Things you'll need:
Ceramic, clay or porcelain tile; Plumbing putty; Air Tool
Oil; Carbite tile drill bit; scrap 3/4
Plywood or MDF board. |
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1. |
When
working with tiles, you should check
to see what type of material you are
working with to get an idea for how
hard or easy it will be to drill
through it. If you are using a clay
tile, it will be soft and easy to
drill through, if you are using
ceramic, class, or porcelain tiles
they will be harder to drill
through. No matter what type of tile
material you are working with, the
following steps are very effective
for drilling a hole through it.
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2. |
The
first thing to do is to go out and
get a sharp carbide drill or a
diamond-encrusted carbide tile bit.
I only recommend the diamond
encrusted bit for cutting through
glass tiles. They look like a really
small shovel or spade in shape, and
you can find them at most home
centers where they sell tile.
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3. |
Once you have this carbide tile
bit, get some plumbers putty and some light air tool oil. If
you are working with loose tiles that you are installing,
get a piece of MDF board large enough to place behind the
tile. If you need to drill through tile that is already
installed, then you do not have to worry about the MDF
board. |
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4. |
What we are going to is build a
small oil reservoir on top of the tile that you want to cut
using the plumbers putty. We will then drill through the
tile in the same area as the oil reservoir. This will keep
the bit cool as it rotates through the tile and give us very
a clean cut without cracks, chips, or breaks. |
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5. |
Take a normal variable speed
drill - DO NOT USE A HAMMERDRILL - and install the carbide
tile cutting bit into the chuck. |
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6. |
Take out enough plumbers putty
to knead into a ball. Roll the putty up in your hand and get
it warm and pliable. Roll the putty into a ball, and then
roll the putty out into a long log shape. |
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7. |
Take the putty log that you
created, and form a ring or a circle on your tile around the
area that you would like to drill the hole through. |
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8. |
Smooth out the inside of the
putty ring and the outside of the putty ring so that it
sticks to the tile. You do not want any leaks. |
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9. |
Excellent. Now take your air
tool oil and add enough oil to fill up half of the putty
crater you created on the surface of the tile. You want to
put in enough oil to keep the carbide bit lubricated the
entire time that it is in contact with the tile. Dip your
bit into the oil to test the level and see if you need to
add a little more oil, or if it covers the bit fully. |
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10. |
Now, center your carbide dip
onto the hole mark that you created on the tile, and begin
drilling through the tile at slow speed. Some people
recommend making a pilot hole, but I have found that by
simply starting the bit on slow speed in the oil solution,
it bites into the tile very well and guides itself. Do not
be afraid to apply some pressure to the drill, but press
down firmly and gently. |
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11. |
As the drill bit begins to bite
into the tile, you will notice that the oil solution will
actually begin to change color as the surface layer of the
tile is drilled through and the interior clay is penetrated.
Sometimes you will get a red color or a white or grey color.
It just depends on the color of the interior clay used to
make the tile. You will also notice that it takes a little
longer to drill through the top glazed layer, but as you get
into the softer clay of the tile, the bit will go right
through without any problem. |
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12. |
Keep the drill bit speed
consistent as you drill through the entire piece of tile.
Press the bit all the way through the tile to ensure a
clean, crisp hole. |
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13. |
Congratulations, you just
drilled a clean hole through tile! It was easy, and this can
be done for all types of tile with a very high success rate
every time! |
