It was a Saturday night in August, about 11 PM. The shop was running a skeleton crew, just three of us on the floor to keep the machines running through the weekend. I was running a UNISIG BTA system on a job drilling 18mm holes through 700mm of 4140. The job was going well, chips were looking good, and I was on track to finish the batch by Sunday afternoon. ...
An organized gun drill inventory saves time during setup and prevents the wrong drill from being used on a job. I’ve seen shops waste hours looking for the right drill. Here’s how I organize gun drill inventory. Labeling System Every gun drill gets a label showing: Diameter (in mm) Length (in mm) Type (standard, carbide-tipped, solid carbide) Condition (new, used X holes, needs regrind) Tool ID number The label is attached to the drill shank or to the storage slot. I use color-coded labels for quick identification — green for ready to use, yellow for needs inspection, red for needs regrind. ...