Using Sintered Core Drills With a Drill Head Assembly

Water, Water Everywhere

All diamond tools should be used with water, and none should be used as much as sintered diamond tools.

Sintered core drills will perform best when used with the proper amount of water to keep them cool and flush the ground glass from the hole as you drill. A Drill Head Assembly is the perfect device to supply a constant water flow through the sintered core drill to maintain proper lubrication and clearance through the glass as you drill.

Get it Straight

One of the biggest problems with water-fed drill head assemblies is that customers do not mount them straight into their drill press. The Drill Head Assembly is CNC manufactured to exact tolerances and will be straight from the shaft to the threaded mount.

Drill presses, however, are typically not machined to precise tolerances, and the chucks that the Drill Head Assembly fits into can be off by quite a lot. Getting the Drill Head Assembly straight in your drill press may take three or four times, but the extra time re-seating it is worth it for your work.

Hook Me Up

Getting the drill head assembly correctly connected is a simple yet essential step. DO NOT use the drill head assembly with a household water supply. The pressure on the line is too great and will blow the seals on your DHA.

Remember, there is a difference between volume and pressure. Just turning down the water doesn't decrease the pressure. Use a submersible pump with the drill head assembly to give your tools the longest possible life.

You can recycle your water with a core drill system, so have your drain pan drain into your bucket with the submersible pump, and you will have a closed water system for your core drills.

It's Just a Driller....

Sintered core drills have a very soft metal tip with diamond impregnated throughout the end of the drill. This makes for rapid and efficient drilling with minimal chipping and clean edges, but it's important to remember that slow and steady is your friend.

A good up and down motion to allow the Drill Head Assembly to flush the ground glass from the area being drilled will go far towards making a great hole in your glass and keeping your core drills lasting a long, long time.

Don't Plug It

Speaking of soft metal tips. It's vitally important to watch your drilling and be sure not to drill without water especially if the core of glass ends up blocking your core drill. You can quickly overheat your drill, destroy the soft diamond tip, and potentially crack your glass.

If you do plug up your drill and glaze the tip with glass, be sure to have a dressing stick on hand to clean off the tip and expose new diamonds on your drill.