Any idea how many bits this job will take?

[knight_toolworks]

I need to bid on a job cutting some high quality polycarbonate .125 thick. these are small parts and there are 550 of them on one 4x8 sheet. each part has 50 holes only .052 in size. I found endmills in that size so I can drill them. but I wonder how many bits I will need to drill 27500 holes? and I wonder can I drill them in one pass or do peck drilling?

[donald_smull]

I did a job for one of my old sustomers that had 17500 holes per sheet of 4x8x.125" of PVC Board. We had to do 150 sheets in 7 Days. We went through 15 bits. Needless to say it took us all 7 days. The bot held up to the 168 hours straight with no problems. And we didnt breack one bit. The bits were Onsrud whitch one i dont remember. I hope this helps.

[knight_toolworks]

these are such small bits I was not sure if they would hold up super long. they only want 1/2 a sheet and thats good as it was 11 hours runtime for a full sheet.

[erik_f]

I would say with that small of a bit you are going to want to peck to remove material out of the hole. Good luck...sound like it could be hell depending how well the little bits hold up.

Erik

[Brady Watson]

I often drill a lot of holes for vac masks in 1/8 acrylic. Small bits are fine, as it is the side-load that usually causes a bit to break, not drilling. My biggest concern would be keeping the bit clean. I drilled 1 hole per second with my Alpha - which equated to about 1200 holes in 20 minutes. Keep your Safe Z height low to save time. It is probably not necessary to peck drill, as this can create more heat & melt/weld chips than just doing a quick plunge & retract. Experiment & use air cooling if you are getting melting.

-B

[erik_f]

Thanks Brady...good to know!
Erik

[knight_toolworks]

I am lucky in this plastic cuts better then any I have tried. I will buy some 1/4" Masonite to vacuum down and then contact adhesive to glue the plastic to it. since these parts are only 2"x2.5" with 53 holes I don't think a vacuum would work (G)