Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Catheter Laser Drill, Brady Haug

Industrial Technology and Packaging

The project that I have undertaken is to improve upon an existing machine and process at Applied Medical, a medical device company. The machine is used to drill four holes into the body of a catheter. The holes are located on a linear axis, rotated 90 degrees apart from each other. Currently, the machine utilizes a traditional drill bit to create the four holes. This creates burrs along the holes, which increases the manufacturing time because a worker must remove them. The project calls for the use of a laser to replace the drill bit. The machine designed through this …