A core drill is an investment and a necessity, whether for personal and home use or if you’re in the construction industry. However, this equipment’s performance is only as good as its drill bits. So it’s important that you know to keep your Core Drill Bits in the best condition. If you want to make your core drill last longer, note the following helpful tips for maintaining your drill bits!
The Importance of Maintaining Drill Bits
It is best to recall what drill bits are used to completely understand the importance of maintaining them. A core drill bit is a diamond component of a core drill used to make holes on hard surfaces. It cuts through concrete, metal, porcelain, wood, granite, stone, and many other hard aggregates.
You can use drill bits from home projects involving electrical fences or pipes to construction or mineral exploration projects. However, since they are always exposed to tough applications, drill bits are subject to a few issues with extended use.
Here are some situations that affect the performance of the tool.
• Wearing out of diamond segments through extended use;
• Continuously using blunt diamond on hard surfaces;
• Material hardness is beyond the equipment’s capacity;
• For dry core drill bits, excessive contact pressure from a specific equipment’s optimum limit;
• For wet core drill bits, water flow is too low and blunts the diamond; or water flow is too high and affects the drilling adversely; and
• Improper usage or handling of the equipment, i.e., core bit not properly positioned in the motor chuck
There are also possibilities of a core bit getting stuck inside the drill’s cylinder, loosening up of the diamond segments, or the segments getting bent or misaligned. These issues may eventually lead to the core drill not working properly. Rather than efficiently doing its job, it may take a defective sample, damage an entire surface, or physically harm the user.
Proper Maintenance of Core Drill Bits
Fortunately, you can avoid further problems with preventive maintenance and proper care. Here are the essential tips you need to better care for your equipment.
• Make sure to choose the proper drill bit
Core Drill Bits come in many types and styles, and they need to match the intensity of application. For instance, different specifications of diamond drill bits are needed for large concrete projects and smaller and softer materials. If your bit is appropriate for the material you’re drilling, it won’t dull as fast.
There are different sizes and shapes to match specific drills, too, so make sure you choose the tools that are compatible with each other.
• Choose the right drilling method
Decide on which drilling method to use so you can properly select a dry or a wet core drill bit. These are not always interchangeable. Dry core drilling is usually for bricks, blocks, and soft concrete, while wet core drilling is helpful for plumbing works.
• Always Sharpen Your Bit
It is most efficient to use your core drill when the bits are the sharpest. To tell when it’s time to sharpen them, observe when it does not cut as fast as it did in the previous usage. If you find your drilling time getting slower, you can sharpen the bits yourself or find a professional to refine them.
Take note that some bits are self-sharpening, such as diamond-impregnated core bits. They are designed to wear away during use, and a new layer of diamonds are exposed.
• Drill in a Single Direction
Once you have started a hole on a surface, be careful not to realign the drill in another direction. There will be instances where the pierce on the surface is slightly off, so you put pressure on one side to make it even. However, this is not recommended.
Pressing on only one side may cause the bits to break and the drill to experience mechanical issues. It is best not to interfere when the drill moves a certain way to avoid complications.
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