Landing Gears: Opening Drill®

Code:

6506

The Challenge

The customer manufactures landing gears made from 4340 alloy steel (269 Bhn) using a Mazak horizontal lathe with water soluble oil coolant. They were opening a 2.125” (53.975 mm) hole to 3.75” (95.25 mm).

To improve production, the customer needed to decrease the cycle time.

The Opening Drill® provided significant time savings. The cost per hole decreased beyond the customer’s expectations.

Product:	Opening Drill
Objective:	Decrease cycle time
Industry:	Aerospace
Part:	Landing Gears
Material:	4340 alloy steel, 269 Bhn
Hole Ø:	3.75" (95.25mm)
Hole Depth:	7.00" (177.8mm)

The Solution

The Opening Drill

Drill holder: OP3-1L-SS1.5

Measure	Competitor Boring Bar	Opening Drill
RPM	400	509
Feed Rate	0.012 IPR (0.305 mm/rev)	0.004 IPR (0.102 mm/rev)
Penetration Rate	4.8 IPM (121.92 mm/min)	2.04 IPM (51.816 mm/min)
Cycle Time	19 min	3 min 30 sec
Tool Life	30 parts	30 parts
*The Opening Drill offered 73.84%* cost per hole savings over the competitor tooling.**

The Advantages

The Opening Drill provided:

82% cycle time decrease
Decreased cost per hole
Eliminated need for multiple passes