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The Benefits of Perfectly Drilled Holes

Joe West
By Joe West Territory Manager, South Central U.S., Rego-Fix Tool
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The Rego-Fix powRgrip system provides increased tool life, higher precision, overall improved hole quality, superior holding power, and vibration control. (Provided by Rego-Fix)

Many manufacturers still consider drilling a very forgiving process that requires less precision on the part of toolholding. Realistically, though, nothing could be further from the truth. Toolholding is the key to boosting drilling accuracy, which in turn, can improve hole quality to the point of eliminating secondary operations, extend tool life, reduce tooling costs, and increase production.

Nowhere else is this more evident than with vehicle OEMs producing parts from cast iron. These manufacturers have come to realize that the key to generating near perfect holes—and large numbers of them in high-volume production—depends almost entirely on toolholding.

It is with cast-iron drilling where toolholding systems, such as those that are hydraulics based or that use heat-shrink technology, tend to fall short. As a result, tool life, precision, and quality all suffer. Regardless of the material being drilled, mechanically based holders, such as those within the Rego-Fix powRgrip (PG) system, provide benefits beyond other toolholding systems. These include increased tool life, higher precision, overall improved hole quality, superior holding power, and vibration control.

Why is cast iron the true test of a toolholder’s mettle? Cast iron is porous, thus has numerous internal bubbles or cavities. When drilling, the tool will veer off course and follow these cavities because they are the path of least resistance. In these instances, drills will also have a tendency to pull out of toolholders.

It is for this reason that toolholders must have high holding power. While some toolholders provide such gripping strength, many of them are unable to also provide vibration control, as is the case with shrink fit. Hydraulic holders, on the other hand, provide the necessary vibration control, but not the strength and precision needed to keep drills from veering off center or pulling out.

Meanwhile, a PG holder has it all: greater strength than shrink fit and control vibration beyond that of hydraulic holders.

In terms of cost effectiveness, mechanically based toolholding systems also provide a better tooling ROI. Consider an automaker that produces 8,000 cast-iron engine blocks per month and uses a drill that lasts for about 80 to 100 blocks. When it applied a PG holder, tool life increased to 180 parts per drill.

While this may not seem like a significant increase, the savings were tremendous. Not only did the PG holder increase tool life and drilling speed, the resulting higher-quality holes eliminated a secondary reaming operation. This in turn reduced overall part cycle times and tooling costs.

This also holds true for the secondary operation of hole tapping. A poorly drilled hole will compromise the resulting thread integrity and shorten tap life, requiring the use of more taps and thus higher tooling costs.

When manufacturers treat drilling as a precision operation, they reap the benefits of longer tool life, reduced tooling costs, and increased production. High-precision holes, however, are completely dependent on toolholding that provides all the necessary requirements—accuracy, strength, and vibration control.

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