Mg alloy MA8M is used in the aerospace and food industries and in biomedical applications due to its lightness and biocompatibility. This paper presents the drilling performance of the standard HSS and TiBN-coated drill bits during the machining of the MA8M Mg alloy at various drill rotational speeds and feed rates. After the experiments, the surface roughness, topography and chip formation were analyzed. Atomic-force microscopy (AFM) and surface profilometer were used for this purpose. It was observed that higher drilling feed rates and drill rotational speeds lead to lower surface-roughness values. TiBN-coated drill bits exhibited undesired surface qualities. Keywords: MA8M Mg alloy, TiBN coating, twist drills, surface quality, multiple regression analysis, chip formation Mg zlitina MA8M se uporablja v letalstvu, prehrambeni industriji in v biomedicini, ker je lahka in biokompatibilna.^lanek predstavlja obna{anje pri vrtanju z normalnimi HSS in s svedri s TiBN prevleko na konici, pri obdelavi Mg zlitine MA8M pri razli~nih vrtljajih svedra in hitrostih podajanja. Po eksperimentih je bila analizirana hrapavost povr{ine, topografija in nastanek ostru`ka. V ta namen sta bila uporabljena mikroskop na atomsko silo (AFM) in profilometer povr{ine. Ugotovljeno je, da ve~ja hitrost podajanja in vrtenja svedra povzro~i manj{o hrapavost povr{ine. S TiBN prevle~eni svedri so povzro~ali neustrezno kvaliteto povr{ine. Klju~ne besede: MA8M Mg zlitina, TiBN prevleka, vija~ni svedri, kvaliteta povr{ine, multipla regresijska analiza, nastanek ostru`ka