Ok wtf.
My dremel and drill just got owned my some glass.

Trying to drill a hole in a Budweiser 40 ounce to make a lamp but I couldn't even leave a scratch.
This stuff breaks so easy but forget trying to make holes in it.

I gonna need any specail tools or anything?

Don't lie, your making a bong aren't you... AREN'T YOU!!!!!!!

Umm, you can make a crappy hole if you can manage to chip a hole in it. But besides having the proper tools, it going to be tricky. I'm sure someone here will prove me wrong though.

Get suran wrap or tape, put it where you want the hole. You want quite a bit of surface space taped. Get a nail. The pointier the better. But try to get one where the point to round angle is sharp, that way, yes, it's sharp, but it doesn't crack going up the incline from the point to the base. A good quick tap should send the nail through.

Key: PRACTICE. Don't do it on the actual object first, because puncturing glass without cracking it is tough.

Good luck. I honestly suggest you get the correct glass cutting tools, but you didn't ask for that, so I gave you the best way to do it of my knowledge.

JediKirby

I’m just curious what Bit you used when trying to drill through the glass. I think someone once told me that normal drill bits are useless against glass because there is nothing for the bit to grip. My best guess would be to try one of dremel’s glass etching bits, and then sit there with a lot of patience...

Are you trying to break into someone's home with this method?

People don't read. Although, I suspect this is a lamp of the "geting-high" sort. Sadly enough, tha'ts how I know how to drill into glass myself, so I don't blame him.

JediKirby

use some duct tape. put a big piece of duct tape on the glass. use a razor to cut a hole the size you want in the duct tape. sand blast.

Agreed. Go to the hardware store and ask if they have anything you can use on glass.

the very tip of the drill wont cut in and as glass is very hard you wont be able to force it but if you can dint or chip the glass that should be able get the teeth of the drill bit to cut through

Seeing as my family owns and runs a hardware store, I'll put in my two cents. Kirby is deffinately in the right track with using tape to reinforce it while drilling or cutting, and if you are tryign to use a drill bit with it go for a carbide tip bit, diamond ground if possible. They are deffinately some of the most expensive bits you'd find in an average store, so be ready for that.

You need a diamond drill. That's all I know.

(Interestingly, you could have looked at the google ads and they would have helped you out.)

(Well, a second ago they said diamond drills. Now they don't.)

(Diamond diamond diamond)

ruby jewel topaz

(Ahah. I sabotagued the google ads!)

I'd use STAR WARS to drill through EPISODE III DOWNLOAD FOR 98 CENTS myself.

HAHA....awwwww

This thread rocks because I've been trying to figure out how to turn a vodka bottle into a bong.

er...lamp.

I already have enough smoking devices.. I don't need any more. I AM trying to make a lamp lol.

Diamond tipped, darn. Screw that, expensive. I'll try to do the nail thing or something. Thanks.

And for the record, green apple vodka is the best thing you can put in a bong. Rawr.


Edit - Found a nice bit that seemed to be working.

Untill it turned heated up and a peice of it broke and went flying someplace in the corner. Got about halfway through.
Damn glass sucks.

V.1 RIP .. Got a hole in it 1 and a half bits later.
Not big enough though.. so I attempted to sand the edges, and cracked it.
And I just recycled the other day.. Guess I'll have to go buy a drink

Meh.


Stupid glass.

Something else that would take patience, but might work. Get a bit, preferrably big, but not bigger than you need the hole. Try putting sandpaper on it. It would take a lot of time, and would work better if you were using a table drill (to prevent movement)... but it could work. Would be cheap too.

That excuse for a beer is made in 40 oz?!

Sandblasting, Evad? Do you have any idea how many WEEKS he would be doing that for until he made a hole?

Glass is a very hard material, harder than steel. So you need something harder than glass. Diamond works but is overkill. I've never had to drill glass, but I'll bet you want an aluminum oxide, tungsten carbide tipped bit, etc. Google for "drilling holes in glass"...I have no clue why you thought anyone around here would know how. Diamond bits, nails, sandblasting...hahaha.

yes, I drink quite a few of those.

What do you think 40's are? What do you think "forty"s in Deus Ex were :p.

"40" =/= Bud

"Forties" are malt liquor though.

Not all forties are malt liquor. All the good ones are, though.

40s of Labatt Blue in High Park. Good times.

Oh, I just remembered...according to this old DIY handbook I have, you can make a perfect hole in some glass with cold, wet clay and a soldering gun (a gun because you need the high heat).

Basically you take your sheet (or bottle, which may be too thick, but try anyway) and stick a chunk of cold, slightly wet (moist rather) clay on it. Just like the size of a quarter, or something bigger than the hole you're making. Doesn't have to be thick at all, maybe 1/8 of an inch. Make a cutout in the center the size of the hole you want. Using your soldering gun, put it on full power (i.e. if it has multiple settings) and apply a bunch of solder to the tip until you have a big glob just waiting to fall off. Leave the gun on for a while, full power, holding it there until you're sure the solder has heated to the maximum that the gun can heat it to. Then drop it in the center of the clay where you cutout the hole for the glass. The superheated solder should make a big enough temperature difference with respect to the cold, moist clay that the glass will fracture around the inside of the clay and fall right out, leaving a clean, smooth hole.

Never tried it myself since I didn't have any clay on hand, but most of the stuff in that book works if you have the right tools. You'll probably need a soldering gun in the area of 150-200 watts, an iron probably won't work at all. You can also use any old MAPP or propane gas blow torch to melt the solder onto a peice of wire (steel, copper, anything that solder sticks to) and keep adding solder until you have a big blob, and superheat that with the torch (by heating the wire above it would be the best way, so the solder doesn't blow off from the flame) and then drop it into the clay cutout.

You list off our ideas as if we're not speaking from experience. I've hammered through replacement glass in my company's van to run wires countless times before. (By replacement glass, I'm talking about sheets of window glass we secured to the inside of the van to replace the large holes we cut in it. Let's just say the van didn't fit the standard of a video-crew van, and my boss was cheap.) A nail with ductape, once mastered, works very well.

JediKirby

hmm... I just thought this might be appropriate based on the conversation:

The contents of my friend's freezer as of last night. This morning it was somewhat emptier.
(there's some Absolut Vodka in the back, some Spiced Rum, Bicardi 151, and a couple other things. Then we also had some Bud Light and some Alaskan Summer Ale. Good times. :D)

"Please Drink Responsibly."

Window glass is not at all like a glass bottle. Even if you manage a clean hole, it's likely you'll have visible or microfactures that will weaken the glass. Over time, it'll break. Does he care about that? Perhaps not. But it doesn't take much to upset and shatter a peice of glass. Someone could pick it up and set it down wrong.

Glass is a really tricky and unpredictable material. You're best off using an actual bit made for cutting glass, or grinding away somehow (like with a glass etching bit and a lot pf patience as someone else mentioned). If you happen to have an oxy-acetylene torch lying around, that would be great for melting a hole right in the glass or softening the glass to the point where you can poke a hole into it.

Sandblasting would work if you had VERY coarse sand or glass beads or something and had a lot of patience. You also need an air compressor, a sandblaster and the sand. I did some sandblasting projects last summer, and at various PSIs on my 9 cfm, 9 gallon air compressor it took a hell of a long time to sandblast glass to the point where it became frosted. You're not gonna make a hole in any bottle any time soon with that.

It's just easier to use a drill bit made for cutting glass. Even a masonry or ceramics drill bit would probably work. Just ask someone at a hardware store...if they're competant they'll answer your question. If not, hopefully they'll send you to someone who can.

Carbide tipped drill, thats almost flat. I can't remember the correct sharpened angle for glass.

Slow RPM.

Rule of thumb regarding hard materials, you're going to need to use a VERY slow RPM setting.

If your dremel only has high and low... get one of the NICE ones with the slider control for RPM. They're way better.

I was going full blast.. I'll try slow next time.

That does no good, and I'll tell you why grasshoppa.


All you're doing is heating up the drill bit.

You have to go slower, not only so you don't overheat the drill bit but so the teeth can catch the material to cut it.

It'll take a HELL of a lot longer, but it'll work better.

Rob's right. People do the same thing when drilling metal...never tried drilling glass, but I imagine the cutting angle should be pretty low.

i sandblast glass everyday. it would take ~1/1,000 of a week to sandblast a hole in a bottle.
mind you, the media i use to sand blast is saphire which is extremely hard.

i knew a guy that used a dart to slowly 'ping' the glass away while he was 'using' another bottle for months. the hole was perfect and sooooo smooth.

Is it a coincidence that I'm a Machinist?

You should really be using a dimond tip...

At any rate, do what Rob said but with this added to it:

-Surround your intended hole area with newspaper ductaped down.
-Get a cup of cool water and have it handy.
-As you're drilling slowly, have a friend slowly poor the cool water over the intended hole area to help keep the drill bit cool.



The angle should be perpendicular to the surface. Unlike metal, once the bit starts going in, you can't wobble it around to try to make the opening larger.

Wobble a drill, you do not.

Infact, wobbling is BAD, especially for a machinist, as that means your hole will be lopsided.

And thats bad.

I can't decide if you were talking about the cutting angle of the drill or the angle he's holding the drill at.

I've always wanted to try this: get a blowtorch, heat up the spot on the glass where you want the hole until it's red hot, then quickly stick the bottle in the microwave and turn it on. Apparently the hot part of the glass is opaque to microwaves, so it absorbs them and melts. Of course, eventually the hot spot will spread and melt the entire thing...