Archive for July, 2009

How can I Create bigger holes in porcelain or ceramic tiles with my Porsadrill diamond drill bits from 365?

July 1, 2009

How can I Create holes in porcelain or ceramic tiles ?

There are many times when you need to make a large hole into a tile. Maybe to fit a lightswitch socket.

You can actually stitch drill a tile using a range of core drills to open up the tile.

ceramic tile

You could take slithers out of a hole

drilling ceramic

Or use the core to widen the tile and drop an electrical socket in place.

You can see we move from perfect holes. To deformed holes and then into removing entire chunks of tile.

cutting holes in tiles

Stitch drilling is a useful skill if you want to remove parts of a tile accurately.

Article by Richard Hazell of 365drills.com

Cap off service pipes drilled too large with a diamond drill system like Porsadrill 365 drills on porcelain tiles

July 1, 2009

Tile Drills oversized to fit service pipes By Richard Hazell of 365 Drills

How to drill a neat hole in a hard or soft tile and cap it off

This article is written by 365drills using porsadrill to cap off holes in ceramic or porcelain tiles

Whenver you drill a hole in a tile the outcome is either one of two things for your project

1) The hole is perfect and the service pipe fits snug

2) The hole is oversize and the pipe looks too small. In that case you can cap it off

This is a selection of standard service pipes that you would come across in a project

bath pipes 365

Our drill kit contains 16mm, 30mm and a 40mm service pipe cutter. As well as 6mm and 8mm for the fixtures and the fittings.

In this shot a raditor pipe is fitted to a tile with a 30mm diamond drill.

Looks like the hole is too big. But a cover plate makes the fitting look neat.

If you use the 16mm diamond drill to cut the hole the results are dramatic

These 15mm copper pipes have been fitted into the 16mm hole and look really neat. They need not be capped off.

But these cover plates conceal the larger gaps when it is not possible to drill such a small hole. The main reason that it may not be feasible is because the pipe may already have something fitted to it obstructing the way through like a radiator valve. In that case the 30mm is perfect. Also it may be that you want a certain amount of play in the tile hole so the pipe can move into posistion. A cover plate then hides the gap.

There is a generous 45mm of cover to hide the results of the tile drill behind. So the 30mm diamond drill is a perfect choice. Also we do a 40mm tile drill and yes you can fit that inside the footprint of the cover plate but you get very little clearance at 5mm on the edge. Best to stick with a 30mm.

This is a radiator fitted with perfect holes at 16mm so that the pipes are flush with the wall.

Here you see a closeup of the pipes and you can see the 16mm hole is flawless.

In this shot we show you what the pipes would look like if they were fitted with cover plates. You may prefer this look or it may be that the holes require you to fit them. In either case its nice to know that there are solutions.

In this shot the common pipe sizes are laid out as 15mm. 22mm and 32mm next to our drill plate which is 16mm, 30mm and 40mm. The BFKMX covers these service pipes very well.

365-drills

diamond drill bits

Drilling a BATH with a diamond holesaw drill bit to make a hole for taps etc using Porsadrill from 365 drills

July 1, 2009

Drill or drilling a steel or cast iron bath

How to drill a hole in a bath

This article is written by 365drills using a porsadrill diamond to start the hole into a bath for a customer

Plus a remgrit holesaw (not supplied by us) to grind into the cast iron and finish the hole.

Tools Required:

  • 1 x drill with a standard chuck
  • 1 x diamond drill kit by 365drills
  • 1 x remgrit holesaw for cast iron

drill bath

This is a steel bath (you can cut cast iron baths as well) but steel is lighter.

The customer didn’t want the hole on the tiled wall but was afraid of chipping the enamel

drilling a bath

This is the bath corner he selected for the hole to be drilled.

bath hole

When we examined the bath this is the overflow hole and you can see how poor the finish is.

This hole above is not our work!

365 drills

We measured the bath tap which was a 40mm monoblock with a standard 35mm inner bore

monoblock tap
These bits are what go underneath the bath to tighten up the monoblock

bath tap

And this is a shot of the monoblock without all its fittings.

guide plate

Find the position of the hole using the 365drills guideplate. We used a 38mm drill because there is plenty of room under the tap ring to hide the bath hole.

drilling a bath tap hole

Same shot of the 365-drills guide plate but show from a slightly different angle. Once you drill the bath the hole can not be changed. Simple I know but there is no going back after.

diamond drill ennamel

First cut has been made with the 38mm diamond drill. As you can see the edges are perfect with no major chipping of the enamel protective bath coating. Large chips at this stage are a disaster so we use diamond crowns to wear down the paint with a fine grinding action.

hole drills bath

The hole has been cleaned of debris and the collar fitted to check for fit. As you can see we went slightly inside the 40mm diameter choosing to play safe and drill a 38mm ring. That way any fine chipping is held within the fitting and cant be seen.

cutting a hole in a bath

Next we drill a basic pilot hole for a remgrit holesaw to fit through.

We do not supply the remgrit holesaw

Doesn’t have to be perfect and can chip because its within the perimeter wall of the predrilled hole. But best to be careful!

holesaw bath
Stage one of the actual grinding. We set back the inner circle because that’s how the plumbing goes inside the tap.

monoblock tap

Can you see everything is offset rather than in the middle.

365_drills

It takes about 30mins to grind out the hole with a grit edged holesaw. WARNING Everything GETS VERY HOT and messy so please go slow and try to cool it all down. If you use a battery drill to bore the hole in the bath then expect three battery changes. This project will drain the life of a battery drill very quickly. So be sure your kit is fully charged.

porsadrill

This is the back of the bath (or the underneath) you can see some sharp metal which must be removed by pliers and filed down. To prevent this we drilled from the underside for 2mm but you cant stop it all from jagging.

tap hole bath

And this is the finished result.

35mm hole in a bath

We tested all pipes into the bath tap to make sure it worked.

contemporary bathroom

bath pipes 365

365-drills

diamond drill bits

Cutting a tile to install an electrical socket like a plug / switch with diamond tile drills from 365

July 1, 2009

Project – Cutting plug sockets

365 drills

Brief: Many tile project need to accomodate a socket. This is fine if the socket is offset and two, three or even four tiles can be cut to fit around the socket. But what if the tile is so big that the socket falls slap bang in the middle of the tile. Or the tile is small, fragile and the socket falls right in the middle. This project demonstrates two ways to remove the centre of the tile. Most important is that both will never break fragile tiles.

Safety note: The plug socket used in this demo is shown as wired but was not connected to any electrical supply. Never handle live wires with water.

Always wear safety googles, ear defenders and gloves when grinding or drilling.

Equipment required:

Professional tiler: 1 x BFKMX. 1x Angle grinder. 1 x drill. 1 x marker pen. 1 x set square.

One off tiler: 1 x BFKMX. 1 x battery drill.

Project Objective: install a socket slap bang into the middle of a tile. Quickly. And without breaking it.

diamond drills

FINISHED RESULT

tile

1) Lets begin…

ceramic tiles

Mark out your tile to the place where you want your cutout.. You can find the centre using a set square although your socket will probably offset and not always right in the middle. If you can – always try to end up with the socket in the middle to make the job look nice.

2) Use the 16mm drill to drill out the corners

Use a mini angle grinder fitted with a diamond bland to score lines between each 16mm hole. It will get noisy and messy and please be careful with angle grinders because they are vicious things and will spit tile chips everywhere. Make sure its on a firm base. This is a black and decker workmate with a rubber top. As you can see by the tile a fair bit of washing will be needed.

So keep giving the tile a little wash to see where you are and to keep the dust down.

Score out in between each 16mm hole. By using a 16mm hole you should find that the radius of the grinder will clear inside the hole and will not “push on” into the tile. Its easy to go beyond the black lines so that when you fit the socket a little run line is poking out.. Not classy !

Once you ground three sides the Centre piece will “pop” when you have cut 3 sides fully! Lovely!

The result. But did you get the size right?

Pop the socket into the hole and test for fit. Worth doing is keeping an old socket so you dont muck up the customers new one.

Perfect !


PROJECT TWO

This is for those of you who DONT have access to a mini grinder then you can use the drill bits to grind the lines

Reults are not as neat. But it does the job.

You can grind the back and meet in the middle.

Ok so its not elegant but its precission drilling. And it fits. And it didnt break.

On the left is the result without a mini grinder. On the right with a mini grinder


About the tools..

Mini grinders cost £14.99 check out screwfix

Diamond blades cost from £19.99

BFKMX cost £49.99

Service pipes into ceramic tiles. Drilling holes into ceramics with diamond drill bits like 365 porsadrill

July 1, 2009

Drilling ceramic tiles with diamond drills

When we originally set out to develop low cost drilling for hard porcelain tiles we never realized there would be side effects.

The side effects were – a) Perfect holes in ANY tile and b) Everlasting drills in soft ceramics

Seriously! – If you normally tile with the softer (standard) tiles then its now possible for you to own everlasting drills to produce perfect holes. And at £40 a set its really cheap. top quality work in the reach of all tilers for less than the cost of a curry!

365 Drills

Angela from 365drills.com sets up a demo of our porsadrill system. Main website

We discovered everlasting perfect drilling by accident when we did exhibition work. At the time it was not possible for us to drill porcelain all day because of the material cost plus a yawn inducing two minutes per hole.

Drilling ceramics

We needed a fast way to show off our drill plate technology and demo to fast moving crowds. So for exhibition work we switched over to cheap 7p standard white ceramic tiles.

diamond drilling of a tile

What we saw amazed not only the tilers at the stand but us as well. We could reproduce absolutely perfect holes in tiles again and again without a chip or dig in the glaze. And an even bigger surprise was that one diamond crown ate through hundreds of tiles without so much as a hint of going blunt all weekend.

In hindsight its easy to see why. Diamonds are so accurate they only nibble at a small section of tile. In contrast spear point drills swathe away from the center like a paddle swiping at the glaze leading to chipping. Tile hack saws are a crude instrument leaving rough edges. Diamond is also so hard the chances of it wearing out on thin glaze is impossible.

But the reason it took so long for the penny to drop was because we were totally focused at the top end. We assumed there was no market for our product on soft tile because standard tools would always be used on ceramics. So we ignored probably 90% of the tile market.

Tilers (of every level) should know our kit bores perfect holes into any tile. Why do we need to share that message? Well the point is that anything that helps raise the quality of finish is going to help you in your work. Once you tile an area the results of your labour are on display for everyone to see for years at a time. Your trade is the one thing people see day in day out. You are the finishers of projects for people. Your customers will be viewing your work and making comments to their friends and family about what you do for them. And so anything that can raise or improve your tecnique is going to go down very very well.

Have a look below at what we mean. This is a £39.99 pack of seven drills.

365 drill kit

And this is a tile which will will put a hot and cold feed and a waste pipe into.

ceramic tile drilling

For a sink you need a waste pipe and the hot and cold feeds. This is the 16mm drill for a 15mm pipe.

Guide Plate

The drill is locked in place by the drill plate. Just start drilling away at the tile

Richard Hazell

After a few seconds the glaze is broken and the diamonds are making short work of the soft back

diamond holesaw

A quick wipe of the sponge to show you there is not a chip in sight !

nearly drilled

The first hole is done. This 15mm pipe is shown with good clearance. Copper pipe or plastic is fine too.

drilling porcelain

We started the waste pipe hole in the same way. You can see both holes are absolutley superb.

perfect drilling

And this is the finished concept. There is a hot and cold 15mm feed. And a waste pipe. Not even a sign of damage.

porcadrill

How about this. The 30mm drill is wide enough for a shower head, body jet or 22mm pipe.

porsadrill

Have a look at the back of the tile. The drills dont “POP” out the back. The hole has strength because the drill has bored a tube rather than a cone. Lots of people rip out the back of tiles with angle grinders and then smash through from the front. Its a blunt instrument way of working. In contrast this tile is strong on the edge.

drilling ceramic tiles

This is the front of the tile. Looks perfect as usual.

ceramic tile

If you are a tiler then you should try a set of these drills and see what a difference they make to your workmanship.

Find our website http://www.365drills.com

RichardHazel

Article (C) by Richard Hazell of 365Drills – If you want to copy in full or part please contact for permission first

Ceramic tiles small holes (as opposed to hard porcelain) Drilling is easy with diamond drill holesaws bits

July 1, 2009

Drilling small holes for fixtures and fittings

In to ceramic or hard tiles –

By Richard Hazell of the website 365drills.com (C)

This is a tile we drilled using an 8mm diamond drill. We slightly overbored it to slip in a 6 or 7mm rawl plug. In this photo you can see a traditional drill bit in the orange drill pack. These are spade drills and they work from the centre out.

The spade rips the tile to form an ever wider circle until it pushes through the glaze. We however use a diamond cone. The cone only remove the outer edge of the 8mm hole making it a less agressive process. Diamond drills for use with fixtures and fitting are a gentle solution.

This is the hollow core going into the tile. Its about the size of a bic biro.

The advantage of this is less chipping of the tile in such a small area. You can see below the hole is perfect and the rawl plug just slides in.

OK so perhaps on first impressions the rawl plug is looking a bit lost in the tile but the idea is not to put pressure on the tile with the fitting. You can crack it. What we want is the substrate behind to take the weight of the fitting which could be a bathroom cabinet for example.

Here you can see the screw pushes in. Already the jaws of the plug are opening to fit the space.

The rawl plug would by now be slotted into the substrate at the back of the tile. Either ply, wood, breeze block or brick. Its the back of the tile that should bear the weight.

Also look closely at all the holes in this picture to see totally perfect holes. Even at the back.

Installing RADIATOR pipes with diamond drilling kit like Porsadrill by 365 drills bits in porcelain tiles

July 1, 2009

Tile drills for radiator pipes with our kit – By Richard Hazell of 365-Drills

Often when tiling a floor you will find the tail pipes and valves for standard radiators sticking up. Its possible to cut a deep “U” slot into the tile but the results can look ugly. Even a fine cut will show up. If you can remove the valve from the pipe then you can drill a hole into the tile and fit the pipes. The correct size is 40mm. But of course a 40mm hole with a 15mm pipe will look oversized. To conceal the hole fit a 45mm cover plate over the opening. Follow the guide below for full instructions.

1) Drill a 40mm hole into the tile.

tile drill

2) Slip radiator pipe WITH the valve over the hole

3) Seat tile down onto grout and press in place

4) The Hole at 40mm looks too big for the pipe.

Slip a pipe cover over to cap off for a perfect result

Main Website for tile drills


What happens if you use a drill bit less than 40mm when drilling holes into tiles for valves

We tried drilling smaller holes into a tile with a 30mm drill instead of a 40mm.

As you can see on the photo above 2x30mm holes side by side into a elliptical pattern make it wide enough to pass the valve through.

But examine the hole now shaded with the black area from a 40mm drill,. The actual amount of tile saved is minimal and so the test is not successful.

The best way to bore a hole into a tile of ceramic or porcelain with the express purpose of bringing through a standard radiator valve and 15mm copper supply pipe is to use a 40mm drill and to cap off with a 45mm cover plate.

In addition to the extra time and effort of drilling the 30mm also makes the hole look ugly. If for any reason in the future the cover plate comes off or is lost etc then the 40mm looks elegant. The 30mm twin hole does not.

The use of WATER to cool a diamond drill bit as it is cutting into porcelain tiles drilling grante etc

July 1, 2009
Keeping a 365 drill bit cool is easy

Every installer has a bucket and sponge to hand on site.

Make use of what is already there….


Avoid excessive heat build up… Cool drills last longer

THREE EASY STEPS:

  • Soak your sponge in water
  • Hold under the rotating diamond crown.
  • Squeeze into bucket and remove spoil...

Simple….

Your wet sponge held underneath the crown will cool it by preventing heat build up.

It also collects the dust keeping your worksite clean!


Q: I see other systems cool their drills with pressurized water containers, hosepipes, water delivery systems like arbors, plus hi-tec water jets and delivery pumps.

So where is your equipment? Do I have to buy extra things?

A: Why bother to buy expensive and cumbersome pressurized bottles, water sprays, jets, pumps, feed lines when you already have a bucket of water and a sponge to hand.

Secondary water systems waste your time filling tanks with fresh water, setting them up, storage and of course cost money.. If you love gadgets and gizmos – fine. Remember you are drilling a hole not performing major heart surgery. Dont forget the more water you stream onto a site equals the more mess you make and need to clear up ! Water damage during construction is harmful and wasteful.

Q: Do I need any water?

A: Yes you need SOME but will be surprised how little is actually required. Just a splash per hole is enough. :

1.You need water to: Remove the heat that will build up in the diamond crown. Cold diamond crowns work better to a maximum of luke warm. Hot drilling is bad news for its lifespan… however holding a wet sponge under the crown delivers enough water to keep it cool. Its that easy!

2. You need water to: Reduce dust. When you drill the hole (actually you grind the hole) fine particles of porcelain form. With water jet systems the dust is forced to stream down the wall over a large surface area. If the floor or work area is not yet water tight this mix of water and spoil can be difficult and time consuming to collect. In any case collection of the water is an additonal step. Porcelain dust is so fine it gets caught in wooden floors, plasterboard, floor joists and makes a general mess over a wide area.

However if you hold a wet sponge directly under the diamond crown as you drill then not only do you lubricate and cool the crown, but the spoil actually collects in the sponge. You gain total control of the drill site. To manage the spoil simply stop drilling, drop the sponge into your water bucket and squeeze it out!

REAL LIFE EXAMPLE:

The point is magnified the higher up the wall you drill. Example: Imagine you are fitting a window blind to a tiled wall and need to drill four holes. To reach you stand on your stepladder with the drill slightly above your head.

Think about the water jet example. You have the inital burden of raising all the equipment to the correct level to reach the drill site. Things like water delivery hose pipes, heavy water pressurised container, the water jets, heavy drills, arbors as well as other stuff like mops and buckets just to drill a hole. And dont forget you have to pump the handle to pressurise the container as you drill… But imagine also the water stream coming down the wall, down your arms or over your head as you drill. Its messy. And uncomfortable.

In contrast standing on a stepladder with a lightweight battery drill and a small wet sponge with total control over water loss is much much more comfortable and simple.


Q: Why do other systems spray a continuous jet of water?

A: Those systems rely on a pilot drill or central “carbide steel pilot” to guide the core. PROBLEM! The pilot is made of carbide so burns out quickly if heated. The pilot will blunt if it gets hot. To prevent burnout a water jet must be used continuously. This requires a pressurized container full of fresh water. A pipe feed control system. A water delivery jet.


Q: Are there obvious advantages for PORSADRILL and the 365drill kit ?
  • Very low water use. Water is precious so save it. Reuse water from the bucket!
  • A sponge collects dust as you drill to eliminate mess and clean up.
  • No set up time so you work a lot quicker. Go home earlier !
  • Diamond drills recover from accidental overheating. Carbide wont.
  • Save the expense of buying a pump and water jet.
  • Save the cost of buying an arbor attachment.
  • Avoid hassle clutter with water pipes, attachment and mechanical devices.
  • You wont flood areas not yet water tight.
  • Why bring more equipment that necessary? Its already there !

//

How to install a glass shower door or panel in a bathroom with PORCELAIN tiles with 365 tile drills

July 1, 2009

How to install a shower door or panel

FACT: Shower glass at 10mm is heavy and need a number of fixings to hold that weight!

At some stage you will need to install your shower glass panel and door. Most units come as an assembly pack that make use of
1) Large screws
2) Metal channels to secure the glass
3) Extra lugs or wall braces.
4) Glue
5) Foam Strips
6) Mastic.

tile drill bits

And here it is…. This is our wall. We need to drill it twice
1) To fit the frame.
2) To reinforce the frame with lugs.

diamond drill bits

First we mark out the wall to the area where the metal bar will fit. (Sorry the photo is faint) Look to the second tile in and you will see the dots for the scews. In this case the metal bar has holes pre-drilled to accept the screws. You have to match the holes in the bar to the tile. Remember to lift up the bar a little if it has a 45* angle at the bottom. Thats because you will slide a second bar along the shower tray.

porcelain drills

We’ve made a start… This is one of four 8mm holes we are forming into the porclelain tiles.
porsadrill

Now we fit the metal bar to the wall. In this case its glued and screwed.

Now we mark out for the lugs. You can see a lug fitted to the shower glass just in shot on the right hand side. We have fitted the glass into theat channel and then drawn the screw holes on the wall (heavy work)

drilling large tiles

The template is used to hold the drill steady on the porcelain and prevent wander or drill slip.

tile drill bits

Drilling begins…

hard tiles drills
A perfect set of holes…

holesaws diamond

Closeup of those holes. Ready for brown plugs

365drills

Now all we do is lift this glass sheet and place it into the channel.

__________________
Richard Hazell
t: 01992-410636 24/7 (mobile: 0777 366 4519)
e: richard@365drills.com
w: http://www.365drills.com
w2: http://www.365drills.net
Drilling Tough Tiles – PORSADRILL

How to install rawl plugs into very hard porcelain tiles with a tile drill 6mm or 8mm Porsadrill 365 kit

July 1, 2009

How to drill small holes in a bathroom wall tile without cracking it

bathroom drilling

You know the score! Your bathroom tiles are on the wall and looking lovely… So how do you fix your items into hard porcelain tiles without cracking the tile and having to replace expensive stone tiles? Rawl plugs are used and the most common sizes are small 6mm and large 8mm.

bathroom tile

Above is the perfect finished result… AND YOU CAN ACHIEVE THIS AS WELL This picture shows two 8mm holes drilled with mm perfection into very hard porcelain tiles which have even been grouted. The lines marked out are to a 0.5mm tolerance! Wow…

granite wall tile

The first task is to measure out the wall. Use masking tape and a spirit level to get a perfect line. You can use pen or pencil to make the marks. Try to use the natural symmetry of the tiles to work with. For example we used the grout line above as the center point for our loo roll holder. Next mark out the tape at the points where you need your holes. Measure twice. Drill once! Please take your time when marking out. If its your home try marking out on one day and sleeping on it. Next day come and look to see if the location is perfect.

holesaws 8mm

If left to drill freehand all core drills (example above) will wander, slip and cause damage to your lovely and expensive stone tiles. I am sure you are keen to prevent drill slip. So how do we do it?

stone tile

All our packs come with the guide plate. This anti-slip device will prevent the core from skidding and will control its application to the tile. Because your tiles are so hard we have to make hollow drills. The drills go to make a core in the tile. This prevents drilling out too much tile saving you time and money. Take a look at the two examples below.

A: is the result of a standard drill made of carbide and with an arrow tip. This “swathes” at the tile forming a rough and chipped hole. The drill bit does not last very long. Imagine it to look like a paddle.

B: is the result of our PORSADRILL diamond crown. You can see it is much neater, more accurate and will not chip your tile. Think of even the smallest of our cores as little grinders. Their job is to grind out holes not to drill them.

floor tile porcelain

B: You will get perfect results from our diamond core drills even at 6mm

So once you have set our your drilling pattern on the tiles with tape then its time to use the anti-slip guide plate to get started. Just place it over the hole with your left hand and apply pressure. The plate will grip any type of tile (rough smooth, wet dry) and gets you ready to drill.

drilling a wall tile

The plate has been placed over the hole and is now ready to accept the diamond holesaw. Now is the moment of no return….. Once you start drilling then there is no going back. Even the professionals pause for breath at this point!

anti slip guide plate

At this stage you only want to drill for a few seconds to get a small pit into the tile… Once the pit is formed quickly dip the drill bit into cold water. Get the heat out of the tip of the drill. If you have multiple holes it is better to get the “starting point” sorted out first. Use the yellow plate and the diamond drill to make small little pits into the multiple holes around the bathroom. Once you have completed that stage you can do away with the anti-slip guide plate. The drill will seat itself into the performed socket.

8mm tile drill

Now we need you to have the patience of a saint…. Use the diamond crown to slowly bore deeper into each hole. The best method is to plunge into the hole for 5 seconds, then draw back on the drill and get it wet.

diamond hole saw

cooling drill bit

Hold a very wet sponge UNDER the drill and count to eight. When you hit eight draw back the drill into the wet sponge and give it a chance to cool down. Don’t go beyond eight. Don’t think you can count nine and ten because although you are getting results the head of the drill is being to boil. You do not want to get the drill hot. If you count out loud to five and pull the drill out then its better for the life of the drill but it slows the job down. Eight is a reasonable time count. Ten is too much. If you are on a building site its better to do it quietly!

porsadrill

Remember to go slow! It takes a quick three minutes to drill a hole but it wont FEEL like three minutes. The drills are working. Its just you cant see it working. If it helps get a little egg timer and set it to five minutes. Control yourself and don’t be tempted to speed up at this point. You will find to your surprise that it really has only taken three minutes but it just felt longer because of all installation jobs this one is just not that interesting. Remember most things have two holes so you are really only going to get them done in about ten minutes when you take time out to stop, change holes and clean up.

365 drills

Hooray! you made it.. So that’s it, the final result. A perky little hole ready to accept your rawl plug. But before you finish up there are a couple of bits to do. The first is following through to get the right depth. If you can avoid at all costs using the diamond drill this will be to your benefit. Why? Its not that the core drills wont work (they will work) its that the junk behind this hole like plasterboard and brick will gum up the inside of the barrel. You will spend ages trying to clean out a tiny little barrel. Its better to pull back and only take out the hard stone. Hard stone is much easier to eject. More diamond cores are wasted by filling up the barrel with debris than burn out. If you don’t go deep you are at an advantage…

stone core

Each drill ends up with a small core stuck inside the barrel. Most fixtures and fittings come with a little Allen key to install them. Use this Allen key to poke out the core via the little ejection slots we place inside every diamond drill bit. You see we are so nice to you that we cut slots into the cores so you can get these little bits out !

tile drilling

Some jobs just take a long time. In this case we have three pots to go next to a bath. Shampoo, conditioner and soap. Each bottle has four holes. So this section of tiles is going to want twelve holes all without breaking those lovely looking stone tiles….

drilling tiles

Just stick to those rules…. DRILL SLOWLY…. USE WATER…. DON’T APPLY PRESSURE

Other Tips

waste pipe

TIP 1 Block the waste trap on all showers sinks and baths. The stone cores pop out and can be lost down the holes. Also the drill bits can get lost. You don’t want to scratch your clients enamel with diamonds so use cover clothes and clean up after yourself.. But you already do that !

drill holes tiles

TIP 2 (Actually Note to self) If you are going to plunge the still running drill bit into cold water – remove the yellow sponge first. When the drill bit gets caught into the sponge (and it will) the centrifugal force of the drill bit spinning the sponge will instantly empty the contents of your paint kettle all over the clients floor. Thankfully its only water….

If you follow our advice in this article you will get many many perfect holes into hard stone tiles.

holes tiles

And finally… These articles can seem a little bit dull so here’s something to cheer you up

drilling tiles

tile drills

porsadrill