Evaluating Your Existing Machine for Gun Drilling: What to Check Before You Start
I get calls from shops that bought a gun drill and want to run it on their existing CNC lathe or manual mill. Half the time, the machine can handle it. The other half, they are fighting the machine’s limitations from day one. Here is how I evaluate whether a machine is suitable — and what to look for if it is not. Spindle Speed Range Gun drilling needs relatively low RPM compared to conventional drilling. For a 10mm gun drill running at 250 SFM, spindle speed is about 2400 RPM. Most lathes and mills can reach that easily. ...