Carbide Twist Drill Troubleshooting: A Precision Manufacturing Guide by Apar India Machines

In today’s age of high precision manufacturing, every component matters—especially your carbide twist drills. These precision tools are vital for drilling clean, accurate holes in tough materials like stainless steel, hardened alloys, and composites. But even the best tools degrade over time, leading to poor performance, tool breakage, and costly downtime.

At Apar India Machines, a trusted name in the tool and cutter grinder manufacturing industry, we’ve worked with countless clients who come to us with a common issue: “Our carbide drills wear out too fast!” This blog is a detailed troubleshooting guide, based on real workshop experience, to help manufacturers maintain top performance in precision machining.

1. Uneven Wear on Drill Tips: Caused by Incorrect Grinding

Many shops using used tools attempt to regrind twist drills without the right machines or fixtures. This leads to uneven lip geometry, resulting in chatter, poor chip evacuation, and rapid wear.

🔧 Solution: Use a high precision tool and cutter grinding machine equipped with tool and cutter grinding fixtures. At Apar, our machines ensure symmetrical regrinding of cutting lips, proper clearance angles, and sharp edges—restoring drills to near-new performance.

2. Chipping & Fracture of Drill Margins

When carbide twist drills chip or fracture along the margins, it’s often due to excessive feed rates, wrong point angles, or vibrations from unstable setups.

🔧 Solution: Regrind with precise control using drill and cutter grinders fitted with our exclusive tool and cutter grinding attachments. Modify the point angle (e.g., from 118° to 135° for harder materials) and apply margin reliefs. Combine this with proper fixturing on milling machines or machine tools to eliminate vibration.

3. Burn Marks and Bluish Discoloration on Flutes

Overheating is a clear sign that coolant is either absent or ineffective, or that the drill is dull and generating excess friction.

🔧 Solution: At Apar India Machines, we use manufacturing machines that integrate coolant-fed grinding spindles, ensuring the carbide retains its hardness post-grinding. Our precision machining experts recommend using coolant during operation and sharpening drills before the cutting edge is too far gone.

4. Drill Walking and Off-Center Holes

If your drill “walks” or starts cutting off-center, it likely has an incorrect point angle or is poorly sharpened.

🔧 Solution: Use our high precision grinding systems to achieve a perfect split point geometry. This ensures self-centering and reduces the need for pilot holes, which is critical in high-speed manufacturing machine environments.

5. Poor Tool Life After Regrinding

Are your tools failing soon after regrinding? The issue often lies in micro-cracks created during aggressive or imprecise grinding.

🔧 Solution: Our tool and cutter grinder machines use advanced diamond wheels and controlled feed rates, preserving the carbide structure. We also inspect tools post-grind using optical comparators and digital micrometers to maintain high precision standards.

Real-World Case Study

A leading aerospace supplier approached Apar with complaints of frequent tool changes and inconsistent hole quality. After inspecting their used tools, we noticed improper relief angles and heat damage. We reground the drills using our tool and cutter grinding machine, corrected geometries with the right grinding attachments, and trained their staff on optimal speeds and feeds.

Result:

• 60% increase in tool life
  
  
• 30% faster cycle times
  
  
• 100% improvement in hole precision
  
  
• Reduced wastage and downtime
  
  

Why Choose Apar India Machines for Drill Troubleshooting?

• ✅ Experts in tool and cutter grinding since decades
  
  
• ✅ Custom-built drill and cutter grinder machines for industrial use
  
  
• ✅ Specialized tool and cutter grinding fixtures & attachments
  
  
• ✅ Trusted by clients in precision machining, automotive, aerospace, and defense sectors
  
  
• ✅ Complete solutions from milling machines to machine tools—all under one roof
  
  

Final Thoughts: Maintain Your Tools, Maximize Your Results

Whether you’re a small-scale job shop or a large-scale high precision manufacturing unit, maintaining your carbide twist drills through expert grinding and diagnostics is key to efficiency. By partnering with Apar India Machines, you're investing in long-term performance, fewer rejections, and enhanced precision machining output.

Don't let a blunt drill slow down your production. Let the experts at Apar help you sharpen your edge—literally and operationally.