The right cutting speed for drilling

The aim is to achieve the best possible work result in a short time and to keep wear on the tool as low as possible. The cutting speed during drilling is significantly influenced by the diameter of the drill and the speed of the drill. There are cutting speed tables that make it easier for us to quickly determine these parameters.

The correct drill speed depends on:

Diameter of the drill

Desired cutting speed

Calculate drill speed with formula

werbung links1

Simple drill speed table

In the following drill speed table you will find guide values for the most common materials and drill diameters.

Simple drill speed table
	Wood	Steel	Stainless steel	Aluminium	Brass	Plastic
Drill diameter	Drill speed in rpm
2 mm	3500	2600	2000	5000	4000	2300
3 mm	3000	2200	1600	4500	3500	1900
4 mm	2600	1800	1250	4000	3100	1500
5 mm	2250	1500	1000	3500	2750	1250
6 mm	1950	1250	800	3050	2400	1050
7 mm	1650	1060	660	2650	2100	900
8 mm	1400	900	560	2330	1800	775
9 mm	1180	770	490	2000	1540	660
10 mm	980	660	430	1730	1300	580
12 mm	800	580	375	1480	1080	510
13 mm	650	510	330	1250	860	450
14 mm	520	450	300	1050	700	400
15 mm	420	400	270	870	550	360
16 mm	360	350	250	730	450	320
18 mm	310	310	220	610	380	290
19 mm	280	270	200	510	330	270
20 mm	265	250	185	420	300	250
25 mm	250	240	170	350	280	230
30 mm	240	230	160	280	260	220

*All data without guarantee

werbung links2

Drill speed table with cutting speed

In the table here you will find the calculated cutting speed (in m/min) depending on the drill diameter and drill speed. How the drill speed is calculated has already been shown in the formula above.

Drill speed table with cutting speed
Cutting speed rpm	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	10	12	15	18	20
drill Ø	Drill speed in rpm
1,0	637	955	1273	1591	1910	2228	2546	3183	3819	4774	5729	6365
2,0	318	477	637	796	955	1114	1273	1591	1910	2387	2864	3183
2,5	255	382	509	637	764	891	1018	1273	1528	1910	2292	2546
3,0	212	318	424	530	637	743	849	1061	1273	1591	1910	2122
3,5	182	273	364	455	546	637	727	909	1091	1364	1637	1819
4,0	159	239	318	398	477	557	637	796	955	1194	1432	1591
5,0	127	191	255	318	382	446	509	637	764	955	1146	1273
6,0	106	159	212	265	318	371	424	530	637	796	955	1061
7,0	91	136	182	227	273	31	364	455	546	682	818	909
8,0	80	119	159	199	239	278	318	398	477	597	716	796
9,0	71	106	141	177	212	248	283	354	424	530	637	707
10	64	95	127	159	191	223	255	318	382	477	576	637
11	58	87	116	145	174	203	231	289	347	434	521	579
12	53	80	106	133	159	186	212	265	318	398	477	530
14	45	68	91	114	136	159	182	227	273	341	409	455
16	40	60	80	99	119	139	159	199	239	298	258	398
18	35	53	71	88	106	124	141	177	212	265	318	354
20	32	48	64	80	63	111	127	159	191	239	286	318
22	29	43	58	72	87	101	116	145	174	217	260	289
24	27	40	53	66	80	93	106	133	159	199	239	265
27	24	35	47	59	71	83	94	118	141	177	212	236
30	21	32	42	53	64	74	85	106	127	159	191	212

*All data without guarantee

Table of materials with cutting speeds as a guide value

In the following table you will find guide values for the cutting speed for certain material groups and which cooling lubricant can be used. As mentioned, these are only rough guide values.

Material to be machined	Cutting speed Vc in m/min	Cooling lubricant
unalloyed structural steels < 700 N/mm²	30 - 50	cutting oil
alloyed structural steels < 1000 N/mm²	20 - 25	cutting oil
Cast iron < 250 N/mm²	15 - 25	Compressed air
Cast iron > 250 N/mm²	10 - 20	Compressed air
Copper-tin alloy brittle	60 - 100	Compressed air
Copper-tin alloy tough	35 - 60	Compressed air
Aluminium alloy	30 - 50	cutting oil
Thermoplastics	20 - 40	Water
Thermosets	15 - 35	Compressed air

*All data without guarantee.