All About Square Hole Drills

If in most cases modern craftsmen do not have problems with drilling round holes, then not everyone can grind square holes. However, this is not as difficult as it seems at first glance, both in wood and metal. To solve this problem, it is necessary to use special tools and devices. Interestingly, each of them operates on the principle of the simplest shapes of geometry.

By its design, the device for drilling square holes is rather with a cutter, not a drill. However, domestic craftsmen are more accustomed to calling it a drill, and the manufacturers also call the product that way.

According to the kinematics, in accordance with which the movement of this device occurs, it is obvious that the cut of the processed material occurs exclusively through the lateral surface, or rather, 4 such surfaces. This method is typical not for a drill, but for a cutter. But the rotational motion is not enough to drill a high-quality and even square hole. The milling cutter should not only rotate, but also make swinging movements - also around the axis.

At what speed the drill-cutter will rotate, you can find out only on the basis of the characteristics of an electric drill or other tool that you plan to work with. However, it must be borne in mind that drilling a square hole will not be very fast, and the work performance will be low.

One Reuleaux triangle is not enough to obtain a square hole - you need to have grooves on the drill, along which chips, which are waste from drilling, will be removed. It is for this reason that 3 semi-elliptical circles are cut on the working surface of the drill.

For drilling holes in the shape of a square, the most commonly used drills of Watts. A feature of their design is that it is not based on a square, but on a triangle called the Reuleaux triangle. The principle of operation of the drill is as follows: a triangle moves along ellipsoidal arcs, while its vertices will outline a square of an ideal shape. The only drawback can be considered a slight rounding of the tops of the quadrangle. The square will turn out if there are 4 ellipsoidal arcs, and the movement of the Reuleaux triangle is uniform.

It should be noted that Reuleaux triangle is a construction that is unique in its properties. Only thanks to him, it became possible to create drills for drilling holes in the shape of a square. When using this product, it is important to remember that the axis along which it rotates must necessarily describe ellipsoidal arcs, and not stand at one point. The device of the equipment holder must be such that it does not interfere with the movement of the triangle. If the triangle moves clearly according to the rules, then the result of drilling will be an even square, and the processing will not affect only 2% of its total area (due to rounding the corners).

When using Watts drills, there is no need for special machine tools with attachments. An ordinary machine is enough if you plan to work with metal.As for the wood taken as a processed material, a conventional drill is enough to drill holes in it, however, slightly improved with the help of additional devices.

To manufacture such a device, you need to follow a series of steps.

• First of all, you need to acquire plywood sheet or wooden boardbut not very thick. Of course, you will also need a Reuleaux triangle directly with geometric parameters corresponding to the diameter of the Watts drill used.
• To produce rigid fixation of the drill on the resulting triangle.
• To move the triangle with the fixed drill in accordance with the desired trajectory, you will need wooden guide frame. A square hole is cut inside it, the parameters of which are the same as those of the hole that is planned to be drilled. The thickness of the frame is very important - it determines how deep the hole can be drilled.
• The frame must be clearly fixed in the chuck drill in such a way that there is a complete coincidence of the center of the triangle and the axis along which the chuck of the electric drill rotates.
• The drill rotation must be correct. To do this, it must move freely along and across. To ensure this, a transmission mechanism is needed, which will connect the chuck of the electric drill with the shank of the nozzle. The principle of operation of the transmission mechanism is the same as that of the cardan shaft in any truck.
• Securing the wood must also be careful.... Position it in such a way that the axis of rotation of the nozzle clearly coincides with the center of the planned square hole.

The design of the adapter (transmission mechanism) is simple. It has a body, floating shank, special swinging ring, mounting screws and bearing balls. A special feature is a replaceable sleeve - it is needed in order to be able to fix the chucks of various machine tools for metal processing... You can change the attachment pretty quickly.

Once the assembly of the device is complete, and each element is fixed, the electric drill is ready to start drilling. Yes, the corners of the hole will not be 90 degrees, but will be rounded, but this is a solvable problem. Roundness is finalized with the most common file. It must be remembered that such a device is applicable for working on wood, and on its not too thick sheets. This is due to the fact that the structure itself is not very rigid.

The Watts drill has a drawback - it will not work to process materials with a large thickness with it.

Square hole punches are sold in sets of various sizes and thicknesses. The kit contains (in addition to the punch itself) a matrix, a ring-shaped holder, a limiting element, and a sleeve with which the punch is guided.

To increase the impact on the die, it is effective to use a hydraulic jack. The holes are clean, even, and free from chipping. The instruments of the Canadian Veritas brands.

If you are the owner of an inverter for welding, you can simply burn out a hole of any shape, including a square one, of course, when it comes to metal as a processed material. To get a square hole, you must first have a blank. It is a graphite square of the same size as you plan to drill. It is optimal to use EEG or PGM graphite.

The work begins by forming a round hole large enough to fit the graphite blank. After the workpiece is inserted and secured, it is scalded around the perimeter. Next, you just need to remove the graphite square, and then clean and grind the resulting hole.

See below for more details.