When working with glass, you may need to drill a hole in it. In this case, the glass product, known for its fragility, must remain intact. Tasks that are mutually exclusive, since drilling holes in the glass involves local destruction of the glass structure. But, working with glass for hundreds of years, people have learned to do this in many ways. Here are just a few of them.
But first, two points. First: glass should be "raw", not tempered. The latter from any attempt at machining simply crumbles. Second: protect your eyes before working with glass.
First of all, learn how to drill a hole in the glass with familiar tools similar to those used to make holes in concrete or metal. However, a special drill with a dusting on its end of a
diamond crumb is applied here
. Its diameter should be equal to the diameter of the desired hole. Drilling is carried out with a drill only at low speeds. In this case, the drill should be strictly perpendicular to the glass, any deviations from the vertical are unacceptable. The glass itself at this time should lie on a solid horizontal surface.
When marking the place of a future hole with a marker, remember: if the glass is thick, its edge and the edge of the hole should be separated by at least 25 mm, if thin - by at least 13 mm. The smaller this distance, the higher the risk that even after successfully applying knowledge of how to drill a hole in the glass, it will burst when used.
Drilling is performed in two steps. First, a groove of 2-3 mm is made at the marking site. Then the drill is stopped and the recess is filled with a drop of engine oil to reduce friction. Having resumed work, it is impossible at the same time to lower the drill with force - either it will break or the glass will burst.
There are other ways to drill a hole in the glass using grease and regular cooling.
On the glass several times apply, wrapping it, masking tape on which the place of the hole is planned. They are drilled with a diamond
pen drill, previously dipped in water, at medium speeds, not forgetting to periodically cool the tool and moisten the hole with water.
You can not use adhesive tape, but constantly add a mixture of turpentine and rosin (1: 1) to the resulting recess.
Another way is as follows. Glass lies on a soft cloth. The marker marks the location of the hole, after which something like a bath is molded around it from children's plasticine. Liquid is poured there (a solution of aluminum alum in acetic acid or camphor + turpentine 1: 1). Drilling is performed at low speeds with a carbide drill.
You can limit yourself to cooling only with turpentine, constantly making sure that it is in the "bath", but then the technology changes. After the tip of the drill is shown on the other side of the glass, it must be turned over and continued on the other side.
In these cases, it’s not the drilling tool itself that matters, but which fluid lubricates and cools it.
And here is a way to drill a hole in the glass without a special nozzle. Instead, a hollow copper tube 100 mm long is used. It is pre-filled inside with a mixture
(mineral oil + dust from corundum emery). Drilling is carried out intermittently, during which the tube is lifted so that a little mixture flows out of it. The feed force is small.