For our machines to work their best, we need to feed them accurate information. Here are a few pitfalls that can occur in the world of precision drilling, and how you can avoid them.

Manufacturing enterprises within the engineering footprint remain the largest economic contributor of the engineering-based industries, generating £156.1 billion GVA (or 9.3% of the GVA for all industries) in 2015. Indeed, in 2016 almost half of the engineering footprint turnover came from manufacturing (46.5%).

You may think that they all say that, and they probably do.

Therefore, it’s worth taking two or three minutes to understand our justification for claiming that you will not find better – or at least understand our approach and the way we do business. It’s the only way for us, and it has delighted thousands of customers throughout the years. We believe we have the winning formula of professionalism, advanced technology and industry expertise and it’s all at your disposal.

Tubular based components are used in tens of thousands of applications by manufacturers in a wide range of sectors. These components vary enormously in size, capacity and use, but the method by which each is made is broadly similar.

Drilling is, in simple terms, the process of creating a hole in materials using a variety of drilling tools to vary the size or depth of the hole. In precision engineering, however, drilling is more complex, yet it’s a common and important process that uses advanced, specialist machinery to deliver outstanding accuracy and speed. The type of equipment best suited to drilling depends on several factors, so it’s vital to select the right technology for the job. Here is an outline of the five main drilling technologies, the majority of which we can provide here at Hone-All.

Effective deep hole drilling demands precision to achieve close tolerances and an optimum surface finish, both of which are negatively affected by incorrect speeds or feeds. Drilling vibration, or chatter, can occur for a variety of reasons, including poor machine preparation, incorrectly chosen cutting tools, improper speeds, and sometimes cause excessive run-out.

There are several reasons why you may choose to outsource your drilling and boring work to a specialist company such as Hone-All. It may be that your business doesn’t possess the specialist equipment necessary to complete tasks precisely or quickly enough to meet expected lead times. Alternatively, you may be swamped with orders and don’t have the capacity to fulfil all competing demands at one time. Or, perhaps, you recognise the benefits of trusting a team of drilling and boring specialists to deliver the high standards within your timescale, to help to cement your business’s positive reputation with your customers.

At Hone-All we are committed to the belief that simpler is better when it comes to supply chains. Most people know Hone All for our practical services in advanced honing, boring, and CNC machining. However, we’re also dedicated to trouble shooting, project management, and ironing out supply chain creases.

In this article we would like to talk about quotes; specifically, why specialist CNC engineering companies charge what they do. There is a cost versus quality debate in every industry we can think of. The argument possibly goes that the lower the quote, the more corners must need to be cut at the suppliers’ side in order to achieve the price while still returning a reasonable profit. This usually leaves a fairly wide margin for flexibility, but it also means that a race to the bottom towards ever lower prices is rarely beneficial for either customers or suppliers in the long run.

So-called drill wander is a common and frustrating problem in many deep hole drilling operations.

So long as the drilling machine is set up correctly, the drill should – in theory – both enter and exit from the centre point. In practice, however, this rarely happens on deep holes; defined as any hole with a depth to diameter ratio greater than 10 to 1.