How to bore a hole in glass. How to drill glass with a regular drill. Unusual ways to drill a hole in glass

When it becomes necessary to drill glass, most will most likely turn to specialists who will do this work for you, but not for free. In fact, the whole process of drilling at home is not complicated, as it might seem. In this article we will understand how to drill glass, as well as how and with what it can be done.

Preparation for work

  • Before drilling glass at home, it must be prepared for work: using turpentine or alcohol, it is necessary to degrease the entire surface, and then wipe it with a dry soft cloth;
  • During operation, the glass sheet must not be allowed to slide.
  • The sheet must be completely located on the base.
  • The place where you decide to drill a hole should be marked with a marker or construction tape.
  • If you do not have the skills of drilling holes, then we advise you to practice on small pieces so as not to spoil the main sheet.
  • Drilling glass at home is not fast. The process will take quite a long time. During operation, do not press hard to speed up the work.
  • The drill should be placed at right angles to the plane. One hole should not be made at a time. From time to time you need to stop and let it cool down a bit.
  • When you are in the final stage, ie. when the hole is almost ready, it is necessary to turn the glass sheet over and drill a hole from the other side. This operation allows you to avoid cracks or chips, and you will also get a hole of the correct shape.
  • In order to get rid of small bumps or roughness on the glass surface, take fine sandpaper and process the sheet.


Drill glass with a regular drill

In order to drill holes in glass, you will need the following:

  • Drills designed for drilling ceramic or metal materials;
  • Low-speed drill or screwdriver;
  • Turpentine;
  • Plasticine;
  • Alcohol.

The sheet must be placed on a completely flat surface. There are some nuances here: the edges should not be hung, and it should not stagger.

On a drill or screwdriver, you need to set the lowest rotational speed. Clamp the required drill in the chuck. After that, you need to check the drilling. If there is an increased beat, then it is advisable to change it. The lowest speed for drilling is 250 rpm and the highest 1000 rpm.

The plane should be degreased with an alcohol solution, and then make a plasticine recess in place of the upcoming hole. Pour a little turpentine into this recess and start work. To avoid cracking, do not press too hard on the tool. Without effort, lightly hold the screwdriver or drill over the glass and drill holes in the glass.

How to drill glass with sand

At a time when there were no drills and screwdrivers, do-it-yourself glass drilling was done in this way. In order to make a hole with sand, you will need the following things:

  • Naturally sand.
  • Petrol.
  • Lead or tin.
  • Gas-burner.
  • A metal mug or other similar vessel.

The surface must be degreased with gasoline, and after that, a hill of wet sand should be poured into the place of future drilling. Then, using some sharp object, you need to make a funnel of exactly the same diameter as the future hole should be.

In this resulting form, you need to pour a pre-molten mixture of lead or tin. After a few minutes, you need to remove the sand and remove the frozen part of the glass. It should easily move away from the surface. The resulting hole will be perfectly even and will not require additional processing work.

To heat tin or lead, use a metal mug or other vessel and a gas burner. If you do not have a burner, then a regular household gas stove is quite suitable.

How to drill with a homemade drill

Drilling glass at home will require the preparation of a special drill, which consists of a diamond roller located in a conventional glass cutter and a metal rod. It is necessary to make a cut in this rod, in which this diamond roller will be placed so that it is motionless in relation to the rod.

Having prepared such a drill, fix it in a screwdriver or drill and start drilling a hole. It can be called a modification of conventional drills with diamond coating. Therefore, if you do not have the opportunity to purchase such a factory drill, then you can easily make it yourself.

There is another way to prepare a homemade drill. You need to take any ordinary drill, clamp it in pliers and hold it in a flame gas burner within minutes. After the end of the drill turns white, you need to quickly cool it by lowering it into sealing wax. When it cools down, if available, remove the remains of sealing wax. With this simple operation, you get a hardened tool that can drill through hardened material.

  • In order to prevent the appearance of splits and cracks on the surface, a little bit of turpentine or honey should be applied to the place to be drilled.
  • The drill or screwdriver must not be pressed hard from above.
  • Take breaks while drilling. The intervals should be between 5 and 10 seconds. Also, during a break, it is advisable to lower the drill into a container of water so that it cools down. This is necessary in order to avoid melting.
  • Do not swing the screwdriver or drill from side to side.
  • If possible, it is better to use a screwdriver, because. it will work in a more gentle mode with its low speed.
  • In order to treat the surface, you can use not only alcohol, but also acetone.
  • In the process of working with a drill, you should take care of safety precautions: use gloves and goggles.
  • The drilling point for fragile glass should be at least 1.5 mm from the edge of the sheet, and for ordinary glass at least 2.5 cm.
  • It is best to work with the material on wooden surface.

Working with a glass cutter

For a full disclosure of the topic, it is worth learning how to drill glass at home using a glass cutter. It is perfect for creating unusual shapes or large sizes. In this case, the sequence of actions will be as follows.

1. With a marker or felt-tip pen, create the necessary contours along which processing will take place.

2. In the process of working with a glass cutter, do not make sudden movements. The pressure on the tool should be uniform and smooth.

3. In order for the cut part to fall off, lightly tap the surface with the handle of the glass cutter.

4. Use special tongs to remove excess.

5. Before starting work, you need to check the condition of the tool. The roller should be in the middle, rotate evenly and evenly.

Unusual ways to drill a hole in glass

1. To drill tempered glass, it is necessary to prepare the liquid for cooling. It will be prepared as follows: acetic acid you need to dissolve alum from aluminum. If you do not have them, then you can mix turpentine with camphor in a 1: 1 ratio. Treat the glass with the resulting solution and then start work.

2. If you do not have a drill, then you can use copper wire, which must be clamped in a drill. In such a case, the process will take place using a special solution: 2 parts of turpentine and 1 part of camphor, to which coarse-grained sandpaper powder should be added. The mixture must be put in place in which you need to drill a hole and get to work.

3. There is another method of using such a solution. It is possible to work with a metal piece of pipe, which can also be inserted into a drill chuck. Make a plasticine ring 10 mm high and 50 mm in diameter on the glass surface. Pour a solution of camphor, turpentine and emery powder into the recess of the ring and drill.

If you need to create an even and neat hole in the glass surface, it is not necessary to contact experienced and qualified specialists, whose services are quite expensive. This procedure can be done with your own hands in a home workshop, but, of course, for this you need to know how to drill glass, what tools, consumables and equipment to use.

To drill glass, use one of the methods discussed in this article.

Understanding the characteristics of the material

Before you wonder how to drill glass at home, you should at least in general terms get to know the characteristics and features of this material.

The glass production process is quite complex. Perform it on industrial enterprises equipped with special equipment. The main stage of this process is the preparation of the melt, which includes several components. Such a melt for glass is subjected to a sharp supercooling, while the crystallization process is not completed completely.

To prepare the melt, the mixture of components that make up the future glass is subjected to significant heating - up to 2500 °. Depending on what chemical basis the melt has, glasses are distinguished:

  • oxide category;
  • sulfide;
  • fluoride type.

Glasses, which may be opaque, are divided into Various types depending on the basic characteristics that the material possesses. So, glass is distinguished:

  1. quartz, which is obtained by melting quartzite, also known as "rock crystal" (this material may be of natural origin and is found mainly in places where quartz deposits have been affected by lightning);
  2. optical type, used for the manufacture of the main elements of optical instruments (lenses, prisms, etc.);
  3. highly resistant to aggressive chemicals and elevated temperatures;
  4. industrial use(the most extensive category of glasses used in everyday life).

The question of how to drill a hole in glass most often arises when using the latter type of product. Industrial products, in turn, are also divided into several categories:

  1. potassium-sodium type (such glasses, which are distinguished by a clean and light internal structure, have a relatively low melting point, so they are often used for the manufacture of glass products complex shape);
  2. potassium-calcium type (glass of this type have a surface without a pronounced luster, are characterized by high hardness and are difficult to melt);
  3. lead type (such glasses have a pronounced brilliance, which makes them very similar to crystal, high brittleness with a fairly high plasticity of the internal structure, a significant specific gravity and a higher price when compared with the cost of products of other types);
  4. borosilicate (they are highly resistant to temperature extremes and mechanical stress and rather high cost).

There is also a classification of glasses by purpose. So, different kinds glasses are used for:

  • glazing of windows and other translucent structures;
  • container manufacturing;
  • reducing the level of radiation;
  • fiberglass production;
  • smartphone screen protection;
  • making dishes;
  • production of thermometers capable of measuring temperature in the range from –200° to +650°;
  • production of laboratory glassware (such glasses are highly thermally stable);
  • production of medical products (ampoules, tubes, containers for medicines);
  • fireplace screens and ovens (in such cases, heat-resistant glass is used);
  • the manufacture of electric lamps (in this case, the so-called electric bulb glasses are used);
  • production of incandescent lamps, x-ray tubes, ignitrons (this requires electrovacuum glass);
  • creation of elements of optical instruments - cameras, microscopes, telescopes, etc.;
  • production of thin-walled chemical containers and other products that require high resistance to chemical and thermal effects (quartzoid glasses, also known as vicor, are used for this).

What tools are used to drill glass

So that drilling glass does not end with its cracking and complete destruction, it is very important to know not only how, but also how to drill glass correctly. On modern market there are many tools, some types of which can be used to create holes in the glass.

  1. The drill, the working part of which is made of hard alloy and has the shape of a feather or spear, allows you to make a hole in the glass with a diameter of 3-12 mm. The use of such a drill requires certain skills. However, even their presence and maximum accuracy when performing work will not help to drill glass with this tool without small chips.
  2. To perform better drilling of holes allows a diamond drill on glass, the working part of which also has the shape of a spear. Such a tool, on the cutting part of which diamond coating is applied, provides softer drilling.
  3. Drills for glass, made in the form of a tube, are used in cases where it is required to make a hole in the glass large diameter. It is more convenient to use a tubular drill complete with a drilling machine.
  4. When using brass drills, on the cutting part of which diamond coating is applied, it is necessary to take care of their high-quality cooling, for which water or turpentine is supplied to the processing zone.
  5. Tubular crowns on glass, made with diamond coating on the cutting part, also need high-quality cooling. If you do not know how to cut a large diameter hole in glass, this tube drill will help you solve the problem.

Product preparation

When wondering how to cut a hole in glass so that the hole formed in it is as accurate as possible, and the glass itself does not crack, it is important to know how to properly prepare it for processing. To drill glass with your own hands, you must perform the following preparatory steps:

  1. The surface of the glass to be drilled is degreased with alcohol or turpentine. After that, it must be wiped with a dry cloth.
  2. The glass sheet or mirror must be laid on a surface that will prevent the product from slipping during processing.
  3. The surface on which the glass sheet or mirror will be laid must be larger than the workpiece itself. The edges of the sheet should not be allowed to protrude beyond its limits.
  4. It is advisable to stick masking tape or a piece of plaster on the place that needs to be drilled to prevent the tool from slipping.
  5. The center of the future hole is indicated using a conventional marker.
  6. If you are familiar with drilling glass at home only from the video, then in order to gain practical skills, it is better to first practice on unnecessary glass fragments. Such training will allow you to subsequently drill glass with high quality.
  7. Drilling holes in the glass should be done as carefully as possible, without too much haste. At the same time, minimal pressure should be exerted on the tool used.
  8. The drill for glass and ceramics, which will be used to perform the processing, should be placed strictly perpendicular to the surface of the product.
  9. Do not drill holes in glass in one pass, stop the process periodically to allow the tool to cool completely.
  10. When the glass sheet or mirror is almost completely drilled, stop the process, turn the workpiece over and continue from the back of the workpiece. This approach will allow you to drill a hole in a mirror or glass sheet with the highest quality, minimizing the risk of chips and cracks.
  11. To make the edges of the hole you drilled even neater, you can further process them with fine sandpaper.

Drilling glass with a conventional drill

Many home craftsmen are interested in the question of how to drill glass or a mirror using a non-tubular or other special drill, but an ordinary tool. In order to perform this procedure, you will need the following tools and supplies:

  • a drill with which metal, ceramic and tile material is usually drilled;
  • low-speed drill, instead of which you can use a screwdriver;
  • a piece of ordinary plasticine;
  • turpentine;
  • alcohol solution.

Drilling itself is performed in the following sequence:

  1. The glass sheet or mirror must be laid on absolutely flat surface, while the edges of the workpiece should not protrude beyond its limits.
  2. The section of glass to be drilled must be degreased using cotton wool soaked in an alcohol solution.
  3. After fixing in the drill chuck for tiles and glass, the minimum number of revolutions is set on the drill. Before starting work, it is necessary to check the degree of runout of the drill: if it is too large, then the tool should be replaced with another one.
  4. On the surface of the glass to be drilled (in the place of direct processing), it is necessary to fix a piece of plasticine, in the middle of which a small depression is made in the form of a funnel. Turpentine is poured into such a recess, through which holes are drilled in the glass.
  5. In order not to throw away the cracked object after drilling, such a process should be carried out as carefully as possible, without much effort. The minimum rotation speed of the drill chuck must be 250 rpm, and the maximum cannot exceed 1000 rpm.

How to make a hole in glass with sand

Few people know how to make a hole in glass using ordinary sand. You will need:

  • the sand itself;
  • petrol;
  • a small amount of tin, which can be replaced by lead;
  • gas-burner;
  • a vessel made of metal, for which it is permissible to use an ordinary mug.

The surface of the glass to be drilled is degreased, as in all previous cases. A mound of wet sand is poured into the area where the center of the future hole should be located, in which, using a sharp object, a recess is made with a diameter corresponding to the cross section of the hole being created.

Molten tin (or lead) is poured into the recess formed in the hill of wet sand, after which it is necessary to wait a few minutes. Then the sand is removed from the surface of the product, and a piece of metal-glass alloy is easily removed from the processed material, the dimensions of which fully correspond to the geometric parameters of the hole being formed. A gas burner and a metal cup are used to bring tin or lead into a molten state.

The cut made according to the above method is different high quality and does not require further modification.

Using a homemade drill

You can drill glass by making your own tool for this, the design of which includes a diamond roller from a glass cutter and a metal rod. The diamond roller, which will act as the cutting part, is tightly fixed in the slot made on the end part of the metal rod. By fixing such a tool in a drill chuck, you can drill any glass product, and the result will be of sufficient quality.

By hardening an ordinary drill, you can endow it with the ability to drill through glass. To do this, the working part of the drill must be heated to white with a gas burner, and then cooled by lowering it into sealing wax.

How to drill glass correctly in order to get a high-quality result as a result? To solve this problem, it is enough to adhere to the following recommendations:

  1. To minimize the risk of cracking and splitting at the drilling site, the glass can be treated with honey and turpentine.
  2. The pressure exerted on the drill from above should be minimal.
  3. The drilling process itself must be performed for 5-10 seconds, after which it is necessary to cool the tool in a vessel with water.
  4. The drill must not be moved from side to side.
  5. The distance of the center of the hole from the edge of the workpiece must be at least 1.5 cm.
Naturally, before drilling glass, you must degrease it and lay it on a flat surface, which is best used as a wooden base.

It is likely that almost everyone has to work with glass. home master. Cutting a sheet of capricious material into pieces is not a particular problem, but the need to drill glass causes difficulties for many. To perform this manipulation, it is possible to contact a specialist whose services are quite expensive, or you can try to do this work yourself. In fact, there is nothing noticeably complicated here, you just need to be careful, because with the slightest deviation from the following recommendations, the surface will become covered with cracks.

It is possible to drill any holes in the glass

Types and features of glass as a material

Glass manufacturing technology is quite complex. Melted at very high temperatures a mixture of several components is subjected to rapid cooling, while the crystallization of the material is not completely completed, and it remains amorphous. The type of glass is determined by its main chemical ingredients. There are the following types of glasses:

  • oxide;
  • sulfide;
  • fluoride.

Silicate or oxide material is widely used for the manufacture of a variety of glass containers, including bottles. When melting quartzite, quartz glasses are obtained, sometimes called rock crystal. It is formed when lightning strikes quartz deposits. Glasses can also be classified according to their purpose. Thus, various types of glass can be used to reduce radiation levels, manufacture fiberglass, protect laptop, tablet and smartphone screens, as well as in the manufacture of incandescent lamps, kinescopes and X-ray equipment.


Samples different types glass

Depending on the application and performance characteristics glass of different composition can be optical, chemical, medical, protective, window, utensils and so on. Industrial varieties that are also used in everyday life are divided into several subspecies:

  • characterized by low melting point and light color potassium-sodium glass;
  • hard and refractory calcium-potassium material;
  • expensive and fragile lead glass;
  • resistant to aggressive chemical environments and temperature differences borosilicate products.

Proper preparation is the key to success

It is quite possible to make an even and neat hole in the glass with your own hands, you just need to properly prepare its surface before performing the manipulation. This is the key to a successful job. The following actions will be required:

  • grease is removed from the glass, and it is located on a non-slip surface;
  • the marked location is sealed with a plaster to prevent the cutter from slipping;
  • the drill when drilling is located strictly vertically;
  • it is unacceptable to exert strong pressure on the material;
  • work must be carried out with breaks for cooling.

There are drills for holes of various diameters.

Standard option - use of a drill

Often the task is to drill a small round hole in the aquarium for the aeration tube. To drill at home standard is to use a conventional metal drill. To do the job, you will need a drill with the ability to adjust the speed or a screwdriver.

It is also necessary to prepare a small piece of plasticine and turpentine. A funnel is formed from plasticine, into which turpentine is poured as a cooling working element. The plasticine rim is located around the center of the planned hole.


Careful work guarantees success

Having placed the drill strictly vertically and setting its speed controller to a minimum, they begin to act. When the process is almost finished, but the hole has not yet been completely formed, the glass sheet should be turned over to the other side and continue working from the opposite side to prevent cracking of the material. The final processing of the edges of the resulting through channel is carried out with fine sandpaper rolled into a tube.

Do-it-yourself glass drill

Devices for drilling glass can be made independently. To do this, you must perform the hardening procedure for an ordinary drill. It is clamped with pliers and the cutting end is placed in the flame of a gas burner. When the metal heats up white color, it is cooled in a wax bath. The metal hardened in this way can handle almost any glass material.


This is what homemade glass drills look like

A regular glass cutter can also help. To do this, the cutting element in the form of a diamond roller is fixed on a metal rod in such a way that it is motionless with respect to it. The resulting device can be called a modification of the factory tools with diamond coating.

Making a hole with sand

Before the advent of drills and screwdrivers, holes in capricious material were made with sand. To do this, it was poured in a wet state to the required place and a funnel was formed in the sand, the lower diameter of which exactly corresponded to the cross section of the required through channel.


ancient way make a hole in the glass

Then molten lead or tin was poured into the funnel. After some time, the sand, together with the solidified glass mass, is removed. The hole is perfectly aligned. Its edges do not require further machining. Lead is easily melted by placing it in a mug and directing the flame of a gas burner at it, or simply by placing a metal vessel on a gas stove.

Large hole cut with a glass cutter

A circle of large diameter can be cut in glass with a glass cutter. To do this, use the circular design of this tool. It consists of a suction cup located in the center of the diameter, an adjustable tripod and the glass cutter itself. The movement of the glass cutter should be smooth and uniform, and excessive pressure should not be exerted on the handle.


Drilling a large hole in glass

The cut is made once, after which the separation line is tapped from the inside with the handle of the glass cutter. With the correct execution of all manipulations, the cut fragment is easily separated and falls out into the substituted bucket.

All sorts of different ways to make a hole

It is possible to make a through channel in a glass surface in other ways. For example, you can use ordinary copper wire. First you need to dilute one part of camphor powder in two parts of turpentine, add fine-grained emery and mix the resulting mixture thoroughly. Then apply the composition to the place of work, insert the copper wire into the drill chuck and begin the drilling process.


Large hole can be made homemade drill

You can also do the work with the help of duralumin, aluminum or copper tube. At the working end of the improvised tool, cutting teeth are cut with a needle file. A wooden cork is driven into the other end, into which a screw with a cut head is screwed to strengthen it in the drill chuck.

At the right place, cardboard washers are glued to the material being processed on both sides. The working end of the tube with cutting teeth, moistened with turpentine, is inserted into the washer and glass is produced by one third of the thickness of the material. Then the sheet of glass is turned over, and work continues on the other side until a through hole is obtained.


A hole in the glass will help make a soldering iron

Some craftsmen use a soldering iron to make through holes in a glass sheet. Previously, a marking risk in the form of a ring is applied to the surface of the material. Then the tip of the soldering iron warms up well, and the accurate melting of glass along the segments of the circle begins. Frankly, when using this method, it is rarely possible to obtain sufficiently even edges of the hole.

Before starting any manipulation, it is necessary to thoroughly degrease the surface to be treated. This is done with a rag soaked in gasoline or turpentine. The glass is then thoroughly dried.

It is better to feel the work of the cutter in advance by drilling a few holes in unnecessary pieces of glass. It is important not to create excessive pressure on the working part, even if it feels like the drill is spinning idle, without making the surface of the glass. This is not so: drilling is slowly but surely happening.

In the process of work, it is necessary to perform cooling of the glass surface and the cutting part. Products small size can be drilled in water by lowering them into a container of a suitable volume. In this case, you can not be afraid of overheating.
Cooling the glass during drilling ensures good result

The working point must first be glued masking tape and mark over it. This simple action will prevent slipping at the very beginning of the workflow. The drill must be placed vertically, maintaining a strict right angle during the entire time of the manipulation.

It is guaranteed to get rid of the appearance of even small cracks in the material by turning the sheet with the reverse side when choosing a greater thickness of the glass surface.

In addition, this procedure will help reduce the taper of the resulting hole. Accidental cuts on its sharp edges are prevented by grinding the protrusions with fine-grained sandpaper.

Be sure to wear goggles to protect your eyes from the smallest glass fragments in the form of dust. It is necessary to drill thin glass, stepping back from its edge by at least thirteen millimeters. It is necessary to retreat from the edge of thick glass by about twenty-five millimeters, otherwise the material will certainly crack.

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The following video is carefully selected and will certainly help the perception of the foregoing.

There are times when you need to make a hole in the glass. In reality, this is not so easy to do. In this article, you will learn a couple of ways to solve this problem.

How to drill glass

If you need to make a hole in the glass, for example, to hang a mirror or insert a handle in the glass cabinet door, you can use these simple methods.

For the first method you will need:

  • the glass itself
  • drill for metal
  • drill
  • acetone
  • turpentine
  • alcohol

To drill a hole in the glass, you need to lay it on a flat surface, for this you can use a large sheet of plywood, the edges of the glass should not hang over.

The rotation speed of the drill on the drill is set to “one” or to “minimum”, depending on the configuration of the drill. It is necessary to exclude a strong beating of the drill so that the glass does not crack when drilling, a drilling machine is better in this case.

With acetone or alcohol, degrease the surface of the glass in the place where we will drill it. The drill is placed in the center of the proposed hole, the drill is turned on, when drilling, you need to drip a little on the glass, at the drilling site, turpentine. You can simply make a small circle-funnel out of plasticine and pour turpentine into it.

To prevent the glass from cracking, you need to press the drill easily, without any extra effort.

The second method will require:

  • glass
  • solder in the form of lead or tin,
  • fine wet sand
  • a stick sharpened under a cone, and the tip of the stick should have the diameter of the intended hole
  • alcohol or acetone.

The work is performed as follows: the glass surface is degreased in the place where the intended hole will be located. Sand is poured into the drilling site, a slide of three centimeters in height. A hole is made in the sand with a stick so that a funnel is formed, the molten solder is poured into the funnel.

Such drills are tubular in shape, and look more like a small cutter without teeth. The process of making round holes in glass or ceramic tiles involves the use of additional Supplies for degreasing - alcohol, acetone, turpentine, gasoline, special liquids, etc. It is also necessary to take care of the rapid cooling of the treated surface.

How to drill glass with a drill?

For high-quality drilling of glass or ceramics, the following conditions must be met:

  • immovably fix the product on which work will be carried out;
  • ensure that the drill fits at a perfectly right angle;
  • the future hole is indicated by a small plasticine rim;
  • the drill is set to the lowest possible speed;
  • an abrasive and a cooling material are necessarily used - at best, turpentine and crushed grindstone at worst, fine sand and water will suffice.

Since drilling glass with a drill may not work well the first time, and there may be chips or cracks, you must first practice on small pieces. It is very important to drill slowly and with minimal pressure, otherwise the product may crack.

What is the best glass drill to use?

To make sufficiently large holes in glass or ceramics, special tubular drills must be used. Similar tools are used in industrial processing. The tubular glass drill differs not only in its special shape - its working cutting layer is made of industrial diamonds and is tightly attached to the steel base using the thermal sintering process.

This equipment must be cleaned before first use. abrasive stone With cutting edge to open the diamond layer - a similar procedure is done for special machine drills, countersinks. Diamond-coated tubular drills are best suited for such work - unlike carbide drills, they do not form chips on the back of the material being processed.

How to drill glass with a conventional drill?

It is quite common that only a few holes need to be made in the glass, and for this it is unprofitable to purchase special equipment. For small diameters, it is quite possible to get by with a conventional metal drill. General principles here they remain exactly the same - rigid glass mount, minimum speed, very light pressure. To drill glass with an ordinary drill, you need to feel the tool well and flexibly adjust the pressing force - at the slightest manifestation of “beating”, you need to stop work, but it is better to change the drill to a screwdriver, which gives an even lower speed.

A plasticine bounding circle with a little turpentine inside will keep the surface cool and free of cracks, and you will also need a good abrasive. It is recommended to follow the following rules when working with conventional drills:

  • harden the drill before performing work - just hold it in a hot flame, for example from a burner, and then cool it in sealing wax;
  • work as long as possible, taking breaks from time to time and additionally cooling the drill in water;
  • be sure to degrease the glass with acetone or alcohol, check the absence of slipping before starting work;
  • fix the glass on a wooden surface;
  • do not make holes very close to the edge of the surface (no closer than 1.5-2 cm).

With any drilling of glass and ceramics, the appearance of chips on reverse side. To avoid this, there are several different ways- use two pieces of glass at once, process the back side with plasticine, etc. One of the most simple ways lies in the fact that at the very end of the work the glass is turned over, and the hole is completed from the other end.

How to choose a drill for tiles and glass?

Quality tools for drilling tiles and glass are made by Italian companies (Zauber and others). According to the manufacturing technology, the drill for tile and glass can be different - steel, galvanized, brass, and so on. Best Results in work provide tubular drills made of high-strength steel with diamond coating. For use in machine tools, conical countersink drills are taken, also with diamond coating. To work with such a tool, no abrasive is required, and the drill provides a perfect appearance holes and the absence of possible chips or cracks.