DRILLING URANIUM BILLETS ON LEBLOND-CARLSTEDT RAPID BORER

摘要

Solid uranium castings were bored with a LeBlond-Carlstedt Rapid Borer to produce hollow billets for extrusion. The ability of the machine to drill dimensionally accurate billets was demonstrated. Holes up to 2 inches in diameter were bored in billets 20 inches long in less than 10 minutes. Analysis of the tool life and the production capa¬bilities show a cost savings can be obtained by drilling solid billets with this machine rather than casting hollow billets. The cost of drilling is more than offset by the higher casting yield obtained with solid ingots and the lower cost per billet for the graphite mold components.