Frequently asked questions

Here you will find frequently asked questions and answers:

1. How does the friction drilling work?
2. What do I need to start?
3. Which material is used for the tool?
4. How do I find the appropriate friction drilling tool for my application?
5. When do I use a short and when a long friction drilling tool?
6. What materials can be drilled?
7. What is the minimum and maximum material thickness?
8. What is the lifetime of the Glowdrill tool?
9. What machine equipment and which drive or motor power is required for the friction drilling?
10. Can a hand drill be used?
11. Can a three-jaw chuck be used?
12. How does the thread forming work and what are the benefits?
13. How resilient are the Glowdrill threaded connenctions?
14. Why should abherents and lubricants be used/ how often?
15. What typical application possibilities exist for the friction drilling?
16. Arguments for use of Glowdrill.

If you have any other questions, don´t hesitate to contact us. Email: info@glowdrill.com Phone: +49 (0) 6205 2860930

1. How does the friction drilling work?

Friction drilling is a chipless method for generating bushings. The material is not removed, but displaced with high rotational speed and high pressure, raised into the bead shape and formed into a hole. The stable bushings are produced by material displacement and not by simple removing. This homogeneous deformation ensures not only additional material consolidation, but also a significantly spares time and material. The shape and the diameter of the resulting hole can be determined by the dimension of the cylindrical part of the friction drilling tool.

2. What do I need to start?

For trouble-free friction drilling, it is necessary that the Glowdrill tool runs centrally. To ensure that, the friction drilling tool should be fixed using a double taper collet in a Glowdrill collet chuck with cooling rips. This will guarantee a steady tool clamping. The cooling rips of the collet chuck protect the machine spindle from overheating. In addition to that you will need to use a eparating agent. We recommend for beginners the Glowdrill Starter KIT, which contains a basic equipment for the friction drilling.

3. Which material is used for the tool?

The Glowdrill friction drilling tool is made of special sintered high-strength hard metal in solid material. The material is then grinded to a Glowdrill friction drilling tool. Depending on the application area the tools are made with 3, 4 or 6 facets.

4. How do I find the appropriate friction drilling tool for my application?

The selection of the appropriate tool depents on the fact, which thread must be created later, metric ISO-thread, metric ISO fine-thread or Withworth pipe thread. After selecting the desired thread, the appropriate friction drilling tool can the be easily determined using the menus on each product page. It consists of four selection criteria, which refer to the tool design (with collar “form” or without collar “Cut”), the nominal thread diameter (eg M8), the thread procedure (subsequent thread forming or thread cutting) and tool length (long or short).

5. When do I use a short and when a long friction drilling tool?

The length of the flow drill depends on the thickness of the material that must be processed and the desired tap hole. It should be noticed that the working length of the tool for pipe profiles must not be longer is not longer the inner width. For further information please use our Glowdrill catalogue in the download area.

6. Which materials can be drilled?

All common materials are generally suitable for the friction drilling, such as: weldable alloyed and unalloyed steels, stainless steel, stainless materials, aluminum and its alloys, copper, brass and special alloys. Also well suited are round and square tubes, and sheets.

7. What is the minimum and maximum material thickness?

The friction drilling can be done from a minimum material thickness of 0.5 mm. This is only possible with optimum relining, since there is a risk of deflection of the material that must be machined. For this purpose, a template and / or a pilot hole may be used to minimize the contact pressure. The maximum material thickness is about 10 mm and more. Here you will require high engine performances. The most common applications are made with 1-3 mm wall thickness. Friction drilling can not be performed in solid material. In this case it is only possible to produce passage holes.

8. How long is the lifetime of the Glowdrill tool?

The lifetime of a flow drill depends on the application. The size, the material and the machine are factors that influence the liefetime. For more information, contact us and tell us your parameters. Together we optimize your lifetime. You can achieve a lifetime of up to 10,000 holes for steel and up to 5,000 holes for stainless steel.

9. What machine equipment and which drive or motor power is required for the friction drilling?

The friction drilling process can be basically done with any machine. An essential condition is that the rotary unit produces the required speed and the engine produces the required kW performance. According to that it can be used with box column drills, NC or CNC machines. Example: A bushing for an M8 thread must be made in a 2mm thik sheed. For this you will need a machine that provides a minimum speed of about 2100 rev / min and a power of 1.5 kW.

10. Can a hand drill be used?

As a rule, no, since the required speed and engine power are not provided by most of portable drills. By manual guiding there is a risk that the friction drilling tool would tild and break. In addition, the required clamping force can not be raised, what will make the tool rotate in the chuck and destroys the clamping surfaces.

11. Can a three-jaw chuck be used?

No. Otherwise there is a risk that the friction drilling tool would break and the spindle in the drilling unit would be overheated.

12. How does the thread forming work and what are the benefits?

Thread forming is a non-cutting process. The advantages of friction drilling are consistently continued in thread forming. The chipless manufacture of bushings causes a strain hardening of the material that must be machined. In addition to that, the cold rolled-thread strengthens the fiber direction.You can use any conventional thread-cutting machine for thread forming. However, it should be noticed that you are working with a higher spin speed (3 to 10 times of the process speed). By thread forming it is possible to work with a hand drill. In this case you should need a clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation and plenty of power. The benefits of thread forming are among others the increased processing speed and longer service life, high-strength bond and precise thread guidance, increased productivity through higher processing speed.

13. How resilient are the Glowdrill threaded connenctions?

Bolted connections that are made by thread forming basically keep high static and dynamic loads. The chipless manufacture of bushings causes a strain hardening of the material that must be machined. In addition to that, the cold rolled-thread strengthens the fiber direktion. This increases the thread service lifetime and achieves a precise thread guidance.

14. Why should separating agents and lubricants be used and how often?

The use of the appropriate lubricant and separating agent prevents adhesion of the material to the friction drilling tool. As the lubricants are highly heat resistant and matched to the machine’s materials, the tool life is significantly increased. In addition, the lubricant provides good surface of the passage and the collar. Lubricants and separating agents should be applied regularly to the tool. When you work with steel and by manual lubrication, you should apply the lubricant at least after every 3rd to 4th bore. For all other materials the lubricant should be applied thin over the entire length of the drilling tool before any drilling. By fully automated processing it is recommended to apply the lubricant before each hole. We recommend our Glowdrill atomizing sprayer. This sprayer is available on request.

15. What typical application possibilities exist for the friction drilling?

The friction drilling provides a time- and cost-saving alternative to e.g. welding, stamping and rivet nut. There are many possible applications areas in the metalworking industry. Typical areas are:

• Automotive: Thread for lambda probe in the exhaust system, bearing point for universal joints
• Steel Furniture: plastic rollers fastening
• Sanitary: connections at heating circuit manifold beams
• Spraying systems: thread to connect the valve body
• Facade construction: attachment of glass holders, hand rails and handles

16. Reasons to use Glowdrill.

There are many reasons to use of the friction drilling process:

• It creates sturdy bushings for recording of mounting soldered connection and screw connections
• Chipless working method: fasteners are not necessary
• Angular drilling at an angle possible
• High time labor and material savings spares time, affords and material
• No rivet or welding on nuts required
• More safety by homogeneous deformation
• Long service lifetime
• Excellent surface qualities
• No waste and disposal costs because of non-cutting method
• High process reliability due to durable carbide tools