Drilling porcelain tiles
- Thread starter Mr Panda
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Iwasgoodonce
Old School Grand Master
Go out and buy a special bit for the tiles. The hardest stage then ifs getting the hole started. Either use gaffer tape or as I did, use an engraving bit in a Dremel to mark the point you want to drill.
Don't use any pressure with either the Dremel, (all you are doing is getting through the glaze), or the drill.
I had a few to do and, once I had perfected the above technique, I didn't break a single one.
Don't use any pressure with either the Dremel, (all you are doing is getting through the glaze), or the drill.
I had a few to do and, once I had perfected the above technique, I didn't break a single one.
Meh... I've been drilling into tiles for years as part of my job installing fire, inrtuder and disabled alarms...
I've never broken one and use a standard masonry bit (SDS usually) - I put the drill on rotary-only mode (not hammer), piece of masking tape to stop slippage, press lightly on the tile with the drill off to crack the glaze then slowly spin up the drill until I'm through the tile.
Once through the tile it's usually safe to switch to impact/hammer mode to drill into the wall to the required depth.
Only other tip is, assuming you'll be using expanding plastic (rawl) plugs - make sure they go completely through the tile into the wall or the expansion of the plug can crack the tile.
I've never broken one and use a standard masonry bit (SDS usually) - I put the drill on rotary-only mode (not hammer), piece of masking tape to stop slippage, press lightly on the tile with the drill off to crack the glaze then slowly spin up the drill until I'm through the tile.
Once through the tile it's usually safe to switch to impact/hammer mode to drill into the wall to the required depth.
Only other tip is, assuming you'll be using expanding plastic (rawl) plugs - make sure they go completely through the tile into the wall or the expansion of the plug can crack the tile.
