DEVELOPMENT OF CURVED HELICAL MICRO-DRILL POINT TECHNOLOGY FOR MICRO-HOLE DRILLING

At the present time micro-drills with planar point geometry are preval ent in industrial practice. Unfortunately, they possess a number of un desired characteristics and limitations that influence their performan ce in terms of hole quality and tool life. To resolve the problems of planar micro-drills, this paper focuses on issues related to micro-dri ll point geometry (including the flank and flute) and presents a frame work for a technology, built around a computer integrated system, for the design, manufacture, and evaluation of drills in general and of a new generation of micro-drills with curved helical point and flute geo metry in particular. It is expected that this technology will support the rapid development of new customized micro-drills to meet specific manufacturing requirements. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.