Hi,
I need to fix some bathroom accessories so have to drill into the porcelain tiles. I've purchased a diamond tipped drill for the job. Does anybody have any tips on how to go about this, especially how to stop the drill slipping?
Many thanks, Darren.
Poor sod. I just had to do 20 6mm holes in porcelain tiles. Takes bloody ages. Was using good quality tile drill and a squirty spray of cold water to keep the drill from overheating. Cheaper than a biog water cooled kit. Took c. 30 mins for the first hole. Got it down to about 15 minutes by the end. Mind you, the first ones were in the window recess for a blind.
Put a cross of sellotape over the marked centre of the hole. Take it nice and slow. Make sure you've switched off the hammer action:-)
Douglas de Lacey
I used a 6mm core drill with diamonds..that worked very well.
Stopping it slipping was a question of digging one edge in first..once going it stayed put.
Water is needed, but cutting speed was fairly good - but it clogged a lot.
If your drill has a central locating pip of some sort, the classic method is to use e.g. a diamond or hard steel scribe to scribe a cross in the glaze.
If its a cure drill you will juts have to accept a little innacuracy and let teh plastic plugs take care of it.
..
Making sure the plastic plug goes beyond the tile otherwise it will crack it .
See glass and tile sections:
Er no. In my case the strength is entirely in the tile. There is only plasterboard and a void behind.
I have only ever cracked one tile - too large a screw and too small a plug right at the edge of a tile.
If the screw simply does not want to go in, thats a bad sign, but mostly they go in easily until right at the end was the plug compresses up inside the hole. Its up to you how tight you tighten it..I gues 30-50lb feet is my am. I,e. I put some effort on, but not ALL I could put in, and don't use an electric driver.
You don't have to drill at all.
Stick the accessories on with PinkGrip.
David
Was there no way you could have ( or can still) get access to place a piece of timber behind to take the screw... I have just built a false wall to take a shower on one side and a mirror and W/H basin etc on the other and I made sure that there were battens placed at appropriate points to accept screws for mug holder,soap dish etc etc .
Stuart
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember snipped-for-privacy@tiscali.co.uk saying something like:
Take one hardened nail of the type used to drive into concrete. Place point of nail where you've marked with felt tip and gently tap with hammer until you break through the glaze, turning the nail as you do so. Take your drill and drill hole on non-hammer setting.
Never drilled porcelain, but stopping the drill slipping on normal tiles is easy, never mind the tape thing. I've been using these Bosch multipurpose drill bits for a while
Ah, you must be a bachelor.
Wherever you put the battens will be THE place that they SIMPLY CANNOT GO.
I had this argument "can you put up a curtain pole?" "yes, it will take me two days" "Don;t be silly" "Ok then watch"...as I removed a section of plasterboard, screwed in a MDF plate, replaced teh board, scired a V, but filler in, sanded it all flush, and repainted it. "Isn't that pole up YET?"..."Its not getting the pole up dear, its making sure it doesn't come down later"
Got it in 1 ..lol..I do as I tell myself to .
Stuart
I've been using the bits that came with my SDS drill. Hammer off, very little weight, slow speed. The bit marks the surface almost immediately so make sure your aim is good.
There are tablets for that....
Never had an issue. Mark on tiles location of holes using marker pen, then gently tap/dig using a centre punch to break through the glaze at locations where holes are needed. Then just drill slowly and carefully using a masonary bit. If a large hole drill, say 4mm pilot first.
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