VIDEO: TOOLING UP – Why You Should Be Using Indexable Drills

Narrator: This video is brought to you by Kennametal, transforming how everyday life is built. If you're looking for real world insights, tips from leading industry experts, the latest trends in products and technology, you've come to the right place. From MSC Industrial Supply, this is Tooling Up.

Toni Neary: Hi. Thanks so much for joining us here on Tooling Up. I'm your host Toni Neary, and we're so excited that you're here with us on the MSC YouTube channel. If this is your first time joining us, click that subscribe button so you don't miss any upcoming episodes. And don't forget to like this episode as well. I am so excited today. We're going to talk all about poppin’ holes with Keith Hoover, the regional product manager with Kennametal. Keith, thank you so much for joining us today.

Keith Hoover: Thanks, Toni. I'm really excited to be on Tooling Up again.

Toni Neary: And this is not your first time here. We're excited to have you back. You're obviously an expert in what you call poppin’ holes. I've been dropping that term all over town, and I don't think anybody thinks I'm as cool as I do. But before we jump into some of that new technology, just tell me a little bit about how you got your start and how you got here with Kennametal.

Keith Hoover: My experience with holemaking actually started in hole finishing. I graduated college and had another manufacturing engineer job and then I moved into Kennametal here and I started with Kennametal as a senior manufacturing engineer in our reamer manufacturing plant, a met cut plant, in Rockford, Illinois.

Toni Neary: And I think it's interesting because we see a lot of different backgrounds here on Tooling Up, but you actually went to college, four-year degree, actually pursued the engineering pathway to get where you are, right?

Keith Hoover: Yes. Yes, I did. To be honest, at first I wasn't all that excited about the idea of making cutting tools. I took that kind of technology for granted and it took me probably the first full year of working there before I really understood what was going on and I got really excited about it. And honestly, I wish I could share this industry with all the new young engineers that are coming up and encourage them all to look into this kind of industry.

Toni Neary: And I think you hit on a really important point there, and that's the science that goes into this. Like it is not just, hey, we're going to drop a drill and it's going to be perfect the first time we do it. And I think just knowing a little bit more about your journey and kind of the roles that you've held there, it really aligns with Kennametal wanting cutting edge and innovation.

Tell us a little bit about what goes into new product development and research to see what your market needs.

Keith Hoover: So innovation for innovation sake isn't what Kennametal is after. What we're after is really first and foremost the customer and the customer's needs. And so what we really pride ourselves on that drives our innovation is going to the customer. Let them guide us towards those things that are going to help enable them to succeed.

Toni Neary: And I think that's huge because you're working with not just your team at Kennametal, you've got the metal cutting specialist for MSC as well. They're out there in the field hearing, you know, what are the biggest concerns that we're running into? What do we really need to make us better? So hole poppin’, one of my new favorite terms, again, I'm kind of a nerd about this stuff, but that's okay.

Tell us a little bit about the science and what it really takes to make a hole that's going to work.

Keith Hoover: This all boils down to the type of materials they're running, the type of components they're running and who they're making it for, and then the type of equipment that they're running this on. And so we go and we listen to their feedback and we hear things about indexable drilling, for example, that says, I'm looking for some of the lowest cutting forces. I need the best economic benefit, the lowest cost to entry. And I need a really versatile tool that's going to service not just this job, not just this material, but it's going to perform a lot of duties around the shop and really be my go to, to succeed and get these jobs done.

Toni Neary: And I'd have to imagine that's the catalyst behind the new Drill Fix PRO. Tell us a little bit about the new product line.

Keith Hoover: That's exactly right. Those are exactly the points that we wanted to focus on when we were developing this new Drill Fix PRO as the successor to the previous Drill Fix family of drills. And so what we're looking at is maximizing our versatility in this indexable drill, which normally by its nature has some of the lowest cutting forces, has some of the best economic benefits.

So we're really taking this good base platform that satisfied a lot of these market needs and trying to maximize those, those characteristics that our customers are looking for when they go to buy an indexable drill.

Toni Neary: So you took a legacy product and you looked at terms of technology advancement, listening to your customer feedback. And that's really how this came to place to improve that experience for the end user.

Keith Hoover: Yes. The more standard developments are things that led to this drill being our strongest and most, most robust indexable drill yet and allowing it to be one of the most versatile and successful indexable drills that Kennametal has ever made. We took those developments that we found in all of this PVD coating and the material science of it, and we brought that into the indexable drilling platform as well.

And that led to new grade developments that we released with this Drill Fix PRO.

Toni Neary: And I, and I wanted to make sure we hit on some of the high points because cost effective is key, less deviation, rigidity. And talk a little bit about wiper geometry because this is something I was not familiar with before we chatted.

Keith Hoover: Some of the advancement in the total success of this drill comes down to the insert geometry. And so for example, we get really good performance, really high quality holes out of this drill because the drill body's stiff and rigid. But we also get really high quality holes and good performance because we have wiper geometry on these inserts, on the outboard inserts.

And what that means is there's a section of insert geometry that as it's cutting, it smooths over the surface on that drill hole and it gives you really, really nice hole quality.

Toni Neary: So you've had, you know, both quality improvement and it's quiet. And one quick aside, I know that your end users are also concerned with finishing. So let's talk a little bit about the Drill Fix PRO and any capabilities it has to help improve that finishing process.

Keith Hoover: Sure. The Drill Fix PRO is extremely versatile. It's a really handy drill to have in your shop, especially those job shops that have a lot of different jobs that are going on, that have a lot of variety in their holes and their features that they're putting in these work pieces. So for example, on a lathe, it's really common to use this Drill Fix PRO to drill a pre-hole and then come back and offset in the X direction and use this drill as a boring bar to finish out that hole to size.

So it's really a multipurpose tool that we've got.

Toni Neary: Keith, it has been so great to talk with you again. I always feel like I learned so much in these episodes, but I have to be honest, I did not realize before we talked about just the amount of science that goes into making holes. So I really appreciate you being here.

Keith Hoover: Certainly, there's a ton of engineering work that goes into this kind of stuff, and that's probably what I love most about this job. So I totally understand.

Toni Neary: If you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did, make sure to click that subscribe button so that you catch all of our upcoming episodes. If you would like more information on these innovative cutting tools from Kennametal, go to www.mscdirect.com/kennametal. Thank you so much. We'll see you next time on Tooling Up.

Narrator: Want more insights and ideas to improve the efficiency and productivity of your operations? Check out the Tooling Up video playlist to hear tips that can take your company to the next level. And subscribe to our channel so you won't miss out.