How to drill the the BACK of tile ALREADY installed onto masonary wall

[365drills]

How To Drill The The Back Of Tile Already Installed Onto Masonary Wall Read more:


BACKGROUND:
Customer called up. He has two bathrooms tiled back to back.
He need to drill through one set of tiles into masonary then back out into the other bathrooms tiles.
How can he drill from the back of the tile without splitting or cracking the tiles of the second bathroom.
We initially told him to measure up with accuracy. Take a plug out of each tile in each bathroom then use a standard SDS to drill out the masonary.
He was not happy with this citing too much room for error. So we produced a custom drill for him to drill out the back of the tile.
He must drill out a disc or plug from the first tile and then start to drill through the masonary behind until he reaches the tiles of the other bathroom.
And then this he needs to swap to the drill we made for him to drill the back of the tile out.

This is how we made the drill bit for him.

We took a standard masonary drill and cut the tip off

Then ground it into a nub or stub.

We created the cutting end from a 16mm diamond core bit but instead of a tapered end to fit a small drill we plan to weld it to the stub.

Like this….. But instead of welding we are going to try liquid metal.

Mix up the chemicals (It really STINKS – So ventilate well)

Fix together and let set overnight.

More grinding with the disc to reduce the chemical metal down to a neat finish.

The diamond core tile drill is connected to the standard masonary drill shaft.

A bit of polish and luster and the diamond core tile drill looks firmly bonded to the sacrifical masonary shaft.

 

[365drills]

Ship to customer to see if the efforts are worth it…
So to recap the customer saw no other way to drill the tiles than from the back and through thick masonary.
We provided a hybrid drill bit where we meshed a diamond core drill from stock to a sacrifical shaft from a masonary drill.
Hope that makes sense as a project and managed to do a 6 min video of it too…

 

[365drills]

[video=youtube;Y0jDH9Gxih0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0jDH9Gxih0[/video]

 

[AWheating]

did the drill work?

whats that metal repair like? would it not be a weak joint?

 

[Killy Bing]

It would be nice if the back were hex's so we could put them in extentions normally.

 

[365drills]

Good advice! In fact the sacrifical drill can be any type so if we get a hex (or even an SDS) its quite easy.

Obviously we would have to advise on SDS NOT TO USE the hammer action !!!

 

[TomLane]

Looks like a lot of thought & effort has gone in to all this.

Unless I've missed it somewhere which in my tender state I may have done, or it may even be a blindingly obvious question, for which both I apologise in advance, but why exactly would you want to drill from the back of the tile? What does the customer need to do that requires this sort of process?

 

[Keefy]

Looks like a lot of thought & effort has gone in to all this.

Unless I've missed it somewhere which in my tender state I may have done, or it may even be a blindingly obvious question, for which both I apologise in advance, but why exactly would you want to drill from the back of the tile? What does the customer need to do that requires this sort of process?

I'm thinking the same. I take it the customer wants a perfectly straight pice of pipe straight through the wall, but why? If they get the measurements on the other side near enough in line then what's wrong with a slight offset to make up the difference?

Maybe the customer has a perfectly logical reason for wanting to do it their way?

 

[mountainman]

Maybe the customer has a perfectly logical reason for wanting to do it their way?

Don't they always!

 

[on31ll]

he was obviously an engineer

 

[365drills]

Crazy I know... I spoke to him at great length about the options. But he said there wasnt a single straight wall, edge, floor or ceiling to take a measurement from. The house was so wonky that the only way to guarantee being on target was to go through the back of the pre-installed tile.

Who are we as manufacturers and engineers to let down a customer huh! (And lets put it this way we charged for the work)

But I was really curious as to why this was really needed. I have yet to speak to him to find out if its a success.

My other thought was that if this house is so wonky donky and out of line then why was it so critical to get this right...

Everything else is on the P

Will certainly be quizing him a bit more.

 

[365drills]

did the drill work?

whats that metal repair like? would it not be a weak joint?

I will ask him next week. He only needs it for ONE hole can you believe... The thing with our diamond cores is that you have to use them with gentle pressure
so I am not too worried about using liquid metal. If more force was required we would have spot welded then ground out the snots.

It could well be the weak link will be the liquid metal....

 

[Destroyer2813]

Must of worked otherwise you"d have known about it by now

 

[jase158]

This is my idea of an invention (steal it if you like, I will never do it) but 2 pads with sensors/ magnetic etc to line up through a masonry/ plasterboard wall, would make millions, I would buy one...

 

[Keefy]

Amazed at how far 365 have gone for this customer, props to them for taking on the challenge.

 

[TomLane]

Did you find out what the customer wanted this drill for?

 

[Avatar]

I dont care - I want to drill the front not the danm back!

 

[365drills]

Well we just had the customer feedback and he said it "Did a beautiful job..."

He explained "We already had one of your bathroom fitters kits here on the job with a 16mm 30mm and 40mm drill. So We used your 30mm to take a slug out of the first tile and expose the masonary brick behind (breeze block). We DIDNT use a 16mm masonary bit. In fact we used a 19mm masonary drill bit to bore out the hole all the way through the blockwork until the tip touched the tile in the other room.

We cleared out the 19mm hole so we could see the tile. We inserted that 16mm diamond core that you supplied above and sluced water down the gap. The 16mm bar rested on the masonary (didnt kick up or move) and we slowly bored out through the back of the tile squirting water down the hole as we went.

The hole formed very quickly even though this is one of the hardest porcelain tiles I have come across. And when the diamond core popped out of the other side (the front of the tile) there was a perfect hole. No blow out. No chips. Nothing shattered.

Really pleased with the results and we want to now order a full selection of other sizes from the PORSADRILL range.

So I think we have a happy customer. ​

 

[mountainman]

Nice one :thumbup:

 

[PlumberTiler]

keep the customer happy,hat of to you for effort, (maybe a couple of laser lines could of done it!)

 

[SimonG]

Or go the whole hog and use a light sabre. (Funny that star wars is on the telly at the minute)

 

[TomLane]

Great, another happy customer!

But I feel I've still missed the point. Why did they want to drill this hole this way?

 

[Masood]

Excellent customer services!

Still no idea WHY he wanted this, though? If he was willing to cut a 30mm plug from one side, and a 19mm hoe, then a millimetre or two offset on the other side would surely not have been a big issue?

 

[365drills]

Perhaps he is spying on the woman next door in her bathroom. :smilielol5:


We may have aided and abetted a peeping tom!

 

[TomLane]

Perhaps he is spying on the woman next door in her bathroom. :smilielol5:


We may have aided and abetted a peeping tom!

I'm all for a bit of voyeurism but this seems a bit extreme!

Kudos for fabricating a new drill with so much effort & the customer being happy.