Philip Crosby, one of the original quality gurus, could have had drilling in mind when he said, "Quality is free." Given the right tool and correct feedback, modern drills can leave surface finish nearly as fine as some grinding operations.
"Modern drill geometries can yield 20- to 60-microinch root mean square (rms) or 40- to 120-micron Ra finishes in one pass," said Tony Yakamavich, senior product specialist of drilling at Sandvik Coromant Co. (Fair Lawn, NJ), a manufacturer of cutting tools.