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Small Bore Drilling (Tone Channels)
Not getting a good clean tone channel in your acrylic kegs? Bubbles? Scratches? Crazing? We can help!
We have developed a tried and true method of drilling small deep holes in acrylic that are super clean with little visible tooling marks. It is a fairly intensive process using special drill bits and an out of the ordinary process but the payoff is worth it! Due to the expense of the drill bits used contact us if you require a bore other than those listed below.
Pricing is based on the depth of the bore (length of cut) and the bit used (some diameter bits are more expensive than others and all bits have a limited lifespan as compared to standard drill bits) and if a back bore is to be cut. Generally one can expect to be in the $3.00 - $5.00 range per part depending on material opacity.
These drills to NOT leave a standard drill point end! So if you want them finished to depth, there will be an additional charge for finishing to depth with your specified drill point angle. 90°, 118°, and 135° drill points in 15/64 and 1/4" are standard. Other diameters and point configurations will require the customer to supply the drill bit point configuration information, the bit itself, or may have some additional tooling costs. (Drill bits MUST be at least 1" longer than the depth of the hole to be drilled) we recommend 6" Air Craft style drills - where the drill flutes are around 3" long and the shank is an additional 3" in length.
Minimum run/batch size: 36 kegs/blanks or the minimum quantity produced from three 4-foot sticks of matieral (our minimum batch for all turning services)
Requirements for the drilling process:
- The keg blank or complete turned kegs are run by WFCC or kegs must have an accurate and straight keg shank (tenon) otherwise we can not guarantee the bore will be centered, straight, or accurate.
- The keg shank (tenon) must be a standard fractional diameter to allow fitting to the collets used to hold the keg for drilling (ex ½”, 9/16, 5/8”, 11/16” etc.), no more than .005” undersize or .0005” oversize, and the tenon not be tapered more than .002". Special sizes can be accomodated but may incur an additional charge
Current Available Drill Sizes:
.2187" (7/32" - at an additional cost)
.228" (#1 Wire size)
.234" (approximate fractional size 15/64")
.2500" (1/4")
If you require a size not listed above, contact us and we will see if we can aquire the appropriate drill to fit your needs.
If you are unable to produce accurate keg shanks, we can either drill your blank to your specified depth or we can make pre-drilled blanks with the keg shank already turned for you. (see Keg Blanks) Generally, add $3.00 - $4.00 per part for having raw Cast Acrylic Rod cut into blanks and the tenon turned (customer supplied material). Prices may vary depending on length of tenon.
We recommend that if you desire us to drill your tone channels, that you really consider having us do all of the machine work as it will likely allow us to help reduce costs by removing variables and allow us to take advantge of multiple processes in one single operation.