Tool Load Monitoring to Prevent Gun Drill Breakage
Tool load monitoring tracks the spindle load during drilling and alerts the operator when the load exceeds a threshold. It catches problems before the drill breaks. In my experience, load monitoring saves more tools than any other preventive measure I have implemented in my shop. I set up the monitoring on the CNC control. The control reads the spindle drive current and compares it to the baseline measured during the first cycle with a fresh tool. I set the alarm threshold at 120% of baseline and the stop threshold at 150%. These numbers are starting points — I adjust them for each material and application. ...