Drill Bit Failure Testing analysis
Drill Bit Failure Testing analysis
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With battery powered drills being one of the most sold SKUs for power tool companies, any warranty failure is large concern for a company. With specific heavy duty applications, drill chucks become stuck on the bit, preventing users from changing the bits and costing the company significantly in chuck warranties. The goal of this project was to replicate, diagnose, and suggest solutions for the warranty issue.
To replicate the chuck issue, a simple yet realistic metal drilling setup was created to best mimic real life use cases based off research via the marketing team.
A variety of drill bits were utilized, ranging from titanium and cobalt twist drill bits to several sizes of carbide hole cutter bits. Repeated heavy drilling of holes on aluminum was executed and logged on a specific chuck until failure.
After 500+ holes drilled through many different combinations of bits, carbide hole cutter bits were identified as a primary application that causing chuck seizing.
The seizing specifically occured on heavily worn bits, observing damaged cutting teeth as well as marks from the chuck locking mechanism.
Seized chucks were then torn down for deeper analysis as well as CT scanning.
CT scanning revealed threading of the chuck teeth "skipping" after heavy wear, locking the mechanism without significant torque applied via a wrench.
Throughout 2.5 months of testing, the following stats were achieved.
15 different bits tested across 4 SKUs of drills, including titanium, cobalt, and carbide twist bits, 1/2th - 2" carbide hole cutters, and hex, round, and 3 flat shanks.
1000+ holes drilled on aluminum sheets
10 chucks tested with seizing successfully replicated on 5. CT scans with skipping consistently found across all seizes.
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