When people pursue professional mechanist careers, they often learn techniques that help them perform careful, precise work. Peck drilling can be useful for creating deep and precise holes in metal, wood, and plastic. This approach will help you improve your craft and protect your tools.

This guide for new machinists dives into the details of what peck drilling is, why it’s beneficial, and tips to get the best results. By understanding and practicing this technique, you’ll elevate your skill set and produce clean, high-quality holes efficiently and accurately for your clients.

What Is Peck Drilling?

Peck drilling, which some people know as “chip-breaking drilling” or “chip-clearing drilling,” involves advancing drill bits incrementally into a workpiece and retracting them periodically to break up and remove chips of material while cooling your tools. This method contrasts with the continuous drilling technique, where you make a hole in one motion without pulling back the drill bit.

During peck drilling, the machinist drills to a specific depth in stages. After penetrating a short distance, they will retract the drill bit slightly to clear chips and dissipate heat. You should repeat this process until you reach the desired depth of the hole.

The key element of peck drilling is the rhythm between advancing the drill bit and retracting it. Over time, this technique becomes second nature. Peck drilling is particularly useful for deep hole drilling or when working with materials that generate long, stringy chips, such as aluminum.

What Are Its Benefits?

Now that you know what peck drilling is, you may wonder what its benefits are. This technique can offer you a range of advantages if you do them correctly. Keep reading this guide to learn about each one!

Peck Drilling Extends Tool Longevity

Drill bits endure a tremendous amount of stress and wear, especially during deep drilling tasks. The heat generated over sustained use leads to faster tool degradation without precautions. Peck drilling relieves some of this stress by allowing heat to dissipate between each peck.

Pausing periodically during drilling avoids prolonged exposure of the bit to high temperatures, preventing wear and damage. This results in longer-lasting tools and fewer tool changes and replacements. By using the peck drilling technique, your drill bit’s cutting edge delivers more consistent performance over time. You’ll also save a considerable amount of money on replacement bits.

You Can Clear Chips

When machining materials, chips produced during drilling can clog the hole, cause uneven finishing, and damage a drill bit. Peck drilling counters this issue by ejecting chips during the retracting motion.

This continuous removal prevents chips from accumulating and causing a jam in the hole or damaging the tool’s cutting surfaces. These benefits make peck drilling indispensable when working with materials that commonly produce problematic chips.

The Drill Bit Won’t Overheat

Another way that peck drilling can help you while drilling is by preventing overheating. Friction between the cutting edge and the material generates heat, particularly in deep holes with insufficient coolant. Overheating damages the tool and negatively affects the hole’s structural integrity.

Each withdrawal of the bit during peck drilling reduces direct contact with the material, helping to maintain cooler operating temperatures. When combined with the appropriate use of cutting fluids, this technique minimizes overheating concerns and keeps the material in good shape.

The Drill Won’t Drift

Precision is everything in machining. When drilling continuously, your drill bit’s path could drift from the intended trajectory, leading to off-center or misaligned holes. Peck drilling minimizes this risk by resetting the drill bit’s position with each retraction.

Machinists can maintain better control over the hole’s path. Improved alignment leads to accurate and consistent drilling, whether you are working on prototype parts or precision engineering applications.

You will achieve smoother finishes, more precise dimensions, and cleaner hole walls. Holes created using peck drilling are more likely to meet project specifications, whether it’s for aerospace parts, automotive components, or structural applications. You can keep your customers happy, and they will be more willing to hire you again or recommend you to others.

What Should I Avoid While Peck Drilling?

Although peck drilling offers many benefits to machinists, doing it incorrectly can result in unwanted outcomes and potential tool damage. You must avoid these common mistakes by keeping the nuances of this technique in mind. Read on to learn several tips to make the peck drilling process more effective and less challenging.

Don’t Let the Chips Re-Enter the Hole

One common mistake to avoid during peck drilling is allowing chips to re-enter the drilled hole after you have removed them. Consistently clearing the chips between pecks supports a smooth drilling process and increases the lifespan of your tooling. With a focus on clean operations, you can complete projects efficiently.

Don’t Peck Too Often

Another common error that machinists make when peck drilling is retracting the drill bit too frequently. While it’s important to clear chips and cool the tool, over-pecking disrupts the balance of rhythm needed for smooth operation. In addition, constantly pulling the drill bit back can result in uneven holes, extended machining time, and unnecessary wear on the tool.

Instead of hurriedly pecking after every fraction of an inch, aim for a controlled and consistent rhythm that complements the work material and hole’s depth. If you’re working with soft materials or shallow holes, a few pecks will suffice. For deeper or more stubborn materials, gradual adjustments to peck frequency can yield better results without overdoing it.

Don’t Peck Drill With Carbide Bits

Carbide drill bits are incredibly hard and heat-resistant, making them a favorite tool for many machinists. However, you should not perform peck drilling with carbide bits. Carbide is brittle, and the constant pecking motion creates stress that could cause the bit to chip or fracture. Carbide drill bits perform better under continuous, uninterrupted drilling.

Perform Peck Drilling With Bits From Drill Bit Warehouse

As we’ve seen, peck drilling can assist you during deep hole drilling and address key challenges, such as overheating, chip buildup, and drill drift. By learning to manage withdrawal intervals and keeping an eye on the chips, you can take advantage of this dependable technique to create precise, high-quality holes.

Purchasing bits from Drill Bit Warehouse can also help you get satisfactory results. Review our selection of bits consisting of durable products that our associates would apply to their personal projects.