Uses and Applications of Drill Machines
Drilling machines play an integral role in modern metal and wood fabrication shops. Let’s look at some functional and practical applications in modern industries.
A drilling machine is also called drill press. These machines create holes on several materials not limited to wood, metal, plastic or rubber.
You can use them to create these holes in or through different products and materials, such as plastic, metal, and wood.
Applications of Drilling Machines
Nearly every piece of equipment has a hole on or through its surface. That is exactly, what a drilling machine does.
Of course, depending on specific application requirements, you may add additional features to the drilled holes. These are extra features you can achieve using a drilling machine.
You will use a drilling machine in the pharmaceutical, medical, automotive, aerospace, electronics, mining, or agricultural industries.
Let’s explore some possible uses and applications of drilling machines in different industries:
Industry | Practical Uses and Applications of Drilling Machine |
Mining industry | · Drilling rocks for blasting · Mineral exploration · Collecting sample tests from holes · Actual mining of resources such as oil |
Automotive industry | · Joining parts using bolts and nuts requires making holes in surfaces · Riveting requires making holes before the assembly process · Vents and sections for fluid flow can be drilled |
Electrical industry | · Holes on the enclosure as part of the ventilation system and water-draining mechanism · Assembling electrical during through-hole technology for PCB assembling electrical components · Drilling PCBs, electrical parts, and other electrical components |
Medical and pharmaceutical industry | · Drilling electrical parts for the assembly process · Orthopedics use drilling machines to make holes through bones to insert hardware for implant insertion |
Material fabrication industry | · There are many fabrication processes where you will use drilling machines. Among the key processes include thread tapping, boring, counterboring, boring, spot facing, reaming, and boring. · Well, there are many material fabrication processes where drilling machines play a fundamental role. |
Repair and maintenance | · Whether you are repairing, or modifying parts, you may drill holes, ream, or tap holes |
Other industries such as woodworking, metallurgy, construction, and masonry | · Depending on the parts of products you are working on, you may carry out different operations including reaming, counter sinking, counter boring, reaming, tapping, or spot facing. |
Clearly, you can use a drilling machine to make many parts. From assembly, and making new products to finishing. You will require a drilling machine to perform some of these functions.
Having said that, let’s put some facts into perspective:
· Boring
Boring is a machining process where you enlarge holes. You will require a drilling machine to achieve this – of course, the size of the drill bit will depend on the dimensions.
Boring is a popular machining process in many industries from automotive, and woodwork to other fabrication processes.
· Tapping
Tapping is a machining process where you create threads within a hole. Well. You will require a drilling machine to carry out this operation.
· Counter Boring
Again, counterboring is a machining process where you enlarge pre-drilled holes. The size of the hole will depend on the machining tool you will be using for the process.
It is an operation where your part may require a step in diameter. This is a critical procedure, especially when you wish to assemble parts.
That is, you will use a countbore drilling machine to cut a diameter step.
· Countersinking
With a tapered drill, you can open or slightly “break” a corner of a predrilled hole. Usually, this helps to accommodate fasteners.
· Reaming as a Machining Operation
A drilling machine cuts parts using a rotary tool. Well, with a drilling machine and a suitable tooling system, you can improve accuracy if you machined parts through drilling.
Ideally, the reaming process will reduce roughness and improve accuracy.
· Spot Facing
At times, you may have holes with poor surface finish. This is where you will conduct a spot-facing using a drilling machine with the right tooling system.
Using a drilling machine, you will remove a light amount of material around a drilled hole. This is a common practice before the assembly process using bolts and nuts.
· Drilling
As the name suggests, you can make simple holes using the right drill bit. It is the most straightforward use and application of drilling machines.
You can drill metals, plastics, wood, etc.

Drill bit drilling through a metal surface
It is also worth mentioning that there are specific drilling machines optimized for specific drilling operations. A good example is the radial drill machines.
For instance, you can use these machines to punch and ream holes. Moreover, they are perfect for drilling blind holes.
Others include:
- Drilling cum milling machine – It performs both drilling and milling operations
- Portable drilling machine – You can drill small holes anywhere within the workshop. It is because you can move with this drill from one point to another.
- Gang drill – The drilling machine has numerous drilling heads. It can drill the same or different sizes of holes at the same time. Closely related to this is the multiple spindle drilling machine.
- Deep hole drilling machine – If you want to drill deep holes within a barrel, then you may as well consider a deep hole drilling machine. Usually, we classify this equipment as a specialized drilling machine.
Conclusion
Clearly drilling machines play an integral role in many industries. Remember, drilling holes is an important process in various manufacturing such as parts assembly.