Drilling¶

In one sentence: Generate drilling, boring, and peck-drilling cycles for circular holes detected from the model geometry.

Overview¶

Workbench: CAM
Menu: CAM → Drilling
Command: CAM_Drilling
Shortcut: none

Generates canned drilling cycles (G81, G82, G83, G85) for circular holes in the model. FreeCAD detects circular edges or cylindrical faces and creates a drill cycle at each centre point.

Intuition¶

Drilling is different from milling — it uses a point tool (drill bit) that plunges straight down. FreeCAD's Drilling operation detects all the hole centres in the model and generates the appropriate canned cycle for each, in the selected depth mode.

When to use it¶

Drilling through-holes or blind holes in a part.
Boring existing holes for size and finish.
Peck drilling deep holes where chip evacuation is needed.

Cycle types¶

Cycle	G-code	Description
G81	G81	Simple drill — plunge to depth
G82	G82	Drill with dwell at bottom
G83	G83	Peck drilling — retract fully between pecks
G85	G85	Boring — feed in, feed out

Key parameters¶

Parameter	Description
Drill Mode	Cycle type (G81, G82, G83, G85)
Peck Depth	Depth of each peck in G83 mode
Dwell Time	Pause at bottom in G82 mode (seconds)
Extra Offset	Additional depth beyond the hole bottom

See Common Parameters for depth and height parameters.

Common mistakes and pitfalls¶

Drilling misses some holes

FreeCAD only detects holes from complete 360° circular edges or cylindrical faces. Partial arcs or holes from mesh models are not detected. Use the Base Geometry panel to manually add missed hole centres.