I need to drill a 1/2" hole in a glass block. What drill speed should
I use on my drill press? Do I need to cool the bit? Anyone have
experience with this?

Thanks,

DUSTY

I need to drill a 1/2" hole in a glass block. What drill speed should
I use on my drill press? Do I need to cool the bit? Anyone have
experience with this?

Are you using a tile bit? Go slow and use some light lubricant.

On 27 Sep 2004 10:39:45 -0700, (Dusty
Workshop) scribbled:

I need to drill a 1/2" hole in a glass block. What drill speed should
I use on my drill press? Do I need to cool the bit? Anyone have
experience with this?

You need to get a diamond hole saw, available here (among other
places):

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=32277&category=1,180,42316&abspage=1 &ccurrency=2&SID=

I'm sure the folks at Lee Valley will be happy to answer your other
questions.

You might also want to check out previous discussions on Google
groups:
http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q=glass%20drill%20hole%20speed&safe=imag es&ie=UTF-8&as_ugroup=rec.woodworking&lr=&num=100&hl=en

Luigi
Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/antifaq.html
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/humour.html

Dusty Workshop wrote:

I need to drill a 1/2" hole in a glass block. What drill speed should
I use on my drill press? Do I need to cool the bit? Anyone have
experience with this?

Thanks,

DUSTY
You can use a piece of copper tubing and valve grinding compound. Low RPM
and rather light pressure...go slow to avoid building up too much heat.
HTH

Dusty Workshop wrote:
I need to drill a 1/2" hole in a glass block. What drill speed should
I use on my drill press? Do I need to cool the bit? Anyone have
experience with this?

Thanks,

DUSTY

Diamond drill, lots of coolant (grinding coolant is best), slowly, or
find someone with an ultrasonic mill/drill (I've got one at work), much
easier...

I am using a 1/2" tile bit. I plan to use the drill presses slowest
speed. I have a friend who used the same type bit without coolant and
had no breakage. The piece of gass is small enough to be manageable.
I could put it in the fide or freezer to cool it down prior to
drilling. I am going to try the first hole with the piece at room
temp and see what happens...

wish me luck...

DUSTY

I am using a 1/2" tile bit. I plan to use the drill presses slowest
speed. I have a friend who used the same type bit without coolant and
had no breakage. The piece of gass is small enough to be manageable.
I could put it in the fide or freezer to cool it down prior to
drilling.

Probably not a good idea as the glass will be more brittle. Just use a slow
speed, light pressure, and some mineral spirits or kerosene as a lube. Piece
of cake.

Agreed, in fact, I'd suspect cooling the glass first would be a _very_ bad
idea. It's not so much the heat from drilling, but more the temperature
difference in different areas of the glass. Cooling the rest of it will make
that difference much greater.

Now, maybe if you heated the glass first...
Nahh, the heat generated by the drilling will cause a rise above any ambient
temperature that you have. Just go slowly and follow their advice.
GerryG

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 20:23:12 -0700, "mp" wrote:

I am using a 1/2" tile bit. I plan to use the drill presses slowest
speed. I have a friend who used the same type bit without coolant and
had no breakage. The piece of gass is small enough to be manageable.
I could put it in the fide or freezer to cool it down prior to
drilling.

Probably not a good idea as the glass will be more brittle. Just use a slow
speed, light pressure, and some mineral spirits or kerosene as a lube. Piece
of cake.