Stone surface is a common choice to enhance the interior decor of offices and houses. To make natural stone functional as well as appealing, it needs fabrication polishing cutting work. Common granite stone tile fabrication tasks are cutting, drilling and polishing. At end of this blog, you will learn the right technique, safety measures and tools needed to create a perfect hole in granite and other stone surfaces.

Stone Countertop Surfaces

There are various choices for stones. Granite is a common choice for a surface due to its physical properties. Granite is made out of quartz and microcline crystals. In Granite, these crystals are packed in proximity. This structure makes it one of the hardest among various natural stones used in home and office interiors. The other choices for countertops surfaces are Marble, Quartz, and Quartzite. Granite tiles are as well popular, as it costs less in comparison to granite slabs.

Granite Countertop Fabrication

The structure and hardness of granite makes fabrication, restoration and granite drilling tedious. To make a holes in granite, one needs to have a superior quality of abrasive tools. To install faucet, soap dispenser on countertop, holes are needed. The tools need to be strong, sharp and durable to complete drilling without damaging itself. It also needs to cut the hole with precision and without damaging the stone surface.

Selection of Drilling Tools

The right choice of tools is the utmost importance for successful drilling into granite. One needs specialized tools for the intended purpose. To drill hole into granite countertop, the tool used is a diamond core drill bit hole saw.

Diamond core bits are available in a variety of diameter and height. It allows bore holes of required diameters and depth. The diamond hole saw core bits are made of low grit diamond abrasive embedded in a metal or resin base. Diamond is one the hardest material on Earth. Its abrasiveness cuts the hard surface accurate with efficiency. The cut hole is smooth edges and meets its specification.

Core Drilling Methods

A hole in stone or granite is created with two methods:

Dry Coring of Tile Granite Stone

In dry coring, the hole is created without the use of water during the drilling process. The time taken is less, but there are chances of damage to the surface and the tool due to friction and heat generated. It is used for creating hole for granite, tile, granite countertops. 

To polish the hole edges, one can use dry diamond polishing pads.

Wet Coring of Tile Granite Stone

In the wet coring process, the water is used during hole creation process. It keeps the temperature of the stone surface and the tool down and acts as a plasticizer. Although it takes more time to create the hole with wet coring, it is a preferred choice. One also has to clean up the watery slurry mess created during the process. It is used commonly for drilling a hole into granite, tile, stone, concrete surface. 

To polish hole edges, one can use wet diamond polishing pads.

How to Drill Hole in Granite Countertop

One can cut holes in granite with easy and simple following steps:

1) Clean up the granite surface to ensure it is free of dust and dirt. Put the Granite slab or tile on a strong base and clamp it.
2) Mark the exact diameter or point for the hole. Use of marking tape or marker for granite to mark it. A masking tape will tear off on first use of the core bit. A thick mark using granite marker would be useful even during coring process.

3) Choose the right diameter and height for the core bit to create hole of the right size. Never use oversized core bit. 
4) Equip yourself with protective gears for protection from dust, splinters and sound. One needs to use hand gloves, protective eye glasses, nose mask, headgear, and safety shoes. These are essential for safe operation of the tool.
5) Start drilling at low speed by placing the tip of the bit right on the center of the mark. For dry coring use vacuum to minimize dust.

6) Keep drilling at low speed till the finish. For wet coring, pour water in the hole and then continue with cutting the hole.

7) Clean away the surface and sprinkle some water to cool it down.

The size of the hole is often limited by the size of the diamond core bits. For bigger sized holes, one can use granite hole saws.

Drilling a Hole in Tile

Drilling a hole in tile for stone is similar to drilling into a granite slab. As tiles are comparatively lighter, it is very important to clamp it securely. Else it may slide and can damage the tiles during drilling process. Generally tiles are thinner. They also have less strength, they need proper support from below while drilling process. Care also needs to be taken while installing the faucets in faucet holes. The coring needs to be done at low speed and gently to avoid cracks during drilling of tiles.

Drilling a Hole in Other Stones Concrete

Drilling into other stones such as Marble, Quartz, Quartzite and concrete is similar to drilling into Granite. Most of the other stones are softer than Granite, it is recommended to drill at low speed, and as needed increase the speed of variable speed wet polisher to avoid cracks in softer stones.

About Shop N Save Mart - Stone Fabrication Tools Supplier

Shop N Save Mart is a renowned industrial diamond tools supply company and the authorized retailer for Stadea tools. A custom B2B service provider, the organization provides a holistic solution for stone polishing, cutting, grinding, restoration, and diamond tools procurement to stone, granite and concrete manufacturers, fabricators, etc. Their professional quality tools offering, competitive pricing, exemplary focus on customer service, B2B friendly online portal, free shipping, free overnight shipping, fast shipping, delayed time zone shipping location, cost-effective deals, discounts, and other bargains makes them one of the best partners for all diamond tool related needs and supply.

References

How to Polish Granite Edges

How to Drill Hole in Granite Tile Countertop