Q&A response - new interpretation of R16

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by jgannon

I don't totally understand the geometry behind it, but the second sentence in the linked article was "No - you can't drill square holes", so I'm guessing there's some reason that doesn't work.

The article is pretty good, but actually the second sentence is incorrect. You CAN drill square holes! Although fairly rare, wobbling drill bits that describe Reuleaux Traiangles have been around for years. There is a great article about drilling square holes from the October 1993 issue of The Mathematics Teacher. One of my friends used to have one of the Watts Brothers square hole bits (after we stumbled across the Mathematics Teacher article several years ago, his immediate reaction was "I've gotta have one of those!"), and it was fascinating to watch. As best as I can tell, the Watts Brothers Tool Works is still the only U.S. manufacturer of these drill bits, but you can still get them.

-dave



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