Drill bit for ceramic tiles?

[skipdiver]

Just tiled a shower room with floor and wall ceramic tiles and today tried to drill into it to fit all the fixtures. Had a bosch multi purpose bit which lasted for 2 holes into the floor to fix the toilet. Went to Screwfix and bought a couple of Dewalt Extreme masonary bits to fix shower and screen. First one didn't even manage one hole, so took it and the unused one back and bought a specialist Bosch ceramic cutter, the pointy type ones, which cost £10. It managed 2 holes before glowing red hot and falling to pieces. At a loss what to get as these are seriously hard tiles. Any suggestions welcome please chaps.

 

[banjerbill]

Sounds like you need a diamond core bit. I got a good one from Topps Tiles for about £30. Once through the ceramic an ordinary masonary drill bit can be used to save wear on the expensive core bit.

Bill

 

[Setch]

Those Bosch multi purpose are great for this, but go slow and learn to resharpen them! If you get them too hot you'll melt the weld which secures the TC tip.

 

[Distinterior]

A diamond grit tipped drill bit with a water feed is what you need if your tiles are that hard.
Here is a link to the type of thing I'm talking about.......

http://www.screwsandfasteners.co.uk/arm ... -5-35.html

 

[SteveF]

make a puddle using plasticine \ silicone or the likes
fill with water to keep cool
Steve

 

[Eric The Viking]

I got a Plasplugs kit similar to that Armeg unit a while back - lubricates on vertical surfaces. Came with a miniature diamond core drill and didn't cost 30 quid or anything like it. Only issue was that the masonry drill in the kit was far too big, so you had to remember to stop after the tile and drill with a smaller actual drill.

Worth looking around, as they do work well.

If stuck (and this only works well with conventional glazed China clay tiles), use a sharpened masonry pin to make a tiny hole in the glaze by tapping with a hammer, then expand out with a masonry drill used really slowly (dry!). Drill through masking tape to stop the drill skidding.

 

[skipdiver]

Thanks for the speedy and useful info chaps. Just remembered that i have on of those diamond core drill bits that i bought when i did my shower a couple of years back...........if i can find it.

I'm perhaps trying to drill too fast i imagine, so will take things down a notch and be a bit more circumspect. Only 7 more holes to go.

 

[xy mosian]

Expanding a little on Eric's post. If your tiles are glazed on a softer core, then....
Using Eric's pointy masonary pin, or a hardened screw piont, move around the centre and enlarge the area with no glaze to slightly larger than the hole required. Then a conventional masonary drill will breeze through the tile thickness.
This method makes a good start to centre a drill and stop it skidding around when starting a drilled hole in the tile anyway.

xy

 

[dickm]

If you have a Dremel or similar, those cheapo (Proops?) sets of diamond burrs are ideal for getting through the surface. Then follow up with standard masonry drill. Probably best not to use hammer facility, unless you can mount the tile on a very supportive, slightly resislient surface.

 

[skipdiver]

Thanks again. The tiles are hard right the way through, not just the surface, which is quite rough and i'm not having any problems with the bit slipping. It just won't go through them. Seen off three new drill bits of varying types so far. If i can't find my diamond core bit, i will buy another and take my time.

 

[bugbear]

Thanks again. The tiles are hard right the way through, not just the surface, which is quite rough and i'm not having any problems with the bit slipping. It just won't go through them. Seen off three new drill bits of varying types so far. If i can't find my diamond core bit, i will buy another and take my time.

Do you have an left over tiles you can practise on - cracking an in-situ tile is VERY bad!

BugBear

 

[nev]

I think you may require a drill bit for porcelain and not ceramic. They're more expensive of course and an awkward shape too*, no point or taper. Some come with little guide that suction fits to the wall and fills with water to cool the bit.
*they're just a round section the size of the hole, coated in diamond bits, and you need to start drilling at about 45degrees to prevent it skating and then gradually bring the bit level as you get deeper into the tile. A cheap one will be around the 20 quid mark from the likes of Screwfix.

 

[Lons]

What Nev said!

Sounds as if you definitely have porcelain tiles which are very common now and a swine to drill. I've never had a problem drilling ceramic but porcelain are a very different animal.

 

[skipdiver]

No, definitely ceramic and probably the hardest of their type i have come across. I tried with the ones i had bought when i did my shower a while back but no luck, so did indeed go to Screwfix and bought an Erbauer one for £18.49 which eventually did the trick. But on the second to last hole the front section snapped off from the main part that was in the chuck and dropped onto the tray. It was an ABS plastic type and the hot bit melted a little mark into it. I was fuming but luckily the tray is slate grey and it didn't show too much after a bit of doctoring. Managed to finish that hole and the last one with the front part of the drill bit and will be taking it back for a refund, so i may have got the best of both worlds. Holes finally sorted and getting my money back hopefully. Thirteen holes drilled in total, which took four different bits, about £30 quid and three trips to Screwfix. Also ate up about four hours in total. Sometimes the simplest of jobs can turn into a right ordeal.

 

[graduate_owner]

I had to drill into seriously hard tiles, not sure if they were ceramic or porcelain. I tried some cheap diamond grit tipped bits from ebay - about £5 for a pack of about 6. They were hollow with a depth of about 5mm of diamond grit. I went through most of them in drilling about 8 holes but they were cheap enough. Before that I went through several TCT masonry bits and glass drills before I decided to try diamond.

K

 

[Lons]

Hi Steve, that surprises me tbh. Not saying yours aren't ceramic but not something I've ever had problems with.

I've been retired a couple of years so might be out of touch but fitted hundreds of bathrooms and kitchens, certainly over the last few years porcelain tiles had become much more popular than ceramic however not all the suppliers knew what they were selling and I had a number of instances where they quoted ceramic to my customers when the tiles were classed as porcelain. I had to but a couple of very expensive Rubi tile cutters to handle porcelain and always warned my customers that I would charge more to cover extra time and costs of drilling and cutting anything other than straight cuts.

This link isn't technical but highlights in laymans terms the main differences for anyone interested. http://www.porcelainsuperstore.co.uk/bl ... mic-tiles/

Most interesting are the following statements

All tiles are subject to a water absorption test to determine how porous they are. The tiles are weighed and then submerged in water for a period of time. Those tiles that weigh 0.5% more after being put in water, having obviously absorbed some, are classed as ceramic. Consequently, those that are denser and weigh less than 0.5% more are classed as porcelain.
In a way the distinction between the two is made after the manufacturing process rather than before.

NOTE – while porcelain tiles are harder and more dense, this also makes them more difficult to cut and shape. Ceramic tiles can be cut much more easily by hand using a wet tile saw or snap tile cutter, while porcelain tiles require much more experience in order to get a clean, accurate cut.

cheers
Bob

 

[eddcamm]

Porcelain tiles are really hard to drill, I used an 8mm Mexco TDXCEL Dry Diamond Tile Drill from Toolstation for my bathroom. Has a wax insert to keep it cool so no water cooling required,12 holes so far =D>

 

[skipdiver]

It said on the box that they were ceramic. Scored and snapped fine and cut ok in the wet cutter, with a bit of chipping. Drilling them however, was a mare.