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8mm diamond core drill recommendations


Dee J

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Meanwhile in the day job....

I need to drill twenty 8mm holes in 20mm thick porcelain slabs. Not an ideal situation to be in, The 'professional' slab layers ignored all requests regarding the fixing requirements of the patio lights - so now I need to go for a resin bonded stud system.

A cheapo diamond drill (AmTech) lasted for one hole. That's with a lightweight mains drill and plenty of cooling water.

Short of buying another 19 AmTech bits.... 

What does the team suggest....

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These are £10 cheaper, and I believe folk here have used them. I just bought the marcrist one tbh as I didn't want to take any risk with the grade 5 porcelain I was drilling. Don't bother comparing the drill bit you bought to these ones as they're in a different league. ;)  FYI, on this grade 5 stuff my regular tubular porcelain bit just barely managed to scratch the pencil mark off the tile before overheating and glazing over, then going into the bin. It literally didn't even make a circle mark. The marcrist one doesn't 'fly' through but it did do about 25-30 holes dry. I'm sure it would have done many more if I kept it cool and wet, so as these appear to be outside locations your drilling at, I'd get the hose set up with a dribble of water and keep it cool / lubricated. 

I wouldn't use the lightweight mains powered pistol drill as it'll probably be going way in excess of the recommmeded 2-3000rpm speed, so get a geared drill and check first as excess speed will kill the bit in no time. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well the Marcrist bit did the job. Using their slower geared drill I would have still been drilling. Lightweight B&D pistol drill and water cooling achieved a good rate 5min/hole. 20 8mm holes in 20mm porcelain and plenty of life left in the bit. Excellent.

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3 hours ago, Dee J said:

Well the Marcrist bit did the job. Using their slower geared drill I would have still been drilling. Lightweight B&D pistol drill and water cooling achieved a good rate 5min/hole. 20 8mm holes in 20mm porcelain and plenty of life left in the bit. Excellent.

Happy days. Keeping the bit wet just makes such a difference. If drilling dry I found the high speed killed the bit a lot sooner, but as I was in a finished, grouted and sealed bathroom I had to drill dry with the hoover. 

Result, and thanks @Dee J for rounding the thread off :).  

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