Multi-hole Making on Composite Panel—A Preliminary Study

Hole-making for composite panels using drilling is common. However, due to high tooling costs, a hybrid process that combines punching and drilling was proposed. Preliminary studies found that, even though the process allows for faster tool changes and less setup time, overall productivity is still low as compared to the benchmark. Therefore, in this study, multi-hole making is proposed, and three methods were evaluated mainly based on the time required to complete the task. Method 1, where the punching operation is done all at once, followed by drilling one by one, requires the least time as compared to other methods.