General Electric Company

Roy Dean Meece

Gerald Roger Geverdt

Michael Jay Brunck

James Allen Baird

Roger John Tuchfarber

Jeffrey Kevin Back

James A Baird, Jr

A hole of a hole size is cut in a composite material workpiece by selecting a milling cutter having an effective cutter size less than the hole size, mounting the composite material workpiece in operable relation to the milling cutter, rotating the milling cutter about an axis of rotation, and advancing the milling cutter longitudinally into the composite material workpiece parallel to the axis of rotation at a rate of longitudinal advance, while laterally moving the milling cutter perpendicular to the axis of rotation to interpolate the hole. The rate of longitudinal advance is controlled such that the hole remains substantially a flat-bottomed hole as it is cut. The composite material workpiece is desirably affixed to a backing fixture with an adhesive material during the cutting of the hole.

Method of cutting a hole in a composite material workpiece

A drill having a cutting edge that is less prone to chipping or fracturing when used in drilling operations, and that can be sharpened or resharpened uniformly and consistently from drill to drill by machine grinding. The drill comprises a body and at least one flute formed in the body that terminates in a cutting edge at the cutting end of the drill. The flute has a cutting surface, the cutting surface having formed therein a dub face having a substantially planar surface over at least a portion thereof that is proximate to the cutting edge. The cutting edge has formed therein a cutting land having a substantially planar surface over at least a portion thereof connected at an edge to the planar surface portion of the dub face.

Drill having machine grindable cutting edge

A method for reaming a hole in a metal substrate that minimizes the tendency of long and stringy metal chips to be formed that can surround the reamer with a &ldquo;steel wool-like&rdquo; mesh or mass of material, as well as an improved reamer for carrying out this method. The reaming method involves longitudinally advancing the chamfered end of the reamer into the hole at an increased rate of at least about 5 mils (0.13 mm) per cutting edge as the hole is reamed during rotation of the reamer. For holes or bores having a length (L) that is at least about 3 times the cutting diameter (D) of the reamer, a preferred subsequent step is to momentarily reduce the rate of advance of the chamfered end into the hole to about 1 mil (0.025 mm) or less per cutting edge for from about 1 to about 5 rotations of the reamer. The improved reamer has a body, at least three flutes formed in the body, each flute terminating at a chamfered leading end and having a chamfer face proximate the chamfered end, the chamfer face having a chamfer angle of from about 20 to about 30&deg; and having a leading edge of the margin that trails the rake face of the flute, i.e., a negative radial rake angle.

Growing community of inventors

New Trenton, IN, United States of America

Roy Dean Meece