Control drilling machines are mainly digital controlled hole processing machines that focus on drilling. Due to the development of machining centers, most CNC drilling machines have been replaced by machining centers. However, some parts that are mainly processed by drilling still need to be processed using a drilling machine, such as processing printed circuit boards, so there is still a certain demand for drilling machines.

Drilling machines were developed on the basis of ordinary drilling machines. It can complete multiple processes such as drilling, expanding, reaming, and tapping, and is suitable for medium to small batch production of parts with certain precision requirements for the distance between holes. Drilling machines are generally equipped with a two coordinate CNC "cross" shaped workbench. The processed parts can be clamped on the workbench for two coordinate movement (the left and right movement of the workbench is the x coordinate, and the front and back movement of the workbench is the y coordinate). The vertical movement (Z coordinate) of the spindle or spindle box with a tool can be CNC or non CNC. The former adopts a 3-axis CNC system, while the latter can adopt a simpler 2-axis CNC system. The spindle speed change and tool replacement are not significantly different from ordinary vertical drilling machines, and are mostly manual. Suitable for machining porous parts with precision requirements for hole spacing but not too high. Its CNC system is generally a point control system (also known as a linear control CNC system), which belongs to economic CNC and is cheap.

The drilling machine is controlled by point positioning and moves along two or three axes simultaneously to reduce positioning time. CNC drilling machines can be divided into CNC vertical drilling machines, drilling centers, printed circuit board drilling machines, deep hole drilling machines, and other large CNC drilling machines according to their layout and functional characteristics.