Replaceable Drill Tips

Replaceable Drill Tips for Indexable Drilling in Australia

Replaceable drill tips are the small carbide or HSS tips that mount into specialist indexable drill bodies — letting you change a worn cutting tip in seconds rather than replacing the entire drill. For Australian production machining and toolroom workshops running high-volume drilling work, replaceable tip systems significantly reduce tool change time and consumable cost compared with solid carbide drills. AIMS Industrial supplies the SECO Crownloc range and related indexable drill tip systems for trade customers.

How replaceable tip drilling works

The drill body is a precision-machined steel shank with a tip pocket at the cutting end. The replaceable tip locates into the pocket and locks via a small clamping screw or self-clamping geometry. When the tip wears, the operator removes the screw, swaps the tip for a fresh one, and resumes drilling — no tool change in the spindle, no re-zeroing, no setup time lost. The tip can be in carbide for production speed or HSS for general-purpose drilling.

The SECO Crownloc range at AIMS

• Crownloc drill bodies — in standard diameters from approximately 12mm through 50mm
• Crownloc replaceable tips — carbide and coated carbide tips matched to specific body sizes
• Mounting hardware — clamping screws and tools for tip changeover
• Specific tip geometries — for steel, stainless, cast iron, aluminium, and high-temperature alloys

Where replaceable tip drilling earns its place

• Production drilling — high-volume drilling where tool change time impacts cycle time
• Larger diameter holes — solid carbide drills above 20mm become expensive; replaceable tip systems are more economical
• CNC machining centres — fast tip change without spindle removal suits automated production
• Mixed-material work — different tip grades can be swapped to suit the material being drilled

Versus solid carbide drills

For diameters under about 12mm, solid carbide drills remain the right choice — better rigidity, simpler tooling, and lower cost-per-drill. Above 12-15mm, replaceable tip systems become economically attractive: a single drill body handles many tip changes, the per-cut cost drops significantly, and chip control improves through better-engineered geometries. For production work between 15mm and 50mm diameter, replaceable tip drilling is often the optimal approach.

Sizing and selection

Match the body diameter to the hole size, then select the tip grade and geometry by material. SECO publishes detailed selection data; for specific applications we can match a body and tip combination to your machine, material, and production rate. Coatings (TiAlN, AlTiN, and similar) extend tip life in harder materials.

Companion ranges at AIMS

Replaceable drill tips sit alongside our broader cutting tool range — see milling inserts, parting and grooving tooling, reduced shank drill bits, and reamer sets for the related tooling.

Need help speccing replaceable drill tips for production work? contact our team — we'll match body, tip, and grade to your machine and material.