Find out about boring, a key process in the machining and manufacture of industrial parts.

What is the countersinking process and what does it consist of

The machining process known as boring makes it possible to improve the surface finish and accuracy of the diameter of a hole. Boring has a wide range of applications and can machine holes of different sizes and with varying degrees of accuracy.

How is boring done

Boring is almost the only procedure that exists for drilling large, high-precision diameter holes and is carried out using a cutting tool, similar to a drill, designed to enlarge a hole that is already machined in the workpiece.

Boring can be carried out on a lathe, a process known as lathe boring, in which the part is rotated by fixing the boring bar with the appropriate cutting edge to the tailstock of the lathe, ideal for parts with a small solid of revolution that have a hole in their axis of symmetry, and on a milling machine known as mill boring, perfect for parts that have one or more holes.

However, the main tool for boring is the boring machine and it can perform different types of boring: single-edged boring deal for finishing, roughing and swarf control multi-spindle boring, which involves two or three cutting edges, used in roughing where the main thing is the average amount of material removed , stepped boring, carried out with a boring machine that has small plates placed at different axial and diameters and, finally, reaming, which involves a fine finish and is carried out with a multi-spindle tool that allows high-precision holes to be obtained.

The boring machine, an essential tool in the process

The boring machine is a tool used for machining cubic parts with a very low tolerance and a very precise machining quality because it can work with very tight tolerances.

Boring machines are used to enlarge holes in parts with irregular geometric shapes such as, for example, cylinders of other machines and all those parts that have to remain fixed by rotating on another part or surface This tool is made up of a bed, where there is a rotary table on which the parts to be machined are placed, and a vertical column along which the motorised head moves.

Furthermore, its most characteristic part is a horizontal or vertical spindle that performs axial feed movements. The movements to install the spindle in the correct position and the feed movements are carried out by different parts of the boring machine depending on the size, the nature of the operation and the purpose of the machine.

Types of boring machines

There are different types of boring machines on the market, although all of them perform boring without any problems and without requiring any adaptations.

• Template boring machines: they are very similar to the vertical milling machine, they are designed to open holes in templates, shades, gauges and other parts that require precision.
• Vertical boring machines: these work in much the same way as the old ceramic lathes and are called vertical because they rotate on a horizontal table.
• Horizontal boring machines: unlike vertical boring machines, they work in a stationary manner Their horizontal spindle is clamped at one end and the rotating spindle is clamped at the opposite end.
• Portable boring machines: designed for boring on site, they are used for those parts that have to be machined in the same place as they cannot be moved to a different one due to their size.
• CNC boring machine: the tool of the future, it combines traditional boring machines with CNC computer numerical control. They are equipped with a computer that controls the cutting tools and regulates parameters such as speed and depth of cut.

What is boring used for?

Boring is used to enlarge or improve the quality of an existing hole to obtain greater dimensional and geometric precision or less surface roughness and can be used for both cylindrical and conical holes as well as internal threads. Therefore, we can state that this machining process is necessary if what is desired is to obtain very narrow measurements or tolerances that are difficult to achieve with other operations.