I have to drill about 60 1/4 ” holes in 3/16 ” glazed ceramic tile. What should I use the arrow tip glass drills or small diamond hole saws? Concrete is under tiles so should I just start the holes with glass bit and finnish them with regular carbide bit?
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Glass bit and then a carbide.
Sounds like you best have two drills on hand. One with a glass bit and the other with the carbide...
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
Get an arrow shaped glass bit as previously mentioned. Twist the bit back and forth to break the glaze on the tile. Once the glaze is broken, the bit will seat well and not wander. Then drill away. Once the bit clears the tile, you can switch to a regular wood bit. If this is in a wet location, you'll use plastic expansion sleeves, right? so put a dab of caulk in the hole before inserting them, and another dab of caulk in the insert hole before inserting the screw.
Good Luck.
Boris
"Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934
I alwayse thought the WC in that Quote was Winston Churchill and that a woman was appauled that he was drunk in public to which he replied "and you mam are ugly.. but I'll be sober in the morning."
I guess the only difference is that WC was a professional commic and Winston was a commic professional.
Scott T.
Don't forget NOT to use a hammer drill on the tile with the glass bit. Turn the bit at the lowest speed you can--no more than about 350-500 rpm.
Use the hammer drill once you get through the tile and switch to the concrete bit.
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
Hi Dino
Found a trick using the bullet shaped tile drill- just put your drill on low speed reverse a few turns to break the glaze.
Mac
Never tried that myself. You say it won't skate when it's turned backwards? Interesting...gotta have some scrap tile layin' around somewhere to check that out....Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
Hi Dino
I Have a small carbide pointed awl that I gently press into the the tile which gives me a small point to start the drill in reverse.
Mac
Ahhhhh! That's cheating, ain't it?
Seriously, if you've got a starter nick in the glaze, why bother with running the bit backwards first? Does it buy you that much?
Obviously, if it's possible, I drill or circle-cut from the back before setting the tile. In this guy's case, it's not; must be some kind of retrofit or one heck of a lot of towel bars....Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
Dino
Somewhere in my tool box I have centre punch for drilling sheet metal!
Mac
From "Beautiful British Columbia"
Where "This Bud's for you" has a different meaning?
Well, what did you say wrong to the boss to get stuck with drilling 60 1/4" holes in tile? I use a small nail set and a light weight hammer to break the tile glaze and provide a skid proof point of entry for a carbide tipped drill bit in a cordless drill motor. This allows drilling through the tile down to the backing. If the backer is cement board, keep right on drilling to the proper depth. Just remember to avoid high impact to the tiles unless you want to break them out for replacement!!!!