Small Hole Drilling

Can you give us an idea of the material and physical size?

If I was designing a machine to make these holes, my machine would include a spiked roller with a gear matched perforated cylinder to punch these holes. Then again depending on the type of plastic material being used, the same geared roller and cylinder could just be strategically placed in the extrusion location before the plastic has finished curing. A strategically placed infrared laser beam might also be used to place these holes in a solid film.

Since you obviously are incapable of successfully reverse engineering somebody else's product, what are you willing to pay me to solve your problem?

Yes thanks, the holes are drilled in a flat piece of high density polyethylene 2" x 48" x 1/8", approximately 1400 holes. Water flows through the holes under moderate pressure. Being a prototype we need about 8-10 pieces for testing to start before final nozzle is complete. Have been given some good ideas but haven't found anyone to do the work yet. Thanks Hook

RedFred, well let's help you out since you make judgements without any information which is a very dangerous thing to do. Let's paint a simple picture for you. You are in the ambulance business and have a partner in another division handling the above project. Let's pretend that he took company money went to China had a few of these prototypes made and them all of a sudden was caught embezzling money from the project and somehow has disappeared with all the project plans and material. Let's also pretend that I have only a few pictures which I just found today after a long time looking and now trying to reconstruct my own project all over again. Or let's put it in your terms, I am trying to reverse engineer my own project that was started in another country! Maybe that will help you from jumping to conclusions you know nothing about. Have a nice day.... Hook

The work piece is 1/8" thick, a rotating perforator is best used on thin films. Just sketch the interface between the tool and the workpiece as the tool approaches, broaches, and retracts, all while rotating. The resultant holes would be elongated, not be symmetrically round, and hardly be of nozzle quality, plus it would take multiple passes given the close spacing of the holes.

Thank you for taking the time to help. All these ideas are helping us get on track. Hook

Thanks all is good...

Why was that information absent from the original post, then? Its presence would save others from jumping to the wrong conclusion.

More information in the original post = better answers, quicker.

Assume people aren't interested in ones life problems or circumstances. One would think after 33 years in a well respected business you would know who to trust. Seems like it's the ones you have helped the most. Hook

We don't need a life story but sufficient detail and explanation as to why you are asking the question helps due to the large number of homework and other dubious questions that get asked on CR4. Some of us are prone to jump to conclusions from time to time.

I wouldn't really call it jumping to conclusions, just offering opinions on the information given which,,,, as we all know in many, many cases is not enough as suggested elsewhere in this thread.

CNC machine...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrevbp2CV0Q

Watched the video, CNC machine doing 1600 holes approximately the same size. Might do the trick! Thanks again Hook

Watched the video, CNC machine doing 1600 holes approximately the same size. Might do the trick! Thanks again Hook

Exactly.

Most industrial lasers (CO2) do not do well with Polyethylene. It melts rather than vaporizing yielding a ragged hole. For laser, a better choice of material would be acrylic or PETG. Even then you won't get a straight hole. the hole will be tapered and hour glass shaped. Drilling is the only way to get a true strait hole.

That piece being a prototype I guarantee you was done on a CNC milling machine

Thanks again Bryan, CNC machine it is. Now on the quest to find a shop that will do the job! Hook

As I stated previously, the only way this can be done with any degree of accuracy and integrity is by CNC drilling - just make sure your contactor understands the idiosyncrasies of machining plastics.

Yes I think from all the help received in this forum the CNC drilling is the best way to go but am having much difficulty in finding a vendor/shop who can or is willing to drill this size hole, but I am continuing to search and hopefully will be successful soon. Again many thanks, Hook

Hot wire piercing, 3D printing, laser drilling...

Something does not look right with the picture. You stated that the parts were 2" wide and the holes are .015" dia, I may wear glasses but to me there is no way that that's true for the picture shown. If the parts are 2" wide then the holes are way bigger than .015" - maybe .150", which makes it way easier to drill on a CNC.

Well good observation , the piece of high density polyethylene is 2" wide to fit into the 2" square channel but the 5 rows of holes are drilled in the center 3/4" of the 2" wide piece. I have found two sample pictures in our records one is listed as .015" but apparently the piece in the picture is actually .027" by all indication. So I appreciate your observation . Thank you, Hook