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| Graz:
Hi my wife has been collecting old plates and wants to make cake stands out of them, so I've been drilling a 6mm hole with a tile drill using water for cooling, It's slow and the drill bits don't last long. I got a diamond drill which in the instructions says start with drill at 45 deg angle, It just wants to skip all over the plate :( So has anyone got any suggestions for a drill bit ? I broke two of her favourite plates today so I'm ging to be in the dog house :hammer: |
| PTsideshow:
Biggest problem is getting started, as in tile, You can use a diamond point scribe to break the vitrified surface coating in the center of the hole, then drill with a clay dam around the area to hold the water or kerosene or your favorite coolant. Make sure that you have a large enough pool of coolant. You should also drill only half way and do the same from the other side to prevent break through. Using a smaller sized drill bit then finishing the hole to size can help. I have some small sized diamond coated hole saws. That work well in the vitrified materials. I also have found that a slower light pressure works better than fast and hard. Don't know what version of a "tile drill" you are using, I have had success with this type. You can also start the holes with this type of burr too I also have a small dia. set off carbide/diamond hole/core drills/saw that work with flood cooling. Again working from both sides doers help on some items. Using a slightly large baking/cake pan to contain the cooling fluid works well and keeps the drill press cleaner. Don't have a photo of the core drills. I'm not pushing the HF tools as a an item for occasional use they work fine. But they have good photo's of the type. |
| sparky961:
--- Quote from: Graz on November 16, 2011, 07:07:43 AM ---Hi my wife has been collecting old plates and wants to make cake stands out of them [SNIP] I broke two of her favourite plates today so I'm ging to be in the dog house :hammer: --- End quote --- I am prone to giving a disclaimer before doing anything that has great potential for unavoidable mishap... :) Think she'd notice if you super glued it back together? |
| Graz:
Thanks for the quick replies I will have a look for those type of drills PT sideshow do they have a trade name? I have managed to drill about 8 plates drilling from both sides. The diamond drill bit I got is flat bottom like a hole saw but kinda rounded cutting edge, so it just wants to run across the plate, best place for it is in the bin :( I have some of those burr's so will give that a go too :) I've been using a hand held battery drill, I have a Tom Senior miller but thought that would be over kill lol If I super glue the plates and poke her in the eye I'm sure she would never know :) |
| PTsideshow:
You can try and make your own hole/core drill. A copper or brass tube the dia. you need you cut 4 or 6 slots in one end about 4 to 6 mm(3/16 to 1/4 " deep. You will need to remove glazed or vitrified surface the size of hole. The diamond burs work well. You then make dam around the hole site, mix up a slurry of oil and grit, either some rock polishing grit or blasting medium to fine silicon carbide grit any light to medium weight oil will do. The slots trap some grit and slurry and with a slower speed and light steady pressure. It cuts through the pottery beneath the glaze. The spade looking bits are called tile or glass bits on this side of the pond. The claim is that the points start the hole by chipping the glaze away. I always have had better luck pre starting them with a diamond burr, carbide burr or even a pointed grinding stone used wet of course. Can't see why your mill if it is like most drill/mills can't be used. I would suggest that you get a can pan large in dia than the plates to contain the spray/splashing. On occasion I have taped some card stock extending above the pans rim to contain spray. I had one about 30 cm's(12") in dia with a rim about 40mm (1 1/2" tall) |
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