National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC

Jonathon Slightam

Stephen Buerger

Jiann-Cherng Su

Clinton G Hobart

Giorgia Bettin

Michal Rittikaidachar

A compact drill assembly, a drilling system and a method for automatically drilling small diameter holes of arbitrary depth. The compact drill assembly includes a housing having a geometry that allows insertion into the confined space and a rotatable drilling spindle that includes an actuated locking collet assembly arranged and disposed to selectively secure and release a composite bit. A bit conveying arrangement is configured to convey the composite bit along the non-confined dimension and along the confined dimension through the actuated locking collet assembly. A drill drive is arranged and disposed to advance the rotatable drilling spindle along the confined dimension. The method includes conveying a composite bit along the non-confined dimension and along the confined dimension through the compact drill assembly and advancing the composite bit along the confined dimension to drill into a surface along an edge of the confined space.

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Albuquerque, NM, United States of America

Jonathon Slightam