Drill bits

[lt72884]

I was thinking about it today, but how would you make drill bits in sketchup?

I was thinking a helix like.making threads, but i feel their is a better way?

Thanks

[DaveR]

Most drill bits have two flutes so two helices. I’d model the channels and subtract them from a cylinder to make the drill

[lt72884]

Do you happen to know the rotation angle the two helix’s are from eachother? If that makes sense

[endlessfix]

@lt72884

rotation angle the two helix’s are from eachother

If you mean the rotation around center of a plan view (X,Y axis) slice I believe that would be 180˚. The two cut-outs or channels are directly opposite each-other as they helix around the center, for the common twist drill bit.

[lt72884]

How would one model the channels that are cut out from the cylinder?

[DaveR]

This is before my coffee so pardon me if I missed something.

I would draw the flutes using a similar method to the way I’d do for screw threads.Start with a helical path and the shape for the flute. The flute ends at the top by running out straight so the top of the helix does the same thing.

Eneroth Upright Extruder although Follow Me would probably work fine for this one.

Erased the path and rotate/copy to make the other flute “cutter”. Make sure you end up with a solid.

Add a cylinder for the drill bit. It’ll be extra long at this point because the end will need to be sharpened. Make it a solid

Eneroth Trim or BoolTools2 Trim cuts the flutes in the drill bit.

All that remains is to model the cutter for the point as a solid and use it to trim the end of the drill…

…and complete whatever other detail is required.

I used a simple cone to trim the end of the drill bit which is surely good enough to get the point across although not exactly correct for real world drill bits.

[lt72884]

Ohhh, they are cylinder shape for the extrusion. I was trying other shapes and kept getting wierd results haha.

I used the upright extrude by Eneroth as well, but had the wrong shape haha.

Thanks.

So what would your explanation and drawing would have been after your coffee? Because what you provided was awesome.

[DaveR]

Thanks. I suppose I might have added more screen shots and description. Maybe not needed, though.

[lt72884]

Yeah, i think what you provided was excellent. I was looking at some tutorials for blender just to see if it was a platform i would like… and for engineering, its not. Way to many clicks and clacks and buttons haha.

Anyway, thanks for the help. Been wanting to model some drill bits for a while now