What Will It Cut?

Choosing the proper cutting tool for the job is vital for safety, effectiveness and efficiency in your shop. The type of material you’re cutting is the most important variable, but the thickness also can be relevant.

Just looking at drills, there are many options. Today, we’re examining the key features of a handful of the major categories.

Cryo-Gen “N” Drills

• Nitride treatment case hardens the cutting surfaces for superior edge retention, faster long-term hole creation and longer service life.
• Ideal for drilling mild steel, stainless steel and other tough materials.

Super Primalloy® Drills

• Feature a flatter point that takes smaller chips while providing additional torque directed to a smaller area. This allows drilling into materials with hardness of up to 50 on the Rockwell “C” scale while producing less heat.
• Three flats on drill shanks (on maintenance length drills) allow easy positive chuck grip and prevent slippage.
• Good for any general-purpose hole drilling or applications with unknown materials.

SST Drills

• Drills up to twice as fast as other high-performance drills in stainless steel and other non-ferrous metals.
• Constructed of super tough “M” series alloy steel for exceptional wear resistance and long life.
• 15% longer than maintenance length drills to provide full drilling depth and reach.
• Specifically designed for high performance drilling in non-ferrous metals.
• Superior speed and exceptional life when drilling stainless steels, brass and aluminum.

Parabolic Drills

• Feature a parabolic flute design with a faster spiral that keeps chips flowing quickly up the flutes.
• M-1 Series high-speed steel alloy provides maximum strength and resiliency for tough drilling of deep holes.
• Ideal for thick steels with a low to medium tensile strength.

Cobalt Drills

• Premium M-42 Cobalt alloy steel contains 8% cobalt for enhanced heat resistance.
• 135° split point design ensures accurate starting without the use of a center punch and prevents drill walking while holding a tighter hole tolerance.
• Highly effective on very hard steels such as titanium alloys and other high-strength metals.

Solid Carbide Drills

• Designed for difficult materials - Drills nickel and chrome alloys, weldments, titanium, stainless steel alloys, high temperature alloys and other tough alloys.
• Performs on high tensile materials - Drills materials up to 50-65 Rockwell “C.”
• Micro-grain carbide provides superior durability and life.

Masonry Drills

• When used in a hammer drill, the vibration and pounding action provide the fastest, easiest way to drill holes in tile, brick, concrete, etc.
• Features carbide tips to ensure longer service life while maintaining the integrity of the cutting edge.
• Wide spiral flute keeps the cutting zone free from dust and particles.

The experts at Kimball Midwest have put together this table to help you choose the right drill for your use cases:

If you would like more assistance picking out the right cutting tools for your operation, your Kimball Midwest sales representative is equipped to do just that. If you don’t have one, we’d love to help you