Moving a hole

John Carlyle-Clarke has brought this to us :

The only way is to use a drill size which is 5-8mm x2 larger than the drill you first used, or drill a fresh hole and move the pipe.

You're right - the answer is NO! The only thing you can do is to make the hole BIGGER so as to get the desired alignment, and then fill in the unwanted parts of the hole once the pipe is in place.

Patch in a section of plastic pipe to give enough flexibility to fit through the off-centre hole?

I suppose there might be some sort of saw which could carve out the material in the "right direction" to do what's needed - but even if that could be done there'd still be some filling/patching to do afterwards. I think you're right - easiest way would be the 5-8mm x 2 drill bit approach, providing clearance isn't too tight in the horizontal direction to do that.

In metal, I would use a rotary file, but I don't know whether there is a masonry equivalent.

Colin Bignell

Angle grinder.

I play, Shot gun.

Its easy, you use a piece of scrap and a core drill. The scrap keeps the core drill located in the correct place when you drill through it. You can fix the scrap in place using double sided tape.

In message , John Carlyle-Clarke writes

Have you tried dragging it with a magnet ?

Ang-hole grinder?

Get Tom to move hole with his paw, and Gerry runs into the wall *SPLAT*

Seconded; these days a cheapo 25 mm SDS drill is throwaway money and may well give you enough extra distance

I've sometimes been successful with a rat-tail file.

Just fill & redrill. Polyfilla dries in a few days in bulk.

NT

But the Polyfilla will still be softer than the surrounding blockwork. I'd expect the drill to drift off into the pollyfilla if you try to drill a new hole spanning the edge of the old one.

Combination of Polyfilla and also some sacrificial scrap placed in front so it doesn't drift.

Yup, predrill a lump of wood and fix it on. Now only the side of the bit contacts the wood block, so wear isn't too bad.

NT