Drilling holes in glass

[Parm]

I want to make a hole in an ornate bottle that once contained rum.

Ive got one of those tungsten pointy drill bits for glass

Anyone have any experience ?

 

[Robotstar5]

You should just go for it, think of all the rum you could drink until you get it right

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Go slow, use a hand drill.
White spirit or meths as a coolant will help.
Build a wall to keep the liquid in. Let the bit do the work.

Use masking tape to mark the spot, drill through until the bit has made a mark, remove tape, build the well and away you go.

 

[Kayos]

I did it for a friend with a porcelain bit, steady even pressure and it went through. Was a bit brown trouser moment when it actually broke through

 

[Parm]

You should just go for it, think of all the rum you could drink until you get it right

Problem is bottle came from India. Would be a very expensive excercise

 

[PhillipM]

I usually use the diamond coated coring drills, but basically - low rpms, plenty of water, keep it flooded, heat is the enemy.

 

[Shox Dr]

You should just go for it, think of all the rum you could drink until you get it right

best carried out while on last glass, drill on hammer

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

@Parm
Pm inbound.

 

[Maker]

I've drilled holes in glass bottles a few times with a pointy tungsten bit, keep squirting it with water and it should be okay. The biggest problem I had was when the tip breaks through it makes an odd shaped hole and if you're not careful the drill will catch on it and split the bottle in half. I stop drilling as soon as it's through and finish it off with a cheap set of diamond files. You can also sharpen the drill bit with them.

 

[Parm]

This is the bottle, now empty of course

best carried out while on last glass, drill on hammer

Damn, that's what ive been doing wrong

 

[fixerupper]

Who is it Parm?

 

[Parm]

Ok, project now complete and I will post up some pictures latter on

The proprietary glass drill was rubbish, was just skating over the glass.

I used a tipped masory drill 8mm diamter, built a well with blue tac and went very slow cooling the drill bit as I went along. Took a couple of mins

 

[Parm]

Who is it Parm?

It's called Old Monk, indian made rum. Picked it up from duty free when I was there last year

 

[Cobbler]

Ok, project now complete and I will post up some pictures latter on

The proprietary glass drill was rubbish, was just skating over the glass.

I used a tipped masory drill 8mm diamter, built a well with blue tac and went very slow cooling the drill bit as I went along. Took a couple of mins

I've drilled holes in window glass with a masonry drill & a hand drill, just gone gently & very little pressure, just let the weight of the drill do it.

 

[sg66]

Glad it's sorted, I have used the arrow head tct bits on glass with no issues.

 

[RonA]

Go slow, use a hand drill.
White spirit or meths as a coolant will help.
Build a wall to keep the liquid in. Let the bit do the work.

Use masking tape to mark the spot, drill through until the bit has made a mark, remove tape, build the well and away you go.

The liquid also absorbs the shock wave created by the drilling & this is why the glass would shatter. See you tube for video of cutting a glass disc with a pair of ordinary scissors. Easily done as long as the glass is submerged in water.
RonA

 

[Rustyroost.]

In the past i've made a few bottle lamps with a set of glass drills which i'm sure i bought from either Toolstation or Screwfix, they done the job fine. Normally Spirits bottles with a string of LED lights inside, but one i made was from an old Esso Oils glass bottle, which looked right good, really unusual, unfortunately my wife didn't think so, so it ended up in the bin....the bottle lamp, not the wife ;-)