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What drill bits do you all use for drilling into marble?
Hi everyone, im installing a set of built up letters in the morning. They are going onto a marble tile fascia. Ive got a sample of the tiles here and they are impossibly hard. What drill bits do you all use for drilling into these types of tile? We have over 40 holes to drill and its a disheartening prospect. Ordinary masonry bits arent working, what else could i try?
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10 Replies
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SDS Drill. Be brave! I have done this and was worried about cracking the marble tiles which were only 12mm thick, but it worked a treat.
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Hi andy, yeah thats what im worried about, cracking the tiles. I havent got a sds drill, just a hammer bosch. Is there any type of bit you can buy that will penetrate the tiles?
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Well, there are many types of fancy drill bits that claim to drill different surfaces, but I don’t know about marble. All I can say is the SDS did it no problem. I was on site 70 miles from home and had no joy with a regular hammer drill, so I hired one from a local shop and it worked. In fact, the hire shop were the ones who recommended the SDS so they must know what they’re talking about. Any hire shops near you? Should only cost a few quid for a day’s hire.
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You could try using a Tile drill , any decent hardware shop will help you out there. – Like a Hot 😛 Knife thro’ Butter
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I would ring a marble yard.. Diamond drill bits will do it, without any hammer action.. I would be very worried about cracking the tiles, that would cost a mint to repair, as alot depends on how the tiles have been installed, some large tile are just held in place with wire ties..
A firm i worked for years ago were putting up individual letters in a reception lobby, the marking tape ripped the paper and they had to pay £600 for someone to re-paper the whole lobby, ( which was only a small area, coz the paper wouldn’t match up to the existing..
Simon
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Hi, I agree with Andy, it’s the drill rather than the bit that makes the difference. I’ve had to do some drilling through 40mm polished granite recently and a normal hammer drill wouldnt touch it. I hired an SDS hammer drill from HSS and used a normal masonry bit (I think it was a Hilti bit) and it worked a treat.
Cheers,
John. -
Hilti will do the trick bish bosh bash no problems whatsoever- I doubt you’ll even need to click up to speed setting 2.
Get a quad drive SDS bit as they have four cutting teeth rather than the normal 2 on standard SDS bits. My hilti is reserved for the jobs where nothing else works. With the Hilti you’ve got infinate trigger control so you can ease up on the RPM’s as the bit bites- going hell for leather straight off will skid and chip so go easy. Don’t forget to get 110V.
If you are hiring try a 24V Hitachi cordless- I’ve only got 9.6 ones but a mate of mine has the 24v jobbie and it’s THE best cordless I’ve ever used.
If you are fitting signs professionally dump the DIY gear and get tooled up properly- it’ll pay off in the long run- plus you don’t look a chump around other trades on site “ohh check out the sign dudes Black & Decker” 😀
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yeah, we got Hilti’s and Dewalts on the shop, however we did go thru a period where the staff was dropping expensive tools from great heights, two in one week too!
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You need a diamond tipped hollow bit and need a water lube on the stone or thru the tube.
The hollow bit drils are like tubes with diamonds encrusted at the cut off end , water is essential , slow speeds are too. A masonry bit or carbide slot drill or the like will be useless for 40 holes. I seem to remember we paid quite a lot for ours , but they have lasted a long time – we use em to drill holes thru marble , travertine and granite bases for awards. -
due to engraving marble from time to time, i’ve drilled it all sorts of ways, some marbles are very hard, but others are softer, more like a brick,
9 times outta 10 i’ll use a sharp masonry drill (not the cheap 50 in a set for a fiver at the market stuff) and drill thru without the hammer or sds action on, use on a slowish setting and it eats thru it, the harder marbles might want hammer, but even then i shy away from it, the harder the marble, the more brittle !
i’ve never done it on a facia, but i think i’d be cautious of going in hard, ya never know how they’ve been foxed, and if fixed poorly you could end with them being vibrated off the board !
perhaps i’m being overcautious, but when i’ve put 10hrs plus into engraving a marble slab (hobby only), the last thing i wanna do is bust it !
edit,
the drill bit is prob more important than the drill, contradicting an above statement i know, but it’s no good using cheap drill bits, i’ve kiled cheap bits in seconds before now on certain stones/bricks/concrete ! no good having an all signing all dancing drill if yer gonna put a 13p chinese drill bit in it !
i do agree about buying quality tools tho !!! they’re just not the issue here !
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