Drilling granite wall

diamond core drill

Once you have done that, you can hire yourself out to all the local residents at £60 an hour to make holes in *their* granite walls...

The Natural Philosopher formulated on Wednesday :

At 10mm it will not be a core. It needs an SDS drill.

Ah, this looks like it will do it in one shot...

The Natural Philosopher wrote on 01/06/2022 :

You can easily buy 10mm SDS drill bits which are upto a metre long. I paid around £10 for a set of three different diameters, around ten years ago, simply because they were on offer and might come in handy.

They have come in handy a few times. Start the job with a short drill bit, then swap to a longer one when you run out of depth.

For a 10mm hole? SDS drill

That taper fits in your core drill and not the SDS chuck.

As said elsewhere, a carbide tipped SDS drill will do the job. Probably break out a chunk of wall on exit and may benefit from sharpening along the way.

SDS drill and a decent SDS bit.

Is there any way to avoid that?

How do you sharpen a carbide tipped drill?

With the correct "green grit" grinding wheel? At least that was the case with lathe tools years ago.

You might be able to do it with an SDS drill bit and a good powerful drill. It will take time. Don't push the drill; let it make its own way.

The cheapest suitable drill will be mains powered.

Bill

Thank you, and to others. I don't own an SDS drill, but I soon will.

A bit of background:

One of the 2-3kg weight machines will make for a better general purpose drill (although will be a bit slower through your granite wall). It will be less tiring to use on longer jobs.

For a basic 2-3 kg class machine :

That WOULD need a jig as it's too small for a pilot bit.

Human life is unsupportable without an SDS drill. Don't get a battery one unless you'll be working where there's no mains. Battery drills are far more expensive, the batteries don't last for ever, the essential second battery costs a mint, and they are heavy. Get a mains one with lots of watts. It's the watts that make the drill easy to use.

Bill

John, it actually has a wheel on the back for selecting the power level.

I got one for chiselling out some concrete holding fence posts, and it's great for that. It's tiring just for light work, like drilling holes, especially if you have to hold it one-handed.

I've never had to drill granite, but the Titan easily made holes in a concrete lintel that my ordinary hammer drill was having no effect on.

Yes I agree. The thing is, I was an aerial rigger, and in that trade finesse is not known.

They're all nice machines.

You need to turn the hammer off completely if you want to avoid shelling. But get someone to hold a board against the exit point. That works as long as said person isn't a wimp. (Best if they don't have their hands or indeed any part of their body right where the drill is going to come through.)

Bill

GB explained :

A green grit wheel or stone.

I've had a similar Bosch one for nearly 30 years and its still going, even after I lent it to a builder who used it for about three hours continuously chiselling hard brick. He had a much bigger one, but wanted more delicate control. It got so hot the grease melted out of the chuck but it survived. It is impossible to imagine how much better an SDS drill is compared with a normal hammer drill until you try it.

John