for higher-volume coolant flow, resulting in around a 12% reduction in energy use. This innovative design element delivers not only a strong, quiet drilling experience but also up to 200% longer tool life. Additionally, it comes standard with a wiper included in every outboard insert to deliver ideal surface quality.
The Drill Fix PRO platform offers a standard drilling diameter range of 12-65 mm with drilling lengths of up to 5 length to diameter ratio. It is complemented by two new stainless steel and high-temp alloy indexable drilling insert grades KCMS35 and KCMS40, along with existing proven grades like KC7140, KCU25, KCU40 and KCPK10. While KCMS40 has a tougher substrate ideal for inboard inserts and KCMS35 comes with a substrate which is more wear resistant and works best at high velocities for top MRR for outboard inserts, both utilize a smooth coating surface, optimum layer adhesion and high depth-of-cut notching resistance to increase reliability and significantly extend tool life. Testing shows these new grades can double the length of a tool’s life.
Additionally, Drill Fix PRO can be tailored to special drilling applications to offer any intermediate diameters and length to diameter ratio as per customer requirements along with any other shank styles apart from the standard offering of Weldon (WB), Flanged Shank (SSF) and KM Shank (KM). The WB and SSF shanks come with NPD thread for proper coolant connections from the back for older machine setups. This combined with overdelivering in tool life, productivity and hole quality makes Drill Fix PRO the ideal choice for manufacturers looking for an innovative, high-performance indexable drilling solution.
