Watched an episode of Supreme Skills Japanese contest show. Contest was to drill a .3mm hole in a .5mm pencil lead to 60mm deep. EDM vs. Lathe. Shot in a studio "Forged in Iron" style with their own tools and pre-recorded backstories of their shops. Interesting with hilarious over the top English dubbing.
PS>>>> the lathe wins! He broke one in practice and said there was too much friction on the shank..in graphite? so he increases the flute depth....and breaks through again, loss of rigidity. I said to myself, "short flute, reduce the shank.." and 30 seconds later the guy had a revelation...reduce the shank! Bingo...success, while the EDM guy burned through his at about 40 and only got 12mm through the 2nd lead before the 2 hour time limit expired.
