It is widely used for drilling thin metal sheets, plastics, wood and other materials, and is particularly suitable for CNC equipment or manual electric drills. Its operating characteristics are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
1.High efficiency & labor saving, reducing tool change steps
Different steps of a step drill correspond to different hole diameters. During processing, there is no need to frequently change drill bits, and multiple processes such as drilling, hole expanding and chamfering can be completed in one feed. For example, when processing countersunk holes for screws on metal sheets, ordinary drill bits require first drilling small holes, then replacing with large drill bits for hole expanding, and finally using a chamfering tool for finishing. In contrast, a step drill can achieve all these in one step, greatly improving processing efficiency.
2.Precise positioning & high hole diameter consistency
The integrated structure avoids positioning deviations caused by multiple tool changes. Each step has high coaxiality, ensuring that the machined holes of different diameters can maintain good concentricity. It is suitable for assembly scenarios requiring high hole diameter accuracy (such as electrical installation and automobile sheet metal punching). Meanwhile, the centering design of the drill tip can effectively prevent slipping and deviation during drilling.
3.Wide application range, suitable for various materials and equipment
Material compatibility: Conventional high-speed steel step drills are suitable for thin sheets of low-carbon steel, aluminum plates, plastics, wood, etc.; cobalt-containing step drills can process harder materials such as stainless steel; cemented carbide step drills can meet the needs of more wear-resistant metal processing.
Equipment compatibility: It can be installed on manual electric drills and impact drills for on-site operations, and can also be used with bench drills and CNC drilling machines to achieve batch automated processing.
4.Low operation threshold & high safety
Compared with the operation of changing tools multiple times, a step drill only needs one clamping during use, which reduces the risks of clamping errors and tool falling off; some step drills are designed with chip flutes to timely discharge the chips generated during drilling, avoiding drill bit overheating or jamming due to chip blockage.
5.Clear limitations, need to match the application scenarios
It is mainly suitable for thin sheet processing (usually the thickness of the sheet does not exceed 1/3 of the maximum step diameter). For deep hole processing of thick materials, chip removal is difficult, which is easy to accelerate drill bit wear.
The step specifications of a single drill bit are fixed, so its flexibility is lower than that of a combination of multiple ordinary drill bits, and its applicability is poor for non-standard hole diameter processing.
During high-speed processing, the rotation speed and feed rate need to be controlled, otherwise the stress concentration at the steps may easily cause drill bit chipping.
