Small Dia, Deep hole in Aluminium 1

[southcoaststeve]

I am looking to drill Ø1mm (0.0393")holes through 90mm (3.5") thick Aluminium (ACP 5080), there will be approximately 3000 holes in each tool, and there are 4 tools.

Can anyone advise if this is possible with a drill rather than using EDM (which in my experience tends to be slow)

the holes need to be clean and round on the top surface, however, wandering or out of shape on the bottom is OK.

I was thinking waterjet, but 1mm may be a bit small?

any advice welcomed

 

[unclesyd]

Could you possibly couterbore the backside and then drill the small hole?

 

[southcoaststeve]

That's exactly what i suggested to the designer, he said no, but couldn't really back up why not! that could be a goer if i can get the designer to see sense.

Thanks

Steve

 

[unclesyd]

Take a look at this site for several methods of small hole production. I'm not sure about Al being a viable candidate for either the stem or capillary process. They also off high speed EDM.

http://www.winbrogroup.com/index.htm

Here are two others that I'm familiar with that offer different approaches to your problem.

http://www.starkindustrial.com/drilling.asp

http://www.mollart.com/pdfs/microdrill.pdf

 

[ncassist]

I have been drilling .059" dia holes in aluminum at 3-3/4" deep (blind holes). I have had near perfect success although a bit "slow". I'm using gun drills from Eldorado Tools. They run at 10,000 rpm at .0007" per rev. They do require high pressure thru spindle coolant (using 1,000 psi). We run thousands of holes per month and get at least 1,000 holes per drill.