Tone Channel and Exhaust Back Boring
Drilling tone channels taking too long? 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 cost and life span of the drill bits, please contact us if you require a bore other than 15/64" and 1/4".
Pricing is based on the depth of the bore (length of cut) and the bit required (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 added at the same time. Generally one can expect to be in the $2.50 - $4.00 range per part depending on material opacity (drilling only) or $4.00-$5.50 with a typical back bore added.
These drills to NOT leave a standard drill point end! Typically the tone channel is left .100" short of target depth to allow the customer to finish to depth with their specific drill. If the blanks are to be 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 material (3 - 4-foot sticks is our minimum batch size for all turning services)
Requirements for the drilling process: We will only do tone channel drilling and back boring on kegs or keg blanks that we machine. The process must happen before the part is cut to length.
Current Available Drill Sizes:
.229" (#1 Wire size)
.236" (approximate fractional size 15/64")
.251" (1/4")
If you require a size not listed above, contact us and we will see if we can acquire the appropriate drill to fit your needs.
Check out our Keg Blanks article for more information on the tenon side of things.
Back-boring:
Adding the back bore is done immediately after tone channel drilling. All of the above applies to quantities, and is addition to the cost of back-boring.
The back bore is a bit harder to make a pricing schedule due to the infinite variables. One could expect anything from $1.00 to $4.00 more for the back bore - depending on complexity, depth, and required finish. A setup fee will be charged for mapping and programming the back bore, and will be determined based on the dimensions and specifics of the back bore.