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New product alert: economical indexable drills

exkenna

Stainless
Joined
Nov 29, 2007
Location
North Alabama
Just got a call from the nice folks at Ultra-Dex USA.
They are introducing a really nice 2XD indexable drill line that uses an industry standard WCMX insert.

In the past I have looked to US Shop tools as a source for inexpensive indexable drills but I just did a price comparison on the 1.250" size and Ultra-Dex is $129 to Shop Tools' $212. The price difference is a pack of inserts. Looks pretty good to me, especially considering Ultra-Dex's quality. Folks, we're not talking Sandvik 880 territory here. Just a great job shop indexable for making money on short run jobs. A nice range of sizes too.

Thought you might want to know.
Cheers,
Curt
 
Exkenna, there was another post about how well the Coromant 880 drills work, so I was curious and took a look at their lit.

It doesn't seem like its that different from other indexible drills, so what is it about the 880 that makes it work so well, insert design/quality or ??

Thanks,

Paul T.
 
Curt,
I was asking about this exact item last year.
Please post a linky or some info right here for all.
 
The Sandvik is an excellent product but the 880 range has dedicated inserts.You pay sandvik prices or throw it away.
I use lots of insert drills up to about 3" diameter,all diferent makes,but the consensus on the shop floor is that nothing lasts like a Sandvik.
We can buy WNT U drills which may or may not be Ceratizit manufacture in 3 x D up to about 1.3/4" for about the same price as is being quoted for Ultra-dex.
 
Here's the link to the Ultra-Dex drill:
(sorry chip_maker, not available in .468)

http://www.ultradexusa.com/indexabledrills.html

Why the 880 works so well.
Hmmm... I'm not a wordsmith so please excuse my stumbling approach to explaining what I visualize in my head.

See the step (or "ear") along the edge of the inboard insert? If you were to peck this drill .040 into the surface of your part you would see a defined ring that this ear makes. That is the secret.
The ear cuts a pre-groove which stabilizes the insert in the cut, eliminating or greatly reducing radial forces as the main part of the insert enters the cut. This keeps the drill from trying to "walk" and divides the chip load into multiple cross sections. That ear forms the 1st cross section, then the square outboard insert comes along in overlap and cuts the remainder of the material. If I remember correctly you have the option of using a TiAlN coated grade suitable for high outboard surface footages and a tough CVD coated grade inboard where SFM drops to near zero and at which point you are basically chiseling the material.

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Curtis, you're basically spot on on the 880's...I have the fortunate advantage have one of the best drill guys in my back yard having spent ~30 years in Sandvik's drilling department, and that's basically what he told me. He was in on during the design phase of the 880's and has told me some cool stories about how they got the twisted coolant holes in the prototypes...interesting stuff. Anyway, the standard trigon and square insert drills have unbalanced radial forces, especially at the start...for example a 0.656" 2D Komet Quatron (square inserts) will have a tapered hole - the start will be about 0.003-0.004" larger than down about 1/2", where the drill "settles in" an cuts on size, the 880's down't seem to do this.

Yes the 880's are expensive, but in the big picture, they are really pretty cheap. We just finished a job that we ran a 1-1/8" 880 at 1,200 sfm (4,075 rpm) and 15"/min at about 56% spindle load (25hp*0.56=~14hp). Not really that fast on penetration, but since we were going 2.0" deep into gooey, low carbon, normallized, stess relieved steel, we use the high sfm and low feed to help break the chip and help "float" the chip out of the hole. Chips are really flinging about at the rpm..don't try that on an open machine! We ran one insert edge for 188 holes, less than 400" of cutting, but at the high sfm, we give up insert life for chip control. The 880 optimized "standard" is 1,000" of cutting!

So, if you look at the US Shop Tools $212 price, a Komet or Sandvik isn't too much more money, so I would pretty much always go for the good stuff. But now that Curtis is going to be tempting us with more of his half-priced stuff that works, well that sounds like a real bargain! For production or last op type stuff, I would tend to stick with the 880's, but for short run job shop stuff, it sounds like a good choice, send me one of every size to demo! (with inserts too!) :D:D:D:D.

Steve
 
Once again Curt, I will be buying more from you. These drill look promising as a alternative to Us Shop tools OTM, and Iscar's DR drills.:)

Thanks,

Doug.
 
Have you folks seen the new Allied drills? These drills are pushing 1500SF in mild steel with a whopping 4" diameter. Allied has their line of new style drills and they carry another sister company that does the big dog stuff that is unbeatable. We have a local rep that we work with. I dont think even sandvik drill can touch these. The tips are even replaceable and movable so you can change diameters. Sorry for the hi-jack but these drills are awesome.

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IMO, Allied spade drills are the best overall solution for hole drilling on the market.

Though not quite as fast as the twin-insert drills, but the Allied's are hard to beat. These indexable spade drills are reliable, and can take a lickin', and keep on tickin'. They're not too pricey, drill deep holes very nicely, good finishes (great finishes in some applications, like a reamed hole), several grades of inserts and coatings...

Plus, they're made in the USA. What's not to like?
 








 
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