Aoshiji® Custom Tool – Chipbreaker Drill for High-Efficiency Machining of 6061 Aluminum Alloy | Case Study
This case study focuses on a chip breaking drill for aluminum designed to solve chip wrapping issues in 6061 machining.
6061 aluminum alloy is a heat-treatable material widely recognized for its excellent formability, weldability, and machinability, while maintaining moderate strength even after annealing. Because of its reliable mechanical and physical properties, 6061 aluminum is extensively applied across the marine, automotive, chemical, aerospace, and transportation industries.
However, its low density, softness, and high ductility make 6061 aluminum prone to producing long, continuous chips during drilling and milling. These ribbon-like chips easily wrap around the cutting tool, leading to chip accumulation, restricted chip evacuation, and excessive heat generation. As a result, tool wear accelerates, surface finish deteriorates, and machining stability decreases—one of the most common challenges in aluminum drilling applications.
To address these issues, Aoshiji® Custom Tool developed a chip breaking drill for aluminum, engineered specifically to control chip formation and prevent chip entanglement when machining 6061 aluminum alloy. This optimized design ensures smooth chip segmentation, stable evacuation, and significantly improved drilling reliability in high-efficiency aluminum machining.
Products
Drill-Reamer Combination Tool :
Aoshiji® Custom Tool specializes in the engineering and production of high-performance cutting tools for demanding machining environments. Our precision-designed tools are developed to enhance machining efficiency, extend tool life, and significantly reduce part-scrap risks across complex production scenarios.
With application-specific tool geometries—such as our chip breaking drill for aluminum designed for stable chip control in 6061 alloy—Aoshiji® Custom Tool provides tailored solutions optimized for both material characteristics and process requirements. This engineering approach enables manufacturers to achieve higher productivity, improved surface integrity, and more predictable, cost-efficient machining performance.
• Workpiece: Valve body for automotive braking system
• Material: 6061 Aluminum Alloy
• Machine Tool: Horizontal Machining Center
• Coolant: Internal emulsion through-tool coolant
• Machining Area: Ø21 / Ø23.81 stepped counterbore
• Technical Requirement:
The machining process must resolve chip control issues during the Ø23.81 bore operation. Continuous, ductile aluminum chips previously caused entanglement, heat accumulation, and unstable cutting conditions. The optimized chip breaking drill for aluminum is required to ensure effective chip segmentation, smooth evacuation, improved surface finish, and extended tool life under high-efficiency machining conditions.
The workpiece material, 6061 aluminum alloy, offers excellent ductility and plasticity but presents substantial challenges in chip control. During drilling, its ductile nature produces long, continuous ribbon-like chips that easily wrap around the cutting edge or tool holder. This leads to restricted chip evacuation, rapid tool wear, surface scratching, and unstable cutting forces—common issues encountered when machining aluminum components.
The chip-breaking problem becomes even more pronounced at the step transition of the drill. In this zone, the material removal rate is low, and both the depth of cut (ap) and bending moment are minimal. As a result, the cutting forces are insufficient to exceed the tensile fracture threshold of the material, preventing natural chip segmentation. Instead, continuous chips are formed throughout the process, creating severe entanglement risks unless an optimized chip breaking drill for aluminum is used to control chip morphology at each cutting stage.
04 Optimized Chipbreaker Drill 6061 Aluminum Solution
Design Features
The step cutting edge is engineered with an optimized rake angle that directs chip flow efficiently and prevents excessive chip curling during the initial engagement. This refined geometry stabilizes the cutting load and establishes a controlled chip-flow path, enabling smooth chip curling and predictable chip breaking throughout the operation.
To further enhance chip control, dedicated chipbreaker grooves are integrated along both the step cutting edge and the flute surface. These engineered chipbreakers initiate multi-segment chip formation, allowing chips to curl and fracture progressively rather than forming long, continuous ribbons. The result is consistent chip segmentation, improved evacuation, and significantly higher machining reliability—especially important when machining ductile materials such as 6061 aluminum.
With these geometry enhancements, Aoshiji® Custom Tool’s chip breaking drill for aluminum delivers stable chip control even at elevated cutting speeds, ensuring smoother machining, improved surface quality, and extended tool life in high-efficiency drilling applications.
| Item | Other Brand | Aoshiji® Custom Tool |
|---|---|---|
| Tool Diameter | Φ20.7 / Φ23.51 | Φ20.7 / Φ23.51 |
| Spindle Speed (S) | 3,500 r/min | 3,500 r/min |
| Feed Rate (F) | 1,200 mm/min | 1,200 mm/min |
| Machining Result | Continuous chips, severe chip entanglement (Multiple tools required for different steps; low efficiency and high cost) |
Excellent chip breaking (Integrated multi-step cutting diameters in one tool; higher efficiency, lower cost, superior performance) |
| Conclusion | Aoshiji® Custom Tool achieved efficient chip control and process integration by combining multiple step diameters into one cutter, reducing tool count, improving machining efficiency, and cutting overall cost. | |
In conclusion, the chip breaking drill for aluminum developed by Aoshiji® Custom Tool provides a highly efficient and stable solution for machining 6061 aluminum alloy—a material well-known for its ductility but equally notorious for producing long, continuous chips. During drilling, these ribbon-like chips often wrap around the cutting edge or tool shank, causing poor surface finish, accelerated tool wear, tool breakage, and unplanned interruptions in the machining cycle.
This problem becomes even more severe at the step transition of a multi-diameter drill, where low radial engagement and insufficient tensile load make natural chip fracture difficult. By optimizing flute geometry and applying a purpose-designed chipbreaker structure, our solution significantly reduces heat accumulation and eliminates chip wrapping in 6061 aluminum.
As highlighted in our previous article, “How can automotive machining balance quality, efficiency, and cost? Aoshiji® Custom Tool’s PCD tools deliver precision and durability, offering a high-efficiency, cost-effective solution.,” our engineering philosophy focuses on solving complex machining challenges through geometry innovation and precision manufacturing.
For this project, we redesigned the critical areas of the step drill to address the customer’s aluminum chip formation issues directly.
Key engineering enhancements include:
Optimized rake angle at the step cutting edge, preventing excessive chip curling and establishing a stable foundation for controlled chip breaking.
Integrated chipbreaker grooves on the cutting edge and flute surface, segmenting long chips into short, manageable sections for smooth evacuation and eliminating chip entanglement.
Balanced cutting load across all drill transitions, ensuring stable chip formation, reduced cutting resistance, and improved hole-wall surface quality.
This advanced design effectively resolves the long-standing chip-wrapping issues associated with aluminum drilling and ensures consistent, reliable chip evacuation—even under high-speed, high-feed conditions.
As demonstrated in this case study, the chip breaking drill for aluminum not only improves machining stability but also delivers substantial gains in tool life, surface finish, and overall process reliability—making it an ideal solution for high-efficiency 6061 aluminum machining.
For similar high-efficiency drilling applications, our product range also includes the PCD Flat-Bottom Drill 2×60° + 1×45° Ø6 mm – Model PCD-FBD-60×2-45×1-06-V1 | Aoshiji® Custom Tool and the PCD Tapered Form Drill – Flat-Bottom, 5×45° Chamfers Ø6 mm – Model PCD-TFD-FB-45×5-06-V1 | Aoshiji® Custom Tool, both designed to deliver superior accuracy and chip control in aluminum machining.
Just as global leaders like Sandvik Coromant and MAPAL continue to innovate high-speed cutting solutions for non-ferrous materials, Aoshiji® Custom Tool remains dedicated to advancing the efficiency, precision, and stability of drilling technologies.
By choosing Aoshiji® Custom Tool’s chipbreaker drills, manufacturers gain not only a cutting tool but a proven engineering solution—capable of achieving smooth chip evacuation, stable machining, and superior productivity in high-efficiency aluminum alloy processing.
Related Technical Insight
Get a practical, geometry-based view of chip control: how straight, arc, and straight–arc chipbreakers influence chip curl radius, cutting forces, surface finish, and tool wear.
Read: Tech Insights | The Impact of Chipbreaker Geometry on Cutting Performance – What You Need to Know
