I'm working on a project in which I need to drill lots and lots of 1/2" diameter holes into several large panels routed from 3/4" baltic birch plywood (see attached drawing, with inches as unit) to make an oversized, wacky "Lite Brite". I'm currently trying to figure out how to cleanly cut all of these holes without requiring too many hours of machine time. I also am hoping to find a way to cut these holes so that they don't require any cleanup afterwards (like deburring or sanding or anything) - there will be about 4000 holes total, so post-processing that has to be done really adds up.
I've learned about an operation called 'peck drilling' that seems like might work, though I do need to source an end mill that is ever so slightly larger than 1/2" to give some clearance fit for my Lite Brite pegs (made of acrylic rod). Does peck drilling with a compression cut end mill still produce good top and bottom finish, or is that only when doing horizontal movement?
Another technique that I've been thinking about is using a 1/4" compression cut end mill and an aggressive ramping profile to progressively spiral down into the material (see attached screenshot - blue for step downs, red for ramp), taking advantage of it's horizontal cutting preference to get that smooth top and bottom finish. It'll take longer than the peck drilling, but maybe it'd be worth it. Does this seem like a viable strategy? What can I do or pay attention to in order to get it right?
I'm open to other suggestions too - I'm pretty new to CNC machining in general, so my knowledge of operations and end mills is far from complete!