Drill a hole in the glass. Cutting round glass. Unusual ways to drill a hole in glass

It is likely that almost everyone has to work with glass. home master. Cutting a sheet of capricious material into pieces is not a particular problem, but the need to drill glass causes difficulties for many. To perform this manipulation, it is possible to contact a specialist whose services are quite expensive, or you can try to do this work yourself. In fact, there is nothing noticeably complicated here, you just need to be careful, because with the slightest deviation from the following recommendations, the surface will become covered with cracks.

It is possible to drill any holes in the glass

Types and features of glass as a material

Glass manufacturing technology is quite complex. A mixture of several components melted at very high temperatures is subjected to rapid cooling, while the crystallization of the material is not completely completed, and it remains amorphous. The type of glass is determined by its main chemical ingredients. There are the following types glasses:

oxide;
sulfide;
fluoride.

Silicate or oxide material is widely used for the manufacture of a variety of glass containers, including bottles. When melting quartzite, quartz glasses are obtained, sometimes called rock crystal. It is formed when lightning strikes quartz deposits. Glasses can also be classified according to their purpose. So, different kinds glasses can be used to reduce radiation levels, manufacture fiberglass, protect screens of laptops, tablets and smartphones, as well as in the manufacture of incandescent lamps, kinescopes and x-ray equipment.

Samples different types glass

Depending on the application and performance characteristics glass different composition can be optical, chemical, medical, protective, window, utensils and so on. Industrial varieties that are also used in everyday life are divided into several subspecies:

characterized by low melting point and light color potassium-sodium glass;
hard and refractory calcium-potassium material;
expensive and fragile lead glass;
resistant to aggressive chemical environments and temperature differences borosilicate products.

Proper preparation is the key to success

It is quite possible to make an even and neat hole in the glass with your own hands, you just need to properly prepare its surface before performing the manipulation. This is the key to a successful job. The following actions will be required:

grease is removed from the glass, and it is located on a non-slip surface;
the marked location is sealed with a plaster to prevent the cutter from slipping;
the drill when drilling is located strictly vertically;
it is unacceptable to exert strong pressure on the material;
work must be carried out with breaks for cooling.

There are drills for holes of various diameters.

Standard option - use of a drill

Often the task arises to drill a small round hole in an aquarium for an aeration tube. To drill at home standard is to use a conventional metal drill. To do the job, you will need a drill with the ability to adjust the speed or a screwdriver.

It is also necessary to prepare a small piece of plasticine and turpentine. A funnel is formed from plasticine, into which turpentine is poured as a cooling working element. The plasticine rim is located around the center of the planned hole.

Careful work guarantees success

Having placed the drill strictly vertically and setting its speed controller to a minimum, they begin to act. When the process is almost finished, but the hole has not yet been completely formed, the glass sheet should be turned over to the other side and continue working from the opposite side to prevent cracking of the material. The final processing of the edges of the resulting through channel is carried out with fine sandpaper rolled into a tube.

Do-it-yourself glass drill

Devices for drilling glass can be made independently. To do this, you must perform the hardening procedure for an ordinary drill. It is clamped with pliers and the cutting end is placed in the flame of a gas burner. When the metal heats up white color, it is cooled in a wax bath. The metal hardened in this way can handle almost any glass material.

This is what homemade glass drills look like

A regular glass cutter can also help. To do this, the cutting element in the form of a diamond roller is fixed on a metal rod in such a way that it is motionless with respect to it. The resulting device can be called a modification of the factory tools with diamond coating.

Making a hole with sand

Before the advent of drills and screwdrivers, holes in capricious material were made with sand. To do this, it was poured in a wet state on required space and formed a funnel in the sand, the lower diameter of which exactly corresponded to the cross section of the required through channel.

An ancient way to make a hole in glass

Then molten lead or tin was poured into the funnel. After some time, the sand, together with the solidified glass mass, is removed. The hole is perfectly aligned. Its edges do not require further machining. Lead is easily melted by placing it in a mug and directing the flame of a gas burner at it, or simply by placing a metal vessel on a gas stove.

Large hole cut with a glass cutter

A circle of large diameter can be cut in glass with a glass cutter. To do this, use the circular design of this tool. It consists of a suction cup located in the center of the diameter, an adjustable tripod and the glass cutter itself. The movement of the glass cutter should be smooth and uniform, and excessive pressure should not be exerted on the handle.

Drilling a large hole in glass

The cut is made once, after which the separation line is tapped from the inside with the handle of the glass cutter. With the correct execution of all manipulations, the cut fragment is easily separated and falls out into the substituted bucket.

All sorts of different ways to make a hole

It is possible to make a through channel in a glass surface in other ways. For example, you can use ordinary copper wire. First you need to dilute one part of camphor powder in two parts of turpentine, add fine-grained emery and mix the resulting mixture thoroughly. Then apply the composition to the place of work, insert the copper wire into the drill chuck and begin the drilling process.

big hole can be done with a homemade drill

You can also do the work using a duralumin, aluminum or copper tube. At the working end of the improvised tool, cutting teeth are cut with a needle file. A wooden cork is driven into the other end, into which a screw with a cut head is screwed to strengthen it in the drill chuck.

At the right place, cardboard washers are glued to the material being processed on both sides. The working end of the tube with cutting teeth, moistened with turpentine, is inserted into the washer and glass is produced by one third of the thickness of the material. Then the sheet of glass is turned over, and work continues on the other side until a through hole is obtained.

A hole in the glass will help make a soldering iron

Some craftsmen use a soldering iron to make through holes in a glass sheet. Previously, a marking risk in the form of a ring is applied to the surface of the material. Then the tip of the soldering iron warms up well, and the accurate melting of glass along the segments of the circle begins. Frankly, when using this method, it is rarely possible to obtain sufficiently even edges of the hole.

Before starting any manipulation, it is necessary to thoroughly degrease the surface to be treated. This is done with a rag soaked in gasoline or turpentine. The glass is then thoroughly dried.

It is better to feel the work of the cutter in advance by drilling a few holes in unnecessary pieces of glass. It is important not to create excessive pressure on the working part, even if it feels like the drill is spinning idle, without making the surface of the glass. This is not so: drilling is slowly but surely happening.

In the process of work, it is necessary to perform cooling of the glass surface and the cutting part. Products small size can be drilled in water by lowering them into a container of a suitable volume. In this case, you can not be afraid of overheating.
Cooling the glass during drilling ensures good result

The working point must first be glued masking tape and mark over it. This simple action will prevent slipping at the very beginning of the workflow. The drill must be placed vertically, maintaining a strict right angle during the entire time of the manipulation.

Turning the sheet over will help to get rid of the appearance of even small cracks in the material. reverse side when choosing a thicker glass surface.

In addition, this procedure will help reduce the taper of the resulting hole. Accidental cuts on its sharp edges are prevented by grinding the protrusions with fine-grained sandpaper.

Be sure to wear goggles to protect your eyes from the smallest glass fragments in the form of dust. It is necessary to drill thin glass, stepping back from its edge by at least thirteen millimeters. It is necessary to retreat from the edge of thick glass by about twenty-five millimeters, otherwise the material will certainly crack.

If you need to drill 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 make 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 in this case, how quickly and accurately you can do 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.
When working, it is unacceptable for the sheet to slide off, so this moment must also be foreseen.
Choose a base so that the sheet is located on it completely.
Before starting work, mark the place where you will drill. Use construction tape or a marker for this.
If drilling glass with your own hands - new job for you, then practice on small pieces first to avoid damage to the main sheet.
The drilling process is quite slow. No need to press on the glass to get the job done faster.
Position the drill at a right angle to the plane. Don't try to make a hole right away. Let the glass cool down periodically.
After the perforation is almost done, turn the sheet over and finish 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, processing the glass with fine sandpaper will help get rid of them.

How to drill glass at home with a conventional drill?

To successfully complete this task, you will need:

A set of drills used for metal or ceramics.
Screwdriver or low speed drill.
Plasticine.
Turpentine.
Alcohol.

Operating procedure:

Place the glass sheet on a flat surface.

Important! Pay attention to the fact that the edges do not hang.

Set the screwdriver or drill to the lowest speed.

Important! 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 recess in place of the future hole.
Pour some turpentine into it and start working with a drill.
Do not apply too much pressure to the tool as cracks may form.

Sand use

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

Petrol.
Sand.
Tin (it can be replaced with lead).
Gas-burner.
Metal mug.
Sealing wax.

The algorithm of actions is as follows:

Degrease the surface with gasoline.
In the place where the hole is to be made, pour some moistened sand.
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 burner.

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

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

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

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

Saw a groove in the rod to insert the roller into it. You need to fix it so that it is motionless in relation to the metal rod.
Fix the drill made in this way in a screwdriver or drill and start drilling. This is equivalent to the fact that you are perforating with a diamond-coated drill.

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

There is another way self-study drill bits to work to drill glass at home:

Clamp a regular drill in pliers and hold for several minutes over the flame of a gas burner.
After the tool is white hot, cool it with sealing wax.
After the drill has cooled, remove the remaining sealing wax.
With this simple manipulation, you get a durable tool that can make holes in a tempered glass sheet.

To avoid cracking of the material, apply a little turpentine or honey to the surface at the drilling site.
Do not press the screwdriver or drill while working, do not shake the tool from side to side.
Take breaks of 5-10 seconds. During breaks, lower the drill into a vessel with cold water for cooling.
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 a solution of ethyl alcohol and acetone.
Do not forget about safety precautions - you need to work in goggles and gloves.
The minimum distance from the point of drilling to the edge of the sheet: 15 mm for fragile grades, 25 mm for ordinary glass.
It is desirable to place a glass sheet on a wooden surface.

Glass cutter application

With this tool you can create holes of large diameter or complex shape. The algorithm of actions is the following:

Apply with a marker or felt-tip pen contours for further processing.
Press the tool smoothly and evenly, do not make sudden movements.
To fall off the cut off part, gently tap on the surface with the handle of the tool.
To remove glass residue, use special tongs.

Important! Before you start working with glass, check the condition of the tool. It is necessary that the roller is in the center of the glass cutter, rotates freely and evenly.

Glass is a fragile, easily breakable material, but with a few tricks it can still be drilled through. 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 glass, there are special drills with hardened tips.

Drill bits are used to obtain large diameter holes.

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, into the place of drilling.

It is necessary to exclude a 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 putty, lay it around the place of drilling, pressing it firmly against the surface of the glass.

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

2) If you need to drill a hole with a diameter of less than 4 mm and there is no special drill, you can use a conventional drill. To do this, the drill must first be 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 wait for it, placing it in sealing wax. When the sealing wax stops melting and cools down, we take out the drill and clean the adhering sealing wax particles. Now you can start drilling according to the previous method.

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

If the product is too large, then place it on a hard 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, then you can also use it. First, we wet the drill in a solution of aluminum alum and acetic acid, or camphor and turpentine (1: 1). We cover the place for drilling with a plasticine roller, pour liquid inside. Now the glass can 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 camphor in powder in turpentine 1: 2, and then pour coarse-grained emery powder and mix everything well. We spread the paste on the drilling site and get to work.

In the same way, you can drill glass, 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 with copper wire into the center and you can drill. 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 to drill with tubes. To do this, we need an aluminum, copper or duralumin tube 4-6 cm long. At one end, we need to hammer a wooden cork into the tube to a depth of about 2-2.5 cm and screw in a screw 0.5 cm thick so that its smooth part protrudes above surface by 1-1.5 cm, and then saw off the head of the screw. We insert the protruding screw into the drill chuck. On the other hand, we cut out the teeth using a trihedral file. Now we glue cardboard washers to the glass on both sides, with a diameter equal to the diameter of the hole. We lay the glass on rubber, sprinkle the drilling site with 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 diameter hole without drilling at all. We fry the glass surface with gasoline, alcohol or acetone. We outline the contour of the hole and pour 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 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 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.

When carrying out repairs in the house, there is often a need to make holes for hanging shelves, attaching mirrors. Both glass and products made from it are no exception, despite their fragility. We will tell you some of the nuances and subtleties of the process that will help you get the job done with the help of improvised tools that are available in every home.

AT industrial environment a special tool is used to make holes in the glass. But for special cases, its purchase is not advisable, there are more simple methods which we will consider below. According to the first method, a conventional drill is used to drill glass, and we act according to the following instructions:

Choosing the right drill for metal. Better yet, take the one intended for ceramic tiles, which has a victorious tip.
You will also need a low-speed drill or screwdriver, alcohol, plasticine and turpentine.
The drill must first be hardened on fire, clamped with pliers and placed in the flame of a gas burner.
Next, send the tool to the container where the sealing wax is located, and leave it to cool.
Place the glass on a flat and solid surface, the material should not hang over it.
The speed at which you will work with a drill is minimal.
After inserting the drill into the drill, be sure to check its runout and change the tool if this parameter is large.
Degrease the glass using alcohol.
Make a circle to limit when drilling, plasticine is great.
Make a hole by moistening the tip of the drill in turpentine.

The second method involves using a piece of copper wire or a tube as a drill. It is fixed in the drill chuck. To work, you will need a special paste, which consists of turpentine (2 parts), camphor (1 part), emery powder (4 parts). This composition is applied immediately before the working process to the drilling site.

The third method is to use a flat file fixed in a drill. The tool must be sharpened and look like a sharp chisel. When drilling glass, it is necessary to pause periodically to sharpen the needle file. By the way, a material that has a thickness of 6 millimeters can be drilled in 15 minutes.

The fourth way of making holes in glass is very ancient, because once there were no tools such as a drill or a screwdriver:

For work, prepare tin or lead, gas burner, alcohol, sand, metal mug.
To prepare the drilling site, treat the glass with alcohol, mark the contour of the drilling.
Pour wet sand onto the surface, in which you need to make a funnel of a certain size.
Tin or lead should be poured into this mold, after melting it to a temperature of 250-300 degrees. The sand mold must be filled completely.
After a couple of minutes, remove the sand.
When the solder is removed, a piece of glass will fall off along with the ebb and a through hole will form.

In addition, if you can modify the drill, then there will be no need to use lubricating fluids. A diamond roller is used, extracted from a tile cutter, which is fixed in a metal rod, more precisely in a slot in it. And then it remains only to fix the homemade drill in the drill.

How to make a hole in glass

Making holes in glass.

There is an old, but for some reason now forgotten method for making holes in glass. The place on the glass where there should be a hole is thoroughly washed from dirt and grease with gasoline, acetone or alcohol. Then wet fine sand is poured onto the washed place and a sharpened stick desired diameter make a funnel in the sand to the glass. Molten solder is poured into the mold prepared in this way in sand (lead or tin can be used). After 1-2 minutes, the sand can be dropped and the solder cone removed. An even through hole is formed in the glass.

Drilling holes in glass.

A hole in the glass can be drilled with a carbide drill. The secret of the success of this operation lies in the liquid with which the glass is wetted. It is prepared from aluminum alum dissolved in acetic acid, or from a one-to-one mixture of camphor or turpentine. A plasticine roller is made around the drilling site. Liquid is poured inside the resulting bath. Glass during processing should lie on a soft cloth.

Another way to make a hole in glass.

To work, you will need a hard alloy drill, plasticine for making a small bath, a mixture of equal parts of camphor and turpentine, as well as a piece of dense rubber.

Learn more about how to drill a hole in glass.

How to drill a hole in glass in 10-15 minutes. To do this, you need to sharpen a flat file like a chisel and fix it in the chuck of a hand drill. Do not forget to only allow the needle file to cool during drilling and periodically undermine it.

Drilling a large hole in glass.

The drill is made from a piece of aluminum, duralumin or copper tube 40-60 mm long. From one end, a wooden cork is hammered into it to a depth of 20-25 mm, and at the other end, teeth are cut with a trihedral file. A short screw 4-5 mm thick is screwed into the cork so that its smooth part protrudes by 10-15 mm. The head is cut off. A cardboard washer with a hole equal to the diameter to be drilled is glued to the glass on both sides. Glass is placed on a piece of rubber. A pinch of abrasive powder is poured into the drilling site. Then insert the end of the screw protruding from the cork into a hand drill, lubricate the teeth with turpentine and start drilling. When the tube goes deep into the glass by at least 1/3 of its thickness, the glass is turned over and drilling is completed on the other side.

Cutting round glass.

We offer a method of cutting round glasses. A roller from a glass cutter is attached to one sponge of the caliper. Another sponge rests on the glass through a rubber washer. The roller is rolled several times in a circle, after which 3-4 tangents are made with a conventional glass cutter, which facilitates chipping the glass along the boundaries of the cuts. Sharp edges are cleaned with a file or emery under running water.

Circle markings on glass.

A master tempted by experience will never start marking a circle on a slippery surface before he sticks a piece of adhesive tape or electrical tape in the center of the circle (under the leg of the compass).

Curvilinear cutting of glass.

Glass can be cut along any curved line with a soldering iron.

A risk is made on the edge of the glass at the beginning of the line with a needle file. A few millimeters away from it along the line of the future cut, the glass is heated with a soldering iron tip until a crack appears from the risk to the place of heating. So, gradually moving the soldering iron, we pass along the entire line. To speed up the process, you can periodically cool the glass with a damp cloth.

Glass drilling

1. Small holes in the glass are drilled conventional drill which is pre-hardened. The tip of the drill is heated to white, and then it is quickly pressed into the sealing wax and held until the sealing wax stops melting. When drilling, the tip of the drill is abundantly moistened with turpentine. Small glass objects can be drilled in water.

2. A hole in the glass can be drilled with copper wire. To do this, you need to prepare a paste consisting of large emery, camphor and turpentine. One part of camphor in powder is dissolved in 2 parts of turpentine and mixed with 4 parts of coarse emery. The resulting paste is applied to the place where it is necessary to drill a hole. A piece of copper wire is clamped into a drill chuck. It is convenient to drill glass through plywood (jig) with guide holes. The glass must rest on a hard and level surface.

3. To drill a hole with a diameter of more than 4 mm in thick glass, a copper tube is used. On the glass around the alleged hole, a plasticine or putty fence is made in the form of a ring with an inner diameter of 40-50 mm and a height of 8-10 mm. Corundum powder is poured inside the ring (it is easy to prepare by grinding a piece of an unusable emery wheel). The powder is poured with a small amount of water to make a liquid slurry. Drill holes with a copper tube clamped in a chuck drilling machine. The diameter of the tube should be slightly smaller than the diameter of the selected hole. It is very important that the end of the tube is strictly perpendicular to its axis - this can be easily achieved by cutting the tube on lathe.

4. A hole in the glass can be made with molten solder. On the surface of the glass, previously carefully degreased with acetone, gasoline or alcohol, a small hill of slightly moistened river sand is poured. With a sharpened stick, a conical recess is made in it and a platform equal to the future hole is cleaned of sand. In the received sand mold molten solder sticks with a temperature of 250-300 ° C. After the solder has cooled, the sand is removed, and the solder cone is removed along with the glass circle stuck to it.

Non-traditional glass drilling methods.

1. A thin steel drill, heated to white, is hardened in mercury or a piece of sealing wax and honed. Then a saturated solution of camphor is prepared in turpentine, a drill is moistened with it, mounted on a brace, and glass is quickly drilled, which is then wetted at the point of convergence with the named solution. This method can drill through glass 1 cm thick in less than one minute.

2. To drill a hole in glass, we recommend taking a triangular file, lowering it into turpentine and carefully drilling a hole.

3. You can also drill glass on a lathe with a copper rod, lubricating it with oil and sprinkling with emery. Special attention you should turn to the hole when the drilling process comes to an end and only the last thin layer remains, as this can easily crack the glass.

How to make a hole of any diameter in glass.

Glass is thoroughly degreased with acetone, gasoline or alcohol. Then, a handful of slightly moistened fine river sand is poured into the place where the hole will be. After that, a cone-shaped hole is made in the sand crust with a pointed stick to the glass. Its diameter in the lower part of the cone should be equal to the diameter of the hole being made in the glass. Then, molten solder (tretnik or tin) with a melting point of 200-300 ° C is poured into the sand mold. After the solder solidifies, its cone is taken out ... along with the column of glass adhering to it: the hole is ready.

If the glass is poorly degreased, it can burst in any direction and ruin the work.

How to make an attachment for an electric drill
for drilling holes in glass.

Take a diamond or roller from any glass cutter and attach it to a slot in a steel rod. The diameter of the rod should be somewhat smaller than the diameter of the diamond or roller. The roller is attached to the holder with a rivet, and in such a way that it does not have the ability to turn. Then fix such a device on a steel rod in a drill instead of a drill - and you can drill holes in the glass.

The operation of such a device is shown in the figure. "Drill Roller".

Cutting out big holes in glass.

To cut a large round hole in glass, you must first drill a small hole in the center, then strengthen one end of the wire in it, and attach a glass cutter or diamond to its other end and cut a circle with it. Then, with a glass cutter or diamond, several radii are drawn along the ruler from the hole to the circle line. After that, they take the glass in their hands and softly strike from the back side wooden handle hammer. The cut pieces of glass should fall out. It is desirable to knock out the cut-out parts of glass in water. This reduces the chance of damage to the processed glass.