Kennametal Deep Hole Drilling: A Procurement Manager's FAQ on Tooling Costs and Weldon NC

Kennametal Deep Hole Drilling Tooling: A Procurement Manager's FAQ

Every year, I sit down with our tooling ledger and look for the line items where I was wrong. Kennametal appears in a lot of those lines. This FAQ is not an official product guide. It's a list of questions I ask when I see Kennametal on a quote—and the answers that have saved us real money.

Eight years ago, I inherited a tooling budget of $290,000. Last year, it was $430,000, and our per-part machining cost was actually lower than when I started. The difference was not squeezing suppliers. It was understanding where the cost actually lives.

Is Kennametal really more expensive than other cutting tool brands?

I used to answer yes without thinking. After tracking invoices, I'd revise it: Kennametal is often more expensive on the item level, but not necessarily on the cost-per-hole level. We compared a Kennametal carbide drill against two cheaper alternatives on a 42 mm by 180 mm deep hole job in Q3 2024. The cheaper drills were $90 less per tool. They also wore out faster and needed reconditioning after roughly 300 holes. The Kennametal tool lasted long enough that the cost per machined part was lower.

I only believed that after ignoring it once and eating a $1,200 rework. A lesson learned the hard way. Now I put the unit price in the context of tool life, regrind cost, and scrap rate.

What exactly is Kennametal deep hole drilling tooling?

Deep hole drilling typically means depth-to-diameter ratios above 5:1, sometimes 20:1 or more. Kennametal's deep hole drilling line includes carbide drills, BTA tools, and supporting systems designed for those conditions. What I mean is—it's not just a longer drill. It's a different geometry, a different coolant strategy, and usually a different machine setup. At least, that's what our application engineers tell me when we spec an order.

According to Kennametal's product pages (kennametal.com, accessed January 2025), the company emphasizes pairing cutting tool grade and geometry with the application. That sounds like marketing until you order the wrong grade and watch it chip on the first part. If I remember correctly, the rule of thumb is any hole deeper than five times the diameter should be treated as deep hole drilling. Don't quote me on that as a universal standard, but it's a useful threshold.

What should I know about Kennametal Weldon NC?

Those three words show up on shipping documents, and a lot of buyers assume Weldon NC is a separate company. It isn't. Kennametal's Weldon, North Carolina operation is part of the company's manufacturing footprint. Honestly, I've never toured the site. My interaction was on the receiving side. When a skid label says Kennametal Weldon NC, I know the part went through a Kennametal facility, which makes supply-chain discussions easier, especially when a customer asks if we use domestic manufacturing.

One more thing: the word Weldon also appears in tool specs. A Weldon shank has a flat ground on the shank for set-screw grip. That's a different Weldon, but it's exactly why you need to check the drawing before ordering a holder. I learned that after a tool arrived with a Weldon shank and our standard collet chuck could not use it.

How do I compare Kennametal against cheaper options without getting fooled by unit price?

Build a total-cost calculation. Use four columns: tool price, tool life, cost per hole, and cost per good part. Add downtime, setup time, shipping, and scrap. We found a cheap drill that was 35 percent lower per unit but needed a special bushing and a separate coolant pressure kit. The bushing alone wiped out the savings. The Kennametal option used a standard shank and did not require another machine setup.

Our Q3 2024 vendor comparison included four suppliers on the same 1,500-hole job. The total cost per hole ranged from $0.84 to $1.31. The highest unit-price option was not the highest cost per hole. That was the moment I stopped arguing about unit price.

What hidden costs show up with Kennametal deep hole drilling?

Coolant pressure, chip management, and machine rigidity. Deep holes need coolant delivered to the cutting zone and chips pushed out of the hole. If your machine cannot supply enough through-coolant pressure, the tool becomes an expensive decoration.

I assumed we could run a Kennametal deep hole drill on our standard CNC lathe. We couldn't—or rather, we could, but the cycle time nearly doubled. The spec sheet called for higher coolant pressure than our machine offered. We ended up adding a booster pump before we saw the tool's real performance.

That was an assumption failure on my part. I assumed similar specifications meant identical results across vendors. Didn't verify. Each tool had slightly different coolant requirements.

Do I have to standardize on one Kennametal grade?

Not necessarily. Kennametal's grade names get confusing. KC5010 is one common carbide grade, but it is not a universal answer. We use different grades for cast iron and stainless steel. The workpiece material matters more than the brand's marketing.

Ask the distributor or Kennametal's application support for a recommendation based on your actual material and cutting conditions. We once ordered a newer grade that looked great in the brochure but chipped on interrupted cuts. Our machinists rejected it. The older grade was the better economic choice for that specific job.

I'd rather spend 10 minutes explaining grade options than deal with mismatched expectations later. An informed customer asks better questions and makes faster decisions. That's the mindset I bring into tooling reviews.

What's the smartest way to test Kennametal tooling before switching?

Run a controlled test. Do not buy 500 tools first. Pick one operation, define the baseline—current cost per hole, cycle time, scrap rate—then run 50 to 100 parts. Track tool wear and edge condition.

In our case, we tested a Kennametal deep hole drill against two other brands over three weeks. The cheaper brand looked impressive in the first run but failed at 80 percent of the expected tool life. Kennametal did not win every metric, but it won the cost per good part. We switched that one operation, not every operation.

That approach also made the conversation with our finance team easier. Instead of saying we are switching tooling brands, I could say we ran a test and this option saves $0.18 per hole. Numbers beat opinions.

Are Kennametal lead times stable?

Since 2023, our orders through distribution have been stable. I want to say the shortest lead time we have seen was two weeks and the longest was eight, so don't quote me on exact figures. What matters is ordering before the tooling point, not after. We keep a min/max stock level for critical deep hole drills.

At least, that's been my experience with our supply chain. Your timing may vary if you order a nonstandard insert grade or a long-length drill. If lead time matters, put that question to your distributor before you put the PO in.