Start Shaft & Lathe Work From a True 60° Centre

Precision turning can be compromised before the main machining operation even begins. Sutton centre drills are purpose-designed for producing 60° centre holes in the ends of shafts, giving machinists, fitters, maintenance workshops & engineering teams a controlled way to establish the centre feature required for accurate work. Sutton's industrial range includes HSS Plain Type, A-Type, centre-drill sets & specialised carbide options, allowing selection around the required dimensions, centre-hole geometry & machining setup rather than treating a centre drill like another general-purpose twist drill.

Explore the wider  Drills range when centre drilling forms part of a larger hole-making job, or use  Measuring & Layout Tools to establish dimensions before the workpiece reaches the machine.

What Are Sutton Centre Drills?

Small cutting tools can establish some of the most important geometry on a shaft.

A centre drill combines a smaller pilot section with a larger angled cutting section. Sutton's D135 & D136 HSS ranges use a 60° point angle, with the tool producing a centre hole in the end of a shaft rather than drilling a conventional full-diameter hole through the workpiece.

That centre feature has an important machining purpose. In lathe work, a correctly prepared centre hole can provide the seating geometry required when a shaft or similar component is supported by an appropriate centre.

Sutton's catalogue also separates centre drills from spotting drills. Both can help establish accurate starting geometry in machining, but their designs & intended applications shouldn't be treated as interchangeable simply because each works at the beginning of a drilling or machining sequence.

Why a Centre Hole Deserves More Attention Than Its Size Suggests?

Long shafts make small setup errors increasingly difficult to ignore.

Where a component will be supported between centres, the centre hole becomes part of the relationship between the workpiece & machine setup. Position, size, depth & condition all deserve attention before turning begins.

60° Geometry Has a Specific Purpose

That angle isn't an incidental feature of the cutter.

Sutton specifies a 60° point angle across its relevant D135 A-Type & D136 Plain Type HSS centre drills. The angled portion forms the seating geometry around the pilot hole.

Selection still involves more than checking the angle. Pilot diameter, body diameter, working length, overall length, centre-hole requirement & applicable product standard can all distinguish one cutter from another.

A Short, Rigid Tool Helps Establish the Start

Accuracy gets harder when the cutting tool can flex or wander.

Centre drills use compact geometry compared with long conventional twist drills. That makes them useful for establishing controlled starting geometry before subsequent machining where the application calls for it.

The goal isn't simply to make the first hole.

It's to put that feature where the machining operation expects it.

HSS Covers Sutton's Core D135 & D136 Families

Tool material should be read from the actual product family rather than assumed from appearance.

Sutton specifies HSS with a bright finish for its current D135 & D136 centre-drill families. Carbide centre drills also exist elsewhere within Sutton's industrial range, so HSS shouldn't be applied as a blanket specification to every Sutton centre drill.

Knowing which family is in the cart matters as much as recognising the Sutton name on the packet.

Where Centre Drills Fit Into Workshop Machining

Preparing Shaft Ends for Lathe Centres

Round stock becomes much easier to reason about once the centreline has been established properly.

Sutton specifically describes its centre drills as being for drilling 60° centre holes in the ends of shafts. That makes shaft preparation the defining application for this collection rather than a secondary use buried beneath generic drilling terminology.

Before cutting, confirm where the centre belongs & how the finished component will be supported during the next operation.

Turning Between Centres

Some components need support at both ends while material is removed along their length.

A prepared centre hole provides the mating geometry for an appropriate lathe centre during this style of turning. This relationship makes centre-hole quality part of the workholding setup rather than merely another drilled feature.

Longer shafts can make alignment especially important because an error introduced near the start of the process can influence subsequent machining along the component.

Establishing a Controlled Drilling Start

A drill that begins away from the intended location can carry that error deeper into the job.

Centre drills may be used to establish an accurate starting point where their geometry suits the machining process. That doesn't make them a universal replacement for dedicated spotting drills—Sutton maintains a separate spotting-drill category for good reason.

When the centre feature is followed by additional drilling, Drill Accessories can support the wider hole-making setup.

Maintenance & Component Remanufacture

Existing parts rarely arrive with a clean drawing & untouched surfaces.

Repair workshops may need to work from worn shaft ends, previous centre holes, damaged components or dimensions taken directly from machinery. Inspect the existing feature before deciding whether it should be reused, cleaned up or replaced by a newly established machining reference.

Accurate measurement becomes particularly valuable here because wear shouldn't automatically become the template for the repaired component.

General Toolroom & Engineering Work

A centre drill earns its drawer space by solving a precise problem quickly.

Machinists, fitters, toolmakers & maintenance teams can encounter centre-hole preparation during one-off shaft work, replacement-component manufacture, repair jobs, turning setups & general machine-shop operations.

For work that extends beyond drilling into fabrication or component preparation,  Metal Fab. Kits connects the cutter with the broader metalworking environment.

Choosing a Sutton Centre Drill Without Guessing From the Overall Size

A centre drill's body diameter is easy to see. The dimensions doing the actual job deserve closer attention.

Begin With the Centre Hole Required

Work backwards from the finished feature.

If the engineering drawing, machining procedure or existing component specifies the centre-hole dimensions, use those requirements to narrow the cutter. Don't choose solely because a centre drill physically fits the chuck.

The pilot diameter is particularly important because it forms the smaller central portion of the feature.

Distinguish D135 A-Type From D136 Plain Type

Catalogue numbers carry useful information when you know what sits behind them.

Sutton's published range identifies:

► D135: A-Type centre drill, HSS, bright finish, 60° point, DIN 333
► D136: Plain Type centre drill, HSS, bright finish, 60° point, ANSI B94-11

Both create 60° centre holes, but the ranges use different dimensional systems & standards.

Choose from the required geometry rather than treating D135 & D136 as interchangeable labels.

Read Pilot Diameter Separately From Body Diameter

Two diameters appear for a reason.

Australian listings for Sutton D136 Plain Type centre drills show the smaller D1 pilot diameter alongside the larger D2 body diameter. For example, current D136 products progress through different pilot & body dimensions as the numbered size increases.

The larger body dimension alone doesn't tell you the centre feature the cutter will produce.

Check Overall Length & Working Geometry

Clearance around the workpiece can influence the setup even when the cutting diameter is correct.

Sutton publishes overall length & relevant cutting dimensions across the range. A compact #1 D136 differs substantially in physical size from a larger #6, so machine clearance, chucking & component geometry should be considered alongside the pilot.

Numbers on the packet become useful once they're connected to the setup.

Decide Whether You Need Individual Sizes or a Set

One recurring shaft size creates a different purchasing pattern from a general machine shop.

Where the same centre-hole requirement repeats, replacing the exact cutter size can be efficient. Workshops dealing with varied shaft diameters & machining work may benefit from a centre-drill set covering several commonly required sizes.

Sutton currently lists Centre Drill Sets – Plain Type alongside its individual centre-drill families.

Verify Dimensions Instead of Estimating From Shaft Diameter

Shaft diameter provides context but doesn't independently define every centre-hole requirement.

Consider the workpiece, intended support, drawing, machining operation & cutter specification together. Where a dimension needs confirming directly from the component,  Calipers (Digital / Manual) provide a more useful route than visual estimation.

D135 vs D136 Sutton Centre Drills

The shared 60° angle can make these families look more alike than they are.

Use the table to identify the family, then check the individual cutter dimensions before ordering.

A matching point angle doesn't automatically mean matching pilot diameter, body size or dimensional standard.

Centre Drill vs Spotting Drill – Don't Let Similar Jobs Blur the Tools

The first cutting operation isn't always the same operation.

A centre drill is designed around producing a centre hole, including the 60° geometry required for applications such as shaft preparation.

A spotting drill is primarily intended to establish an accurate starting location for a subsequent drill.

Those purposes can overlap in some workshop processes, but Sutton lists Centre & Spotting as distinct industrial drill categories. If the actual requirement is purely to locate a following drilled hole rather than produce a centre feature, check whether a spotting drill better matches the machining plan.

Using the correct name here does more than tidy up the tool drawer.

It helps ensure the geometry selected corresponds with the feature being made.

Workshop Habits That Protect the Centre Before Turning Begins

Face the shaft end appropriately before establishing the centre. An irregular starting surface can complicate accurate feature preparation.

Locate the work from a reliable reference. A precise cutter can't compensate for a workpiece positioned incorrectly in the machine.

Inspect the pilot tip under good light. Damage at the smallest cutting section matters because that edge enters the material first.

Avoid treating centre drilling as deep-hole drilling. The tool exists to establish centre geometry rather than replace the twist drill used for subsequent hole depth.

Control feed as the larger angled section engages. Once the pilot enters, the cutting conditions change as more of the centre-drill geometry reaches the material.

Check the required depth instead of burying the cutter unnecessarily. The finished centre feature should correspond with the machining requirement.

Clear chips before judging the result. Swarf around a small centre hole can hide the surface you're trying to inspect.

Keep frequently used sizes identifiable. A machine shop loses time when worn, chipped & serviceable centre drills all return to the same unmarked compartment.

Measure critical components rather than trusting memory. Repeated jobs still deserve dimensional confirmation when shaft stock, drawings or repair conditions change.

Machine-shop organisation also influences how quickly the right cutter reaches the spindle.  Workshop Equipment provides a broader path for setting up the workspace around drilling, fitting & component preparation.

For tools that spend their working life around swarf, coolant & metal dust, How To Clean Your Gear Without Ruining It covers practical equipment-care considerations beyond the cutting edge itself.