Drilling Stone?

[mickey cassiba]

Not really sure where to post this, but here goes:
My wife makes cool looking jewelry using wooden, stone, shell and acrylic beads. She has decided that since I have all these neat tools and a lot of machine shop experience, that I should be able to drill porcelain, stone and shell, keeping her overhead down and allowing her to present more "One of a Kind pieces". The holes however are only 1.5-2mm, otherwise they hang "sloppy". While I have drilled glass, stone and porcelain using a brass tube, abrasive and water, or kerosene, I can't find any tubing small enough to make the holes she wants.
Any ideas?
Mick

[Jamie Buxton]

McMaster-Carr offers brass tubing which is 1/16" OD (1.6 mm).

[mickey cassiba]

Thanks Jamie...will be calling them Monday. The boss says this is a priority 1 item!
Mick

[Rick Moyer]

Since I've never attempted to drillstone, porcelain, etc., would you mind expounding on your methods? I could always use some more knowledge.

[mickey cassiba]

The way I learned to do glass was to make a "dam" around the hole to be, and flood with water or kerosene(to disapate heat and keep the glass from shattering. With a tube of brass chucked up, and an easy feed, add a fine abrasive(I use comet sink cleanser cause it's cheap) to the liquid. The tubing does not do the cutting, it just grinds the abrasive into the glass. It's not fast but it does work. For stone I use a small copper "Kan't Slip" clamp(similar to a two screw wood clamp but smaller) immersed in a vessel of kerosene. I made a large brass bowl years ago, with tapped holes in the bottom to secure the clamp and stone. Same technique as glass. I'll post pictures when I get the rest of my stuff unpacked, and fix my 'puter. Can't load pictures from the camera right now...all my media drives took a holiday on me.

[Robert Eiffert]

My wife is doing similar things with stone and shells. We wound up using diamond tip bits in a Dremel. And wound up buying the mini-drill press /attachment for it.

Workshop content: I made some wood hold downs for it.

[mickey cassiba]

My wife is doing similar things with stone and shells. We wound up using diamond tip bits in a Dremel. And wound up buying the mini-drill press /attachment for it.

Workshop content: I made some wood hold downs for it.
Sounds a lot cleaner! The comet/kerosene slurry is really quit sticky. Gets on everything and hard to clean up.
Any problems with breakage?
Mick

[Dave Verstraete]

Mickey
Another source for tube is for EDM Drilling tubes. We use them at work to drill very small holes in steel

https://www.alternativemachinetool.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=95_122_188&sort=4a&page=2&osCsid=1a1752eea873fc05e747dbf7ebd0fcba

[Paul Atkins]

Check out jewelry supply places. They sell diamond drills made for that purpose. I tried Dremel stuff and it didn't work that well. Rio Grand supply has a whole bunch of sizes at fairly reasonable prices.

[mickey cassiba]

Mickey
Another source for tube is for EDM Drilling tubes. We use them at work to drill very small holes in steel

https://www.alternativemachinetool.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=95_122_188&sort=4a&page=2&osCsid=1a1752eea873fc05e747dbf7ebd0fcba
Dave: I've been trying to find a used EDM for a while. My woodworkers are pretty heavy handed, and since I took over maintenance at the plant I've found broken taps, bolts and what have you in 25% of the machines. The bolts are not bad to deal with but the taps and broken drills are another critter entirely. Had an EDM at the gear shop I worked at years ago...nothing like it. Would really like to find one at a decent price. Re-buildable is okay.
Mick

[Robert Eiffert]

breakage...

It takes a light touch, and making sure the bottom is supported.

[mickey cassiba]

breakage...

It takes a light touch, and making sure the bottom is supported.
I use a cork...cheap and wont damage the tubing, but strong enough to keep from breaking out the bottom. What are you using?
Mick

[David Keller NC]

Mickey - There are many sources for diamond drill bits that will fit "normal" jacobs chucks. I do a fair amount of drilling of stone, ceramic and glass, and the diamond bits are the thing to have. They used to be very, very expensive, (like $225 for a 3/4" diamond hole saw), but advances in industrial diamond production have made them considerably cheaper.

A couple of words of caution. You can use a carbide-tipped drill bit to drill through stone with an impact drill. But an impact drill will rapidly destroy a diamond bit (DAMHIKT) - it shatters the diamond and removes it from the tungsten-nickel substrate. Also, when drilling with a diamond bit, its important to the bit life to keep it cool - water makes a fine coolant and doesn't require a lot of cleanup.

[Kelly Craig]

Here is one of many pages relating to diamond embedded drill bits.

http://www.drillbitwarehouse.com/home?page=shop.browse&category_id=37

As others pointed out, the life of your "bit" is greatly extended by keeping it cool and lubricated.

For rocks and such and drilling 1/8" and up holes, you can use a masonry bit and a impact drill. Of course, small rocks would likely just disappear under the impact. But using an impact is great for BIG jewelry, like water fountains.

[mickey cassiba]

Mickey - There are many sources for diamond drill bits that will fit "normal" jacobs chucks. I do a fair amount of drilling of stone, ceramic and glass, and the diamond bits are the thing to have. They used to be very, very expensive, (like $225 for a 3/4" diamond hole saw), but advances in industrial diamond production have made them considerably cheaper.

A couple of words of caution. You can use a carbide-tipped drill bit to drill through stone with an impact drill. But an impact drill will rapidly destroy a diamond bit (DAMHIKT) - it shatters the diamond and removes it from the tungsten-nickel substrate. Also, when drilling with a diamond bit, its important to the bit life to keep it cool - water makes a fine coolant and doesn't require a lot of cleanup.
Thanks but the sizeof the pieces I'm going to be drilling are quite small, and the holes will be in the range if 1.5-2mm(0.05-.08") I've used diamond in a machine shop for drilling carbide and ceramics, but have neither the equipment or money for such now. Mickey and Charlotte are kinda what you'd call a cottage industry.
Mick