So you think you can just use an ANGLE GRINDER to cut holes in tiles! Sure?

[365drills]

So you have some fancy porcelain tiles on the job and you think you can just angle grind your way through it to make holes.

Right Idea?


Well at ********* we would ask you to reconsider your approach. When you angle grind holes from the back of a tiles it is a crude approach, creates a lot of dust and can be a spiteful way to use power tools to knock out holes. The finished results are not very precise and you are left with a cone shape holes plus score marks.

In contrast using a diamond core drill eliminates a lot of the above. They allow you to drill from the front of the tile so are accurate. For example: When you mark out the hole on the FRONT of the tile you can be precise to the millimetre.

Using our wet sponge eliminates dust exposure for the installer, its cleaner with less mess and all the dirty tile dust can be put into the water bucket saving you clean up time.

Using an angle grinder works up to a point on larger holes provided you expect to use a cover plate on your fittings. But if you are not accurate you can end up with the cover plate not concealing the hole. Example

http://www.*********.com/project2/61.jpg
In this example above a builder has had a crude go at knocking out all three holes with an angle grinder. Even when the cover plate is put over the work the score marks are still visible on the larger waste pipe.

http://www.*********.com/project/5.jpg
In the case above the builder chopped out the holes on the tile with a grinder because he knowsthe fittings will be concealed.

WE AGREE That's fine for the larger pipes (as shown above) but there are two scenarios where you can NOT carry out this method.

1) You cant carve holes into tiles that are already on the wall.
2) You cant carve small holes like 6mm and 8mm

Once the tiles are on the wall you HAVE to diamond drill through them to fit rawl plugs.

http://www.*********.com/jpgs/redplug.jpg
This is a 6mm rawl plug.

http://www.*********.com/jpgs/redplug2.jpg
This is a larger 8mm rawl plug.

Neither hole can be cut out with an angle grinder. A diamond core (in porcelain tiles) must be used.

http://www.*********.com/jpgs/drilling_tiles.jpg
To make a hole this small you will need a diamond core drill.

What we offer at ********* for tilers, plumbers & Installers is an "all in one" set of diamond cores. Its a great time saving solution and a tool box essential.

Supposing you are going to just get the 6mm and 8mm plugs and intend to angle grind the rest of the holes? Thats going to cost you £29.99 for the small drills. (Pack of 4)

http://www.*********.com/jpgs/kit6mm3.jpg
£29.99 for a pack of four cores

But.... For an extra £20 quid (£29.99 above - £49.99) You get the bathroom Fitters Kit. And the Bathroom Fitters Kit is your All In One Tile Drilling solution

http://www.*********.com/jpgs/kit2.jpg

So the extra £20 gets you the 16mm, the 30mm and the 40mm and these are your popular service pipe sizes.

If you were to buy them from Screwfix Direct they would cost you
16mm £14.25
30mm £23.89
40mm £26.97 (Substitue 35mm)
-----------------
Total: £65.11 (Source of pricing catalogue 102 - Spring 2010 Screwfix Direct)

And we are offering the above three diamond cores for £20 (If bought as part of the Bathroom Fitters Kit).

As I said you are going to HAVE to buy 6mm and 8mm for the rawl plugs anyway so you might as well have the sockets above for the extra £20.

And below is the sort of result you get from those service pipe sizes of 16mm 30mm 40mm

http://www.*********.com/other/19.jpg

The Bathroom Fitters Kit is so versatile that for example if you have already fitted your tiles to the wall you can drill through the tile with the 30mm core and fit a Fischer Fixing Kit for a basin. Like this:

http://www.*********.com/other/2.jpg

The kit allows an installer flexibility. Another example. Imagine you have already laid the tiles on the floor for the loo pan. You can diamond drill a hole through the floor tile so that you can push through an M8 or M6 bolt to fix down your loo pan.

Our advice is that if you have a core drilling kit in your toolbox and it has all the sizes then for a small price you can handle the job.
__________________
Richard Hazell - Diamond Tile Drills
Decent reliable gear that wont let you down
01992-410636 0777 366 4519

 

[timothytaylor]

That's a pretty good product you got there! As a re-modeler and installer of bathrooms in the UK, I'll give your product a try!

 

[kay-jay]

mine turned up the other day. only used on ceramic so far, but i'm impressed so far. nice neat hole every time!
great product!

regards

KJ

 

[wards]

had mine for a month now,realy good piece of kit,shame they dont come in a case though.

 

[365drills]

Cheers guys! Thanks for the purchases.

These diamond cores really do what they set out to do... Which is to bore perfect holes into VERY hard tiles as well as any others like ceramics, slate, glass, porcelain etc

 

[kay-jay]

had mine for a month now,realy good piece of kit,shame they dont come in a case though.

i use one of the drawstring fabric bags that bath and basin taps come in nowadays to keep all my 365 drill bits together.


i used my 6mm on porcelain yesterday, drilled 2 perfect holes for securing w/c pan. made very short work of the task and i reckon theres still a hole maybe 2 left on the bit.

KJ

 

[easyt]

I am pleased with mine. The only criticism is that the two small sizes are a pain as far as removing the core. Can take nearly as long to get the core out as to drill the holes. If the cores on the small bits could be punched out through the back end it would be much easier.

 

[365drills]

The only criticism is that the two small sizes are a pain as far as removing the core.

Yes I accept that. We do a lot of drilling ourselves and it can be a pain to sit there removing cores. About the only tip I can give is that if there is any way you can hold the drill steady so that the core does not snap off then you will find it ejects easier than if you break it off mid drill.

http://www.*********.com/jpgs/tile_drill12.jpg
This is a core forming in the tile. Try not to snap it.

http://www.*********.com/jpgs/tile_drill13.jpg

If you can get all the way through the tile without breaking it your reward is an easy ejection of the core.

Also another tip is to stop drilling when you get through the tile. Dont be tempted to go into plasterboard. The wet soggy plaster gums up the core and then its also difficult to clean the barrel.

http://www.*********.com/jpgs/drill_chuck.jpg

Note all our cores (even the small 6mm and 8mm) have side ejection slots built in to aid the pushing out of cores.

http://www.*********.com/jpgs/dd.jpg

All 365-Drills Diamond cores have core ejector slots built into the side of each tile drill bit or hole saw.
After drilling the hole in a very hard porcelain tile you can remove the internal plug with an allen key.
This keeps the diamond core drill tidy and ready to drill the next hole into your tile.