Vermont Indexable Tooling - Editorial

Company Information Custom Tooling

Vermont Indexable Tooling's Indexable Carbide Insert "Centering Drill"

Spott!™ is a centering drill with four (4) indexable cutting edges per insert. It will eliminate the need to reposition the drill point when a sharp cutting tip is required. The time that is normally required by the operator to reposition the tool will be saved each time this process is required.

Spott!™ is a centering drill that offers twice as many cutting edges as the competition. Standard high speed steel and solid carbide centering drills offer one cutting tip per drill. The other indexable centering drill offers two cutting tips per insert. Vermont Indexable Tooling’s Spott!™ drill offers four cutting edges by means of a four sided insert. The insert is designed in such a manner that allows it to be center cutting. "Center cutting" means that the drill does not extrude material at the center point like the present centering drills that are available.

When using a standard centering drill it is necessary to reposition the point of the drill when a dull drill is being replaced by a sharp one. This is usually refer to as qualifying "Z" position. Depending upon what type of machine the drill is being use on will determine how long it will take to complete this operation. A standard NC machining or turning center will take much longer than one that uses touch probes or preset stations. In the cases of VIT’s customers, the time savings were averaging around 30 and 45 minutes per tool exchange.

The Spott!™ centering tool can also be used to provide an edge break to remove sharp corners. On diameters greater than the tools' capacity, the edge break can be achieved by circular interpolating the tool as required.

For other shapes the operator can use the same type of tool path that would be used for milling. In addition to producing a drill spot on a turning center the tool can be used to face the end of the bar or part as well as providing an edge break.

Vermont Indexable Tooling’s centering drill (Spott!™) has the capability to nest the point of any standard angle drill (up to 135 degree) from (3/16") to (3") diameter. This is achieved by the fact that the included angle is fixed at 144 degrees. This allows for the actual point or tip of the drill to nest at the bottom most point of the cavity left by the centering drill. The maximum spot diameter of about .700 and is large enough for the point of a standard (3") diameter twist drill to nest in. VIT does not recommend drill diameters much smaller than (3/16") diameter unless a screw machine length drill is being considered.

Return to main page