Record for drilled hole?

DEVIATEDATA · Feb 21, 2019

So when you google worlds smallest hole all i can find is the article about 22 / 28 micron with edm. Whats the smallest people have achieved with a drill bit? Cause i managed to do 30 and 50 micron

Guest · Feb 21, 2019

Somehow I think this is going to lead to spam and a cock and bull story. 30 microns is barely over .001 in inches, how is someone going to use a drill 1/3 the thickness of a piece of paper?

CarbideBob · Feb 21, 2019

Not even close to a record.
A 20 micron catalog standard carbide drill: ADR - 3mm shank drills - products
Don't drop one of these guys on the floor. .....
Then you get into specials which look more like die drills but single flute since you run out of gain size to hold the core together.

Not to say that it is easy. Once you get below 10 to 15 thou. they get very challenging to make and use.
This is the micro-machining world which can be a profitable niche.
Bob

Guest · Feb 21, 2019

CarbideBob said:
Not even close to a record.
A 20 micron catalog standard carbide drill: ADR - 3mm shank drills - products
Don't drop one of these guys on the floor. .....Then you get into specials.
Bob

How the hell do they make such a thing?

2outof3 · Feb 21, 2019

Dualkit said:
How the hell do they make such a thing?

One of these.

Rollomatic SA – Precision CNC machines for cutting tools | NanoGrind™ 4000XD

Milland · Feb 21, 2019

Laser-drilled holes to 2u:

SmallHole Drilling by Laser Hole Drilling Experts Potomac Photonics

Blazemaster · Feb 21, 2019

I know this isn't the smallest, but still very impressive to me.

There s a show in japan called Supreme Skills, one episode is EDM vs a manual Lathe in a contest to see who can drill through a 0.5mm pencil lead the entire length. The man on the manual Lathe wins, simply because there is a time limit and the EDM took too long. He had to make a custom drill.

Supreme Skills: Ultra Small Holes is the name of the episode.

litlerob1 · Feb 21, 2019

I've done some very small holes. 10 Tenthousandths of an Inch. Or 40000 Nanometers. Why do people do that?

The show from Japan is very interesting, the Sinker failed, but the Lathe guy Drilled a .25mm hole 100mm deep in GRAPHITE that had an OD of .5mm.

Small holes is just scaled down from big holes. The real question is how do the Tool guys make them so cheap? For the amount of material in your hand you don't think it's cheap ($80 for a .0039" Drill), but when you think of how much effort goes into something like that it's incredible.

R

wheels17 · Feb 21, 2019

My brother works at a printhead firm that routinely EDMs 30 micron holes for printheads. Literally millions of them.

CarbideBob · Feb 21, 2019

Milland said:
Laser-drilled holes to 2u:......

Lasers are cheating and hole quality (surface finish, true bore with no lead) is not so great but you can go small.
You can't machine blind features with a laser as you can with a micro-endmill.
This is just a different world where things are way past what you can actually see with your eyes and 50x optical is not enough mag to work.
Bob

Guest · Feb 21, 2019

Dualkit said:
How the hell do they make such a thing?

2outof3 said:
One of these.

Rollomatic SA – Precision CNC machines for cutting tools | NanoGrind™ 4000XD

Wow, I thought you could never grind something that small and it would have to be formed in some manner. I need to get out more, ha,ha. Without hardwired internet and nothing available but data restricted wireless, I cannot watch a lot of videos. I don't go to trade shows, no need to window shop for what I will never need or can afford to expand into. My machining knowledge expansion probably stopped in 2001, the date of my newest machine.

woodsrider845 · Feb 21, 2019

I'm on the small side, equipment wise. Came equipped with a tic tac and two m&m's, from the factory. I have no issue fornicating with an overripe apple, using the worm holes as a guide. I burn many calories, trying to bottom it out and bang the hell out of the sides.

That said, I like turtles.

Carry on.

mhajicek · Feb 21, 2019

The world's smallest drilled hole | ZDNet

litlerob1 · Feb 21, 2019

Errr, I guess I didn't check with Guiness at the time, but I've Drilled .0008" holes. You can get the Drills from Atom or Mikron, I'm sure Gen-swiss has some stuff too.

3mm shank drills - products

Milland · Feb 21, 2019

woodsrider845 said:
I'm on the small side, equipment wise. Came equipped with a tic tac and two m&m's, from the factory. I have no issue fornicating with an overripe apple, using the worm holes as a guide. I burn many calories, trying to bottom it out and bang the hell out of the sides.

That said, I like turtles.

Carry on.

This deserves an obligatory "drugs are bad, o-k kids?" tagline.

Milland · Feb 21, 2019

CarbideBob said:
Lasers are cheating and hole quality (surface finish, true bore with no lead) is not so great but you can go small.
You can't machine blind features with a laser as you can with a micro-endmill.
Bob

You have much to learn, my young Padawan:

3D-laser machining | Suomen EDM

Besides, what's this cheating bit? Lasers are totally legit. I mean, you have to wear safety glasses when you use them, right?

litlerob1 · Feb 21, 2019

Milland said:
I mean, you have to wear safety glasses when you use them, right?

See post #12, then say that

CarbideBob · Feb 21, 2019

Milland said:
You have much to learn, my young Padawan:

Perhaps, but this time next year I hope to have a "cold" or ablation laser running in my shop. Not a cheap buy in.
So yes a Z axis sort of engaving tool but not sub-micron level depth control. Big, big plus, ability to do things in PCD and CBN that can not be done by any other method.
I have to only guess that your test part's depth control and finish have proven better answers than what I've gotten.

Not low dollar machines, looking north of 1/2 million for those specialized in cutting tools.
Do you have a known good recommendation or experience here on the base lasers and their speeds/wavelengths/optics for such work?

I always hunger to learn more, any link or point to any info is so welcome.
As you said I have so much to learn....I'll never take this as a slap down but you could do the "grasshopper" thing for us older guys.
Thought I knew most of Yoda world but I actually had to look up what a "Padawan" was. My mind is slipping.
Is this maybe a insult perhaps offhand?...... I'm like a apprentice or entry level person to the world of laser machining?
Bob

EmGo · Feb 21, 2019

CarbideBob said:
... you could do the "grasshopper" thing for us older guys.

As long as we don't end up hanged in a closet with a hardon a yard long

Milland · Feb 21, 2019

I thought it would be more insulting to call you an "old" Padawan. And I'm pretty sure the laser system I linked to is an ablative process. I don't know whether it does sub-micron depth control, but I bet it could if the controls are done right and some testing is done to refine the process for whatever material you're dealing with.

Laser profiling and chip control mods have been offered by a few vendors for around a decade now, I think. While I've never had the pleasure of using such machines myself, I found the tech quite interesting and read what I could about it. I would always defer to the manufacturers for real information though.

Will you be using your system just for for insets, or round tools too?

Record for drilled hole?

Plastic

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Stainless

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