Experimental studies of step drills and establishment of empirical equations for the drilling process

Various sizes of step drills were manufactured by a CNC grinder machine and used in the drilling process with different speeds and feed rates to produce single step holes in S1214 free machining steel. The performance of step drills was compared with that of conventional twist drills in the drilling of the free machining steel for the same task. The influences of drill size, feed rate and cutting speed on the performance of step drills were studied. Experimental results show that for better cutting performance, the small diameter should not be less than 60% of the large diameter. Also, most of the changes in the characteristics of the thrust force were influenced by the smaller drill of the step drill. On the other hand, the small diameter part of the step drill only contributed about 30% of the torque. From the experimental results, empirical equations for drilling thrust force and torque have been established for step drills. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.