I am trying drill some holes in glass tile to allow the screws from a GFI receptical cover to seat properly. Purchased a 1/4" ceramic and glass bit and drilled a test hole in an extra tile. All went well. Left it on the workbench and returned 1/2 hour later to find the corner had cracked off. What went wrong ? Why would it do that ? Thanks
When you drilled the hole, did the tile vibrate?
I'm gonna take a stab and assume heat with cold. When you drilled the tile, you created too much heat then placed on a cool bench. The tile needed to cool slowly to allow contraction. Placing it on the bench excelled the cooling process to the point of breaking.
No vibration, and the bench was where I drilled it. No lube or any cooling, do I need one for a 1/4" hole ? Didnt appear to b fragile or hot immediately after drilling. All material was a fine dust.
Do you have kids? Sometimes they get curious and things just sort of happen.
Thermal stress as the tile cooled? Not sure if you are referring to an interior cutout corner, or one of the exterior corners, but if it was an interior corner, you should be drilling all four corners and not have any 90 degree transitions.
Wow - yes, absolutely. You need to have a squeeze bottle of water running near continuously as you drill.
What about a stream of air to keep it cool ? No kids. Outside corner.
No. Air is a poor thermal conductor. That drill bit is hot. Try touching it after a few seconds. :)
When I attempt to drill in the kitchen, the tile will b vertical. How will I keep it wet w/o creating a mess ?
Tape a trough beneath - draining into a pail - have your capable assistant < think Teri Garr in Young Frankenstein >
apply a small stream of water as you drill. If Teri Garr isn't available, devise your own gravity feed water stream device ...
Now that you know about water cooling, I'd drill a few more test holes to learn what other possible mistakes there are.
It's sounds like you have a nice ?bathroom or kitchen?.
I'd seriously consider gluing the cover to the wall instead of using screws. No risk of breaking a tile that's glued to the wall, especially if you have only a few matching tiles to replace broken ones.
Ambroid cement would be good for this, sticks to just about everything, smells good, dries fast, but is not so strong that you can't break it off if you need to someeday. Sticks well but not so well that you can't knock off whatever is stuck to tile if you need to that too. Only sold at hobby stores. Not at Amazon
and think about anything you want to EXCEPT a blue horse.
You WILL create a mess. Best to drill the hole in the tile - flat, then install the drilled tile. If you break one, you just drill another one untill you run out of spares - - - -
If I break a tile, how hard is it to get it out of the grouted tiles w/o breaking any more. And if u do replace it, will it look the same ? (Unnoticeable? )
Google "grout saw" . Once you remove the confinement of the grout it's relatively easy to break up the tile you want to remove . Yes , I do have experience as a professional tile-setter .
Maybe just attach the plate to the wall with a little RTV.
It will hold just fine and would be easy to remove.
Did not see your suggestion until I posted similar advice
Kinda leaning forward the glue option, I guess I would cut the screws off at the head and then glue them in place ? Then use dbl faced tape or the glue u mentioned and stick the plate to the wall ?
I don't understand your problem. Is the GFCI behind the tile? can you take it out without breaking the tile??? The outlet should NOT be behind the tile or the outlet will ALSO be BEHIND the plate. It should protrude THROUGH the plate.
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