Machining Dental Drills on a CNC Swiss Lathe?

BrandonAaero · Jan 10, 2016

Is there any way possible to machine a dental type drill on a standard Citizen Swiss Lathe and if so, which one is better? L20, A20, or K16? They'd be made from Titanium. Any links or videos would be helpful. Thanks!

RevetsP · Jan 10, 2016

Personally I would go for the L or the K series citizen over the A, not that there is anything wrong with the A, they feel a little more awkward.

K16 vs L20, K16 will position bit faster than the L20 but has less room as a result for different tooling combinations. Honestly talk to Citizen theey do have a facility in CA, just dunno how far you are but SEEING the machines in person gives me a better idea how it's setup and how much room it really has, then read the manual's specs and such.

BrandonAaero · Jan 10, 2016

Thank you. I'll contact citizen and see if they can help me.

TeachMePlease · Jan 11, 2016

Not sure how many tools you need.... But an L20X is a way more versatile machine than a K16. Not saying a K won't work... But the L is the fully loaded cadillac vs a standard mustang. Just depends on what you need... and what you need is to talk to an applications guy.

2outof3 · Jan 11, 2016

The 2 real issues in making drills is the time it takes to drill the irrigation hole and the deburring of the cutting flutes on the drill. Figure out if you want to attempt the irrigation holes on the machine or on a hole popper. Look at heat or chemical deburring for the flutes.

If I was building a plant for making drills, blank on a Swiss, hole pop the irrigation and then cut the flutes on a Rollomatic.

TeachMePlease · Jan 12, 2016

2outof3 said:
The 2 real issues in making drills is the time it takes to drill the irrigation hole and the deburring of the cutting flutes on the drill. Figure out if you want to attempt the irrigation holes on the machine or on a hole popper. Look at heat or chemical deburring for the flutes.

If I was building a plant for making drills, blank on a Swiss, hole pop the irrigation and then cut the flutes on a Rollomatic.

A gun drill on the Swiss will make the holes faster than a hole popper, IME. I've done 1mm x 40mm, faster than a hole popper, and less handling. Agree on the Rollo to do flutes though.

2outof3 · Jan 12, 2016

TeachMePlease said:
A gun drill on the Swiss will make the holes faster than a hole popper, IME. I've done 1mm x 40mm, faster than a hole popper, and less handling. Agree on the Rollo to do flutes though.

Drills and pumps have gotten much better than when I did the drill costing about 20 years ago.

TeachMePlease · Jan 13, 2016

2outof3 said:
Drills and pumps have gotten much better than when I did the drill costing about 20 years ago.

Don't get me wrong, this was with a very specialized attachment... I think the gun drill holder cost about $30K as an attachment for the swiss, with an external control box, and the drills are a little over a hundred bucks each. But if you're making tens of thousands per year, it just makes sense to spend the money to do it right.

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Machining Dental Drills on a CNC Swiss Lathe?

BrandonAaero

Plastic

RevetsP

Cast Iron

BrandonAaero

Plastic

TeachMePlease

Diamond

2outof3

Titanium

TeachMePlease

Diamond

2outof3

Titanium

TeachMePlease

Diamond

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