On CNC Machines, drilling holes under perfect condition is possible. For drilling holes into titanium, composite and aluminum stacked materials the specific cutting condition can be selected. Furthermore surrounding conditions such as peck cycle, MQL and force and torque monitoring can be easily adapted. When drilling holes in the final assembly, CNC machine tools cannot be employed due to sizes and accessibility. Power Feed Units or Automated Drill Units ADUs are very handy, flexible and depending upon the jig extremely rigid. Whenever a machine tool does not fit, ADUs are highly recommended.
In comparison to machine tools, conventional pneumatic ADUs can be used with one fixed set of feed, speed and micro peck only. Due to that a compromise in cutting condition has to be chosen in drilling stacked material with different layers.
In the mind-set of the fourth industrial revolution, this article presents a completely new approach in the ADU Technology, while the benefits in the capability of CNC machine tools are now available on ADUs likewise. The benefits of using individual cutting condition for every layer in composite/metal stacked material, the worldwide online-process and -data monitoring, the improved tool-management and traceability, the remote diagnostic and improved cutting tool development functions will show a variety of extremely useful and new features.