Advancements in Drill Bit Technology

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

In this interview with Alex Girardot of Perfect Point Precision Carbide Tools, we explore the pioneering advancements in drill bit technology supporting high-tech fabrication. Alex leverages his 15 years of expertise in the PCB industry to discuss the critical role of coating technology in enhancing drill bit performance. This technological leap increases accuracy, especially in high aspect ratio builds, and nearly eliminates drill bit breakage. Perfect Point's innovative approach includes a hybrid flute design and active collaboration with customers to optimize their drilling processes through automation and tailored guidance. The discussion also highlights the challenges of working with exotic materials and compares diamond-coated to carbon-coated drill bits, emphasizing the adaptability required in North American fabrication environments.

Marcy LaRont: Alex, let's start by learning about how you got into the industry and what your company does.

Alex Girardot: I spent 12 years working at a printed circuit board shop in southern California, primarily as a dry process engineer. That shop specializes in multilayer rigid-flex PCBs but also has a varied product mix, which constantly presents a diverse set of challenges when it comes to drilling/routing. From there, I moved to Perfect Point where I serve as a field application engineer. My primary responsibility is to work with our customers’ shops and optimize their drill/rout processes for multiple PCB build types, with the goal of enabling them to tackle high technology builds using our tools.

LaRont: Drilling and drill bit technology have undergone tremendous development. What do you provide, and why is coating technology important?

Girardot: Within the past 10 years, there has been a near-universal switch throughout the industry to a “single flute hybrid” design. The drill starts as a two-flute and transitions to a single-flute. This design has provided improved rigidity, accuracy, and strength when compared to a traditional two-flute drill bit. These tools have been adopted as the standard by most of our customers.

Recently, we have seen more shops adopt our patented coated tool technology, Carbonite. This has been primarily driven by the increasing complexity of board types, higher aspect ratios, and designs with tighter pitches where pinpoint accuracy is required.

To read this entire article, which appeared in the August 2024 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.