How to drill a window glass. How to properly drill glass at home

This article will be of interest to those who want to learn how to drill a hole in glass with their own hands. After all, it is not so easy to drill because of its fragility. For this job, we need certain knowledge and tools. In our article, we will show you the little tricks associated with this process.

Simple drilling rules

I would like to remind you right away that you should use the means for any work at home. individual protection... In our case the best remedy there will be protective glasses, since when working with glass, small particles can get into the eyes.

  • Before starting work with glass, you need to consider very important point how far from the edge the hole will be. So, stick to at least 13 mm from the edge if the glass is thin and about 25 mm if it is thick. Neglecting this rule, you will get nothing except cracked glass.
  • You need to drill a hole in the glass with a special drill, which has hardened tips.
  • You can drill with a hand drill, as well as an electric one, but at low speeds (less than 350 revolutions per second).

Do all the work on drilling a hole in the glass with your own hands like this:

  1. Lay the glass flat and stable table... Be sure to check that there is no debris on the surface of the table, because the glass can crack.
  2. Mark the places of future holes with a marker.
  3. Take the window putty and mold it into a ring, which you place around our mark and press firmly against the glass.
  4. Pour some turpentine inside the ring. If you don't have turpentine, you can pour in regular vinegar.
  5. At low speeds, start drilling, but do not press hard on the drill.
  6. After drilling to about half the thickness of the glass, stop and gently turn it over to the other side. Again, put the putty ring, but already on the opposite side, pour turpentine or vinegar and drill through hole.
  7. The edges of the hole made should be cleaned with fine-grained emery paper, which is best wrapped around a flexible, such as rubber, tube.

What to do if the required drill was not found?

We will help you with this. Just follow the methods we suggest.

1. You can drill a hole with a diameter of up to 4 mm with a conventional drill, but after hardening it. In order to harden the drill, we need pliers and a gas torch. Hold the drill bit with pliers and heat the drill bit with gas burner and as soon as it becomes white, place the tip of the drill in the sealing wax to cool. Wait until the sealing wax has cooled and stops melting, then the drill can be removed. Clean it from the residues of sealing wax and you can start drilling, our drill is hardened.

When you need to drill a hole in a small glass item, you just need to place it in a container with cold water... The container should be convenient in size. The glass working surface should be lightly covered with water. The product must not float in the container.

If the glass is rather large or the water container is not at hand, you need to moisten the drill inserted into the drill with turpentine and be careful not to start drilling the liquid through the entire glass. Place the glass on a flat, hard surface.

2. If you only have a carbide drill and need to drill glass, this method For you. The secret lies in the liquid with which you want to wet the drill. You can prepare this liquid yourself. For this, aluminum alum must be dissolved in acetic acid. There is another option, mix camphor with turpentine in a 1: 1 ratio.

3. There is a method of drilling glass when you do not have any drill at all, but have a drill. And so, insert a piece of copper wire into the drill chuck. Then you need to prepare a special paste according to the following recipe: we take one part of camphor powder and dissolve it in two parts of turpentine.

Next, we take coarse-grained sandpaper and use a file or some hard object to remove the powder from its working surface. Pour this powder into the resulting liquid and mix well. Pour the resulting mass into the drilling site and you can start drilling, taking precautions.

4. The next method is similar to the above, but there are differences. Instead of a piece of copper wire, use a straight tube.

Then mold a ring with a diameter of 5 cm and a wall height of 1 cm around the circumference from plasticine. Place the ring on the drilling site and fill it with a paste of turpentine and camphor. You can make another paste from corundum powder diluted with a little water. You can drill further, but it should be noted that the hole diameter will be slightly larger than the object with which you will drill.

5. Introducing another drilling method with a tube. To do this, you need to take a tube 4-6 cm long. It can be a tube made of aluminum, copper or duralumin. We drive a wooden cork into the tube from one end to a depth of no more than 2-2.5 cm, at the other end we cut out the teeth with a file. We screw a screw 0.5 cm thick into a wooden cork. The smooth side of the screw should protrude 1-1.5 cm. Saw off the screw head.

At the place of drilling we glue cardboard circles, which should be the same in diameter as required hole... Place the glass on the rubber surface. Sprinkle the drilling site with abrasive powder. We insert our tube into the drill chuck, the protruding part of the screw.

We treat the teeth on the tube made by us with turpentine. Next, we start drilling. Having drilled about a third of the depth of the required hole with a tube, you need to turn the glass over and continue drilling on the other side.

How to make a hole without drilling?

And now we will reveal to you the secret of how to make a hole in the glass at home without drilling large diameter... This method will work for you, if not, a drill of the correct diameter.

Degrease the glass surface with a sponge dipped in gasoline or other degreasing liquid. Pour wet sand in place of the hole slightly larger than the diameter of the hole we need. Sand must be poured until it begins to crumble in diameter, that is, maximum in height.

We take a wooden stick that needs to be sharpened. The diameter of the stick should be equal to the diameter of our hole. With a stick, carefully make a depression in the sand to the surface of the glass, but so that there is no sand in the center of the funnel thus obtained.

Then we melt the tin or lead, that is, the usual "solder". After waiting 1-2 minutes, shake off the sand, and take out the cooled metal, at the end of which there will be a piece of melted glass. As a result of this operation and due to the high temperature, we got a smooth hole of the required size.

That's all. We hope that with the help of our advice you will cope with a seemingly difficult task. Now you can teach these simple tricks to your friends. We wish you success and confidently state that you will succeed!

If it becomes necessary to drill glass, people usually contact a special company. In fact, you can do this work yourself using the appropriate drills or sand. It will also be possible to drill through glass using less traditional methods.

What you need to know about glass?

Glass production is carried out by supercooling the melt... The speed of such a process is very high, because of which the crystallization does not have time to end. The result is a very fragile material. This fact must be borne in mind when starting to drill a glass surface.

There are several classifications of glass. Depending on the materials used, products are divided into oxide, sulfide and fluoride. If we talk about the scope of application, then glass can be window, glass, optical, medical, protective, chemical, etc. are divided into several more groups:

  • potassium-sodium material has a low melting point and has a light structure;
  • the calcium-potassium variety is quite hard and difficult to melt;
  • a lead product is rather fragile and expensive;
  • borosilicate material resistant to temperature fluctuations and the effects of various substances.

Many people wonder how to drill glass. For this purpose, it is necessary to have a suitable high-quality drill available, as well as a material capable of instantly cool the glass... Most often, experts use one of the several types mentioned.

If you decide to do the work yourself, be sure to prepare the glass. The surface must be degreased with alcohol and wiped with a dry cloth. It is also important to make sure that the glass sheet does not slip on the work surface.

Drilling is carried out in several stages.

  1. The drilling point must be marked. For this purpose, a marker or construction tape is used.
  2. In order not to spoil the material, you should first practice on the fragments.
  3. As a rule, the drilling procedure takes a lot of time. In any case, do not press on the glass in order to speed up the procedure.
  4. Keep the material at right angles. At the same time, while drilling one hole, it is worth making several pauses so that the product has time to cool down.
  5. When you're done drilling, flip the surface and drill holes on the other side. Thanks to this, it will be possible to avoid the formation of cracks or chips.
  6. Fine-grained sandpaper will help eliminate irregularities.

To drill glass at home, you need prepare the following:

  • a drill designed for drilling a ceramic or metal surface;
  • screwdriver;
  • turpentine;
  • alcohol;
  • plasticine.

The glass surface must be positioned so that it lies flat. Then you should insert the drill into a screwdriver or drill and make sure that it does not break the glass. After that, the surface is degreased and the desired place is marked with plasticine. Next, you need to start drilling.

Using a homemade drill

To create holes on the glass surface, you can use a homemade drill... Its main element is a diamond roller located in a conventional glass cutter. Alternatively, you can take a metal rod in which a hole is prepared for the roller. This type is considered a good modification of a diamond-plated element.

If you need to make a hole in the glass with a maximum diameter of 50 mm, then you can take any drill, and then grab it with pliers and hold it for a few minutes over the flame coming from the gas burner. When the tip becomes white, it is cooled in wax. Thanks to such hardening, the product will be able to drill through almost any glass.

If you first wondered how to drill glass at home, then when performing work, be sure to stick to simple guidelines.

Making holes with sand

If you think that a screwdriver or drill may be ineffective, use regular sand... You will also need gasoline, lead, any metal vessel and a gas burner.

  1. Glass must be degreased using gasoline.
  2. Then wet sand is poured into the place of the proposed hole.
  3. After that, a funnel is made with any sharp object. A mixture of lead or tin is poured here and after a few minutes the wet sand is removed.
  4. After this procedure, the hardened part will move away from the glass surface. To do this, the lead is preheated using a gas burner and a metal mug.

Unconventional ways of drilling glass

If the above options turned out to be ineffective, then you can use other means.

In everyday life, the need to drill glass is rare. Many people are afraid of this kind of work due to the fragility of the material. In fact, there is nothing complicated here. Enough choose a special drill and start drilling carefully. You can also cut the hole in unconventional ways.

The experience gained was used to drill glass for manufacturing purposes. A walking tool was specially used for work - a simple electric drill and a glass drill

Glass drilling features

1. Mark the center of the future hole on the glass with a marker.

2. For drilling we use a spear-shaped carbide drill. We fix the drill in the chuck of the electric drill.

3. Various modes of drilling start are offered. You can work "dry" or moisten the drilling site with turpentine. Turpentine probably has a lubricating and cooling effect and prolongs the life of the drill. In addition, the resulting glass crumbs are wetted and do not generate dust.

4. Sheet glass must be drilled very carefully. The drill should be held with a minimum feed in the direction of the glass, the weight of the drill applied to the drilling point should also be reduced. We start drilling slowly and we need to control the work only by slowly increasing the amount of glass chips.

5. Drill at minimum speed. We periodically stop the process and moisten the hole with turpentine.

6. We are not in a hurry when working. We drill at minimum feed. Special attention we pay to the end of the drilling so that the shank does not get stuck in the unevenness of the hole.

7. After successful completion of drilling, rinse the hole in running water.

8. Don't forget about safety precautions. We work in gloves, glasses and respiratory protection.

In the process of making a hole in the standard glass, it was not possible to drill it successfully. The glass is very thin and any carelessness led to cracks. Glass with a thickness of 2 mm was used, it was possible to drill it. A hole in glass 4mm thick was also successfully drilled with our own hands.

Fragments of the drilling process are shown in the video.

If you need to drill through glass, then the easiest way is to entrust this matter to a specialist. But firstly, such services are not cheap, and secondly, there are people who like to craft on their own. Let's try to figure out how to make a hole in the glass without damaging it. Consider what tools you can use at the same time, how quickly and accurately you can complete the work ahead.

Preparatory work

Before drilling glass at home, you must carefully prepare it:

  • Using ethyl alcohol or turpentine, wipe the surface. This is necessary in order to degrease it.
  • During work, it is unacceptable for the sheet to slip, therefore, this moment must also be foreseen.
  • Choose a base so that the sheet rests completely on it.
  • Before starting work, mark the location where you will be drilling. Use a construction tape or marker for this.
  • If drilling glass with your own hands - new job for you, then practice on small pieces first to avoid spoiling the main sheet.
  • The drilling process is quite slow. You don't need to press on the glass to get the job done faster.
  • Position the drill at right angles to the plane. Don't try to make the hole right away. Let the glass cool down periodically.
  • Once the perforation is almost complete, turn the sheet over and finish the job on the other side. This will allow you to get the perforation of the correct shape, and at the same time avoid chips and cracks.
  • If small roughness or irregularities have formed on the surface, sanding the glass with fine sandpaper will help get rid of them.

How to drill glass at home with a conventional drill?

To successfully cope with this task, you will need:

  1. A set of drills used for metal or ceramics.
  2. Screwdriver or low speed drill.
  3. Plasticine.
  4. Turpentine.
  5. Alcohol.

Operating procedure:

  • Place the glass sheet on a flat surface.

Important! Make sure the edges do not hang over.

  • Set the lowest rotational speed on the screwdriver or drill.

Important! The drilling speed ranges between 250 and 1000 rpm.

  • Clamp the desired drill in the chuck.
  • Using an alcohol solution, degrease the surface, and then make a plasticine depression in the place of the future hole.
  • Pour some turpentine into it and start working with a drill.
  • Do not press too hard on the tool, as cracks may form.

Use of sand

This is enough old way... It was used when there were no screwdrivers or drills. To drill glass with your own hands using this unusual method, you will need:

  1. Petrol.
  2. Sand.
  3. Tin (it can be replaced with lead).
  4. Gas-burner.
  5. Metal mug.
  6. Sealing wax.

The algorithm of actions is as follows:

  • Degrease the surface with gasoline.
  • Place some damp sand in the area where the hole is to be made.
  • Using a sharp object, make a hole in the sand, the diameter of which is equal to the size of the future perforation in the glass sheet.
  • Melt tin or lead in a metal mug using a gas torch.

Important! If there is no burner, then you can heat the metal in a mug and on a gas stove.

  • Pour molten lead into the prepared hole.
  • When the metal hardens, remove the sand and remove frozen glass... The resulting hole will be perfect shape and it won't need to be processed.

How to drill a hole in glass at home using a homemade drill?

To make a homemade drill, you will need a glass cutter diamond roller and a metal rod:

  1. Saw a groove in the rod to insert the roller. You need to fix it so that it is stationary in relation to the metal rod.
  2. Fix the drill made in this way in a screwdriver or drill and start drilling. This is the same as punching with a diamond drill.

Important! If for some reason you cannot buy a factory-made drill, you can make it yourself.

There is another way self-preparation drills to work to drill glass at home:

  1. Pinch conventional drill in pliers and hold for a few minutes over the flame of a gas burner.
  2. After the tool is white-hot, cool it down with sealing wax.
  3. After the drill has cooled down, remove the remaining sealing wax.
  4. With this simple manipulation, you get a durable tool that can be used to punch holes in a tempered glass sheet.

  • To avoid cracking of the material, apply a little turpentine or honey to the surface where you drill.
  • Do not push the screwdriver or drill while working, do not swing the tool from side to side.
  • Take breaks for 5-10 seconds. During breaks, dip the drill into a container of cold water to cool down.
  • If you choose between a drill and a screwdriver, give preference to the latter, since the drilling mode in this case will turn out to be more gentle.
  • For surface treatment, you can use both ethyl alcohol solution and acetone.
  • Do not forget about safety precautions - you need to work with goggles and gloves.
  • The minimum distance from the point of drilling to the edge of the sheet: 15 mm - for fragile glass, 25 mm - for ordinary glass.
  • It is advisable to place the glass sheet on a wooden surface.

Glass cutter application

With this tool, you can create large diameter holes or complex shape... The algorithm of actions is as follows:

  1. Contour with a marker or felt-tip pen for further processing.
  2. Press on the tool smoothly and evenly, you cannot make sudden movements.
  3. Gently tap the surface with the handle of the tool to release the cut off part.
  4. Use special tongs to remove glass residues.

Important! Before starting work on glass, check the condition of the tool. It is necessary that the roller is in the center of the cutter, rotates freely and evenly.

Glass is a fragile, easily breakable material, but knowing some tricks it can still be drilled. The safety rule when working with glass is to wear safety glasses when drilling, because small and large fragments can get into your eyes.

When drilling thin glass, holes can be made at least 13 mm from the edge, and if it is thicker, then the indent should be about 25 mm, otherwise the glass may crack. For drilling in glass, there are special drills with hardened tips.

To obtain a large diameter hole, drill bits are used.

For them, you can use the usual hand drill or electric, turning it on at low speed (less than 350 per minute). First, degrease the surface with acetone or alcohol. In the process of drilling, you need to drip turpentine onto the glass, in the place of drilling.

It is necessary to exclude strong beating of the drill so that it does not crack.

1) First of all, we lay the glass on a flat and stable surface. Having marked the place of drilling, we make a ring out of the putty, put it around the place of drilling, pressing it tightly against the surface of the glass.

Pour a little turpentine or vinegar into the center of the ring and start drilling with a slight pressure, setting the drill to low speed. It is advisable not to immediately drill a through hole, but rather, after drilling a small hole on one side, turn the glass over, repeat the entire procedure on the other side. Using a thin, flexible tube wrapped in fine-grained sandpaper, we clean the edges of the hole.

2) In case you need to drill a hole with a diameter of less than 4 mm and there is no special drill, you can use a regular drill. To do this, the drill must be pre-hardened. We clamp the drill with pliers and hold it over the fire of a gas burner until the tip is white-hot. Then we immediately cool it by placing it in sealing wax. When the sealing wax stops melting and cools down, take out the drill and clean the adhering wax particles. Now you can start drilling using the previous method.

3) If you need to drill a hole in a small glass product, then first lower glass product v cold water... The container must be selected so that the product does not move in it, but fits tightly, and the water slightly covers the entire surface of the glass. Now you can drill.

If the product is too large, then place it on a firm horizontal surface. Then moisten the drill abundantly with turpentine and drill, making sure that the turpentine from the drill flows down to the drilling site.

4) If you only have a carbide drill available, this can also be used. First, we moisten the drill in a solution of aluminum alum and acetic acid, or camphor and turpentine (1: 1). We stick the place for drilling with a plasticine roller, pour the liquid inside. The glass can now be drilled.

5) If you do not have any drill at all, then you can drill a hole using copper wire. We insert the wire into the drill chuck and fix it. Now we are preparing a special paste, for which we dissolve the camphor in powder in turpentine 1: 2, and then pour out the coarse-grained emery powder and mix everything well. We spread the paste on the drilling site and get to work.

Glass can be drilled in the same way, replacing the copper wire with a straight tube. For this method, we install a ring made of plasticine or putty, with a diameter of 5 cm and a wall height of about 1 cm.Pour the paste prepared for drilling into the center copper wire, and can be drilled. With this method, the diameter of the resulting hole will be slightly larger than the diameter of the tube itself.

6) There is another way of drilling with pipes. To do this, we need an aluminum, copper or duralumin tube 4-6 cm long.A wooden plug must be driven into the tube from one end to a depth of about 2-2.5 cm and a screw 0.5 cm thick should be screwed in so that its smooth part protrudes above surface by 1-1.5 cm, and then saw off the head of the screw. Insert the protruding screw into the drill chuck. On the other hand, cut the teeth with a triangular file. Now we glue cardboard washers to the glass on both sides, with a diameter equal to the diameter of the hole. We put the glass on the rubber, sprinkle the place of drilling with an abrasive powder. We moisten the teeth on the tubes with turpentine and start drilling. When we have drilled 1/3 of the thickness of the glass, we need to turn the glass over and continue on the other side.

7) There is another way in which you can make a large hole without drilling at all. Fry the glass surface with gasoline, alcohol or acetone. We outline the contour of the hole and fill in wet fine sand so that it goes beyond the contour of the future hole. The height of the sand slide should be as high as possible. With a sharply sharpened stick, the diameter of our hole, carefully make a funnel to the surface of the glass. Not a single grain of sand should remain over the area of ​​the entire hole. We melt the tin or lead and pour it into the center of the funnel.

After 2-3 minutes, the sand is brushed off. We take out the solder cone together with the glass circle.