Core drilling brick wall - very slow.

[David]

I seem to have been at it for hours. but I do have to take frequent breaks because working under the sink is a bit cramped and I am not a contortionist.

However this did seem to be excessive so I started to search on line to see if, perhaps, I was running at the wrong speed.

This discussion

seems to think that you should be able to go through a brick cavity wall in about 10 minutes.

However there is mention of hard bricks such as engineering bricks and Accrington bricks which are dead 'ard.

Some of the spare bricks lying around are marked LF Co Ltd which appears to be Leeds Fireclay Company. This company was apparently formed from several brick companies in the 1880 and was huge. It included the makers of Accrington Brick.

So far I haven't been able to find a reference to the relative hardness (although there are an amazing number of brick collectors sites) but the face of the brick is glazed and there are loads of grit sized inclusions.

This shows a core of part way through the first brick.

Not like the soft Southern bricks found in Essex, which you used to be able to dig into with an old penny then use the brick dust as an abrasive to polish up the copper coin.

Oh, well, back to the long hard grind.

Cheers

Dave R

[tabbypurr]

At least it's not stone. One place I know has walls that are immune to SDS. Drilling them is something one avoids whenever possible. And they're very thick.

The simple hardness test is to tap a nail into the brick. If it just bounces off, it's 'ard.

NT

[whisky-dave]

A friend had a similar problem it was taking ages so I gave it a try and noticed that the drill was on reverse ;-) When set to forward it was so much quicker he said.

Not that I think you've made this error, just something that came back to me when reading the post.

Each to their own at least it is DIY, .er

[John Rumm]

See previous comment on the pilot drill - if you are actually drilling with that in place and there is no pilot hole, then it will go slow since there is no hammer action for the pilot to cut with.

I find 10 to 20 mins for a double skin brick wall is probably reasonable with a 117mm dry diamond core.

The key is keep comfortable, and try and guide it straight and true so that it does not snag too often. Damp walls are often harder to drill since they snag more easily.

[David]

Yes, I followed the destructions and took out the pilot drill as soon as the core drill was settled in.

I had previously drilled a pilot hole the same size as the drill so it was only acting as a guide at this point.

At the moment it seems to be about 10-20 minutes for every 5 cms gained.

See other thread about diamond core bits.

Cheers

Dave R

[Jethro_uk]

I wonder how our ancestors managed ?

I never cease to be fascinated watching quarrymen and stonemasons slicing rock into pieces ....

[FMurtz]

Depends whether the drill is tungsten or diamond

[John Rumm]

Much depends on the wall in question. I have had some take 40 mins to an hour...

[Terry Casey]

Ah! Memories of my primary school days in south Essex!

You could see where generation of kids had been polishing their pennies using the wall of the building!

[ARW]

I have some take even longer, this is for 117mm holes.

There is of course a special technique to it that we use at work to make things easier.

It's called an apprentice or Russian labourer.

Out of the shower of s**te apprentices we have at the moment I believe that only one of them could actually core drill a hole.

[tabbypurr]

You need a poster on your van. One that says 'training counts'

NT

[Cynic]

I have various Marcrist dry diamond core drill cutters along with a vacuum dust extractor shaft connector that works with a Henry vacuum cleaner. Without the vacuum it's a slow, tedious job requiring frequently drawing the cutter out to help remove the dust. Using the same unit with the vacuum clears the cutter continuously. It takes about a quarter of the time to that using without vacuum.

[John Angus]

They basically didn?t need to drill holes in that stuff.

Sure, but that?s not drilling big holes.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Cynic writes

Core drilling through a granite road edging block, I convinced myself that a lot of pressure is needed. The diamonds are embedded in a metal matrix which needs to wear bringing fresh cutting edges into work.

[Chris J Dixon]

Just don't let them paint it for you.

Chris

[GB]

There was a lot of pre-thinking about where things would be fitted inside the finished building, so they could let chunks of wood for fixings into the masonry at the time of building.

If they needed to make flue-sized holes in the walls, they knocked out chunks of masonry, then 'made good'.

[whisky-dave]

Is that a typo or did you mean to inclued the "o" ?

[whisky-dave]

I wonder how they drilled this hole, I've climbed through it.

[dennis]

Easily big enough to do with a stone axe.

[whisky-dave]

I think they used wood and wore the hole away with gravel like they did in the hebrides rather than an axe which would have broken the ring.