A deep hole is identified by the depth to diameter ratio which is typically more than 10:1. Gundrilling is a precision procedure used to drill deep holes in a wide variety of materials, from super alloys to aluminum. For a drilled hole to be considered deep it has to be four to five times the size of the drill bit itself and the hole dug can often be 300 times the average drill size. It's a very deep hole and often it can be quite wide as well. The finished process of deep hole drilling includes an effective finish, firm diameter control is part of the completed process. Deep hole drilling is advantageous across a number of applications including aerospace equipment, armaments, gas and oil exploration equipment, armaments and engines. In all of these industries, deep hole qualities are essential for the peak performance end products landing gear that easily retracts. Industries that require deep hole drilling need for it to be accurate, reliable and time efficient. Once you know you have an application for deep hole drilling, taking the job on can be challenging if you haven't done this kind of drilling before. There are a number of different ways to do a deep hole drilling job, sometimes it will be done with a gun drill, other times you'll use an injector or a BTA drill. Which drilling option you use depends on the material you're working with and the applications you're planning on using it with. Many factors go into choosing the right tool and machine type for your deep hole drilling job. If you're drilling diameters below .500” then you'll want to do gundrilling. While there are some BTA tools that can do the same job they are few and far between; it is very rare that you find BTA tools that are able to do as good of a job. If your diameter is larger than 2” then you'll probably want to do a BTA drill although some ejectors can drill that size as well. Ejector drilling is limited to only being able to work about .75” but it's also a great option for working at a lower pressure; better than the BTA drill bits. Ejector drilling is also one of the most affordable types of deep hole drilling systems out there; very approachable for a beginner but that's only if they can handle the project you are trying to complete. After drilling, additional machining techniques can further enhance deep hole straightness, concentricity, surface finish and more. These techniques machine the inside surface area of the hole, similar to alternative exterior machining processes and the majority of them can be executed using a BTA deep hole drilling machine. The steps are carried out on a work piece that has an existing bore because of centrifugal casting or prior drilling. Quite a few of these deep hole machining procedures have been enhanced for specific applications including bottle boring for landing gear actuators and skiving machines for the hydraulic cylinder industry.
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