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Drilling Advice
Thinking of mounting a sign onto a marble faced wall, easy or hard? what sort of drill bit would you use, hammer action or not? regular wall plugs and fixings?
Thanks in advance John
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14 Replies
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I did that once. I used an SDS drill & bit. No problem.
I was absolutely bricking it, mind you. It was some multi gajillion quid building full of posh people, who wouldn’t have taken kindly to me cracking their marble reception wall.
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Most Marble is actually quite soft, so a good masonary drill should do the job easily, usually without hammer action.
But… make sure it is marble, granite or terrrazzo, (a concrete imitation) can be quite tough,Peter
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Thanks guys – peter how do i tell the difference between imitation and the real thing? it looked very nice but don’t think it was that thick if that makes a difference
John
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I suppose a good idea would be to start gentle and increase the aggresiveness of the drilling technique. ie Start with a masonry bit without hammer action and work your way up. It is a nervy thing to drill, but I haven’t had a mishap yet and have always ended up using at least hammer action.
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John, Marble can be easily scratched with a blade, try it in a corner. it has sort of a smooth feel to it when scratched, whereas concrete, or granite is very harsh.
Peter
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Thanks peter
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Use some masking tape to mark out where you are going to drill which will also help to stop the drill bit from sliding about the place.
Drill a pilot hole first using a smaller diameter drill than the size of the hole you want to end up with and then progress to the correct size.
Wouldn’t bother with hammer drill, and would use a high speed without applying too much pressure.
Watch out for the marble blocks that are about an inch deep though as you find you are drilling through marble one moment and then breeze block the next.
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I did about a hundred holes in a marble fascia (1" thick) a few months ago mounting moulded lettering.
The best way I found was with a QUALITY bit in a bog standard hammer drill.
I opted NOT to use our big SDS hammer drill as it’s a bit ‘vigorous’ and replacing a cracked slab would be nigh on impossible!
Went for Black & Decker (or who ever?) multi compound/use hammer bits. Went through a treat – piloted as a 4mm – then put the HILTI SDS 6mm bit through (in standard mains drill). Used full speed and it just went through like butter…powdered butter…
USE the hammer action if using hammer bits otherwise you’ll just overheat & destroy them.
Dave
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John,
I have found that the Diamond bits used to drill porcelain bathroom tiles work the best to drill and core out holes in marble. It scratches easily as mentioned once it is polished up so mark your spots to drill with a painters tape or masking tape then mark the dead center of the spot to be drilled with an awl. Drill slowly because it chips rather easily after you penetrate the surface.
Hope this is some help.
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I agree with George…one of the first fitting jobs I went on was stand-off letters into marble…we were really struggling with a used masonery bit which was having no effect at all really……went & got a diamond tipped bit & couldn’t believe the difference…. hot knife through butter stuff
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John, I use a masonry drill, but "sharpen" the cutting edge by honing it to have a cutting edge more like a HSS bit. No hammer action, and I spray water as I go along. Recently spent about 4 hours to drill 8 holes in a granite fascia, but (as with all rushjobs!!) this was the exeption.
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quote glenn:I agree with George…one of the first fitting jobs I went on was stand-off letters into marble…we were really struggling with a used masonery bit which was having no effect at all really……went & got a diamond tipped bit & couldn’t believe the difference…. hot knife through butter stuff
The diamond tipped bits were worth every bit I paid, which wasnt unreasonably priced either.
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Last time I bought a couple of these:
http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PI … 40-X-75-mm
and got about 20 holes out of each (1" thick marble)…I just didn’t buy enough!!Thereafter, I was lucky to get 5 to 10 holes out of a standard masonary bit before it fell apart!
And if using any tungsten tipped percussion (hammer) drill bits…set the drill to hammer or it will just wear out fast, overheat…and ultimately cut slower.
Diamond or cobalt tipped drills can usually be set to either normal or hammer.
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Thanks guys all good advice 😀
John
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