Indexable Drills

Indexable drills use a replaceable carbide insert instead of a ground or coated tip, so when the cutting edge wears out you swap the insert rather than replacing or regrinding the whole drill. That keeps per-hole cost down on larger diameters, where a solid carbide or HSS drill gets expensive fast. Protool stocks U-drill bodies from 14mm to 50mm across 2xD, 3xD, 4xD and 5xD depth ratios, built for general hole-making on CNC lathes, mills and machining centres.

The Vortex and Omega ranges cover most jobbing shop work, running SPMG/SPKX inserts on smaller diameters and moving to WCMX/WCKX inserts as the body gets larger and needs a stiffer insert seat. Palbit's U-drill bodies use the same SP-series insert pockets and are built for higher feed rates on tougher materials. All three take standard shank sizes (25, 32 and 40mm) so they drop into existing toolholders without adapting anything.

Insert choice matters more than body choice for finish and tool life. SPMG and SPKX geometries give a good general-purpose chip break in steel and stainless; WCMX and WCKX inserts handle the heavier chip loads that come with 40mm-plus diameters. Screws, wrenches and spare inserts for every body on this page are stocked separately — see Indexable Inserts and Drill Heads if you need replacements rather than a full body.

If you're drilling under 14mm, a solid carbide drill will usually out-machine an indexable one — check Solid Carbide Drills instead. For deep-hole work beyond 5xD, look at our Spade Drills range.