Drill bit shank Drill bit shank The shank is the end of a drill bit grasped by the chuck of a drill. The cutting edges of the drill bit contact the workpiece, and are connected via the shaft with the shank, which fits into the chuck. In many cases a general-purpose arrangement is used, such as a bit with cylindrical shaft and shank in a three-jaw chuck which grips a cylindrical shank tightly. Different shank and chuck combination can deliver improved performance, such as allowing higher torque, greater centering accuracy, or moving the bit, but not the chuck, with a hammer action. This
Drill bit shank a Morse taper and this allows the chuck assembly to be removed and directly replaced with the shank of a Morse taper drill bit. A range of sleeves may be used to bring the size of the smaller Morse tapers up to the size of the drive spindle's larger taper. Sockets are also available to extend the effective length of the drill as well as offering a variety of taper combinations. The detail image shows a Morse taper shank on a 16 mm diameter drill bit. Square taper drills were also used for large ratchet drills, for drilling large holes,