drilling and cutting travertine.

[ohhnoo]

I need to drill/cut several different size holes rangeing from red raw plug size upto 125mm plus I have a large curve to cut around a shower tray. I have read travertine is quite soft so do I really need to go to the expense of buying diamond Drills/hole saws and jigsaw blades. I need to buy the correct size holesaws anyway but I wondered if tunsten carbide would be ok. My plan was to cut the shower tray curve with a 115mm diamond disc in my angle grinder and for the larger holes 100/125mm I was going to use the jigsaw with a tungsten carbide blade once I'd cut a hole to get started. Does this sound ok or should I go for diamond hole saws /blades.

 

[Gazzer]

For the large curve an angle grinder with diamond wheel would be my choice but its a dusty job.
As for the holes i would use diamond drill bits.
Travertine can be a pain at times due to all the natural flaws in it. If you attack it with a jigsaw it will vibrate and could help it break, usually just when you get to the last part of the cut. Drilling would be much kinder and neater.
You may get away with not using diamond drill bits but again with the stone being natural yo couold be drilling away through what seems a softish tile and then come up against a harder portion......snag and then the tile breaks.

 

[ohhnoo]

Thanks for the advice Sir Ramic. Looks like it's going to be expensive :yikes: if I have to buy the larger diamond holesaws 100/125mm, might give the jigsaw a go on slow speed with the tile on a rubber mat, or try and cut them with the angle grinder. The hole edges will be hidden by a toilet and a fan cover so dont have to be perfect but obviously I would like to get them as neat as possible.
So at the moment I plan to buy 6 diamond hole saws, 6 and 8mm for red and brown rawplugs, 12mm for the sink fixings, 18mm for 15mm copper pipes, 25mm for the shower head and 50mm for 40mm sink waste pipe, does this choice of sizes sound ok.
When I have used hole saws on various other materials they always cut the hole slightly larger than there actual size so with this in mind should I go for smaller sizes particularly the raw plugs and sink fixings.

 

[united]

Why don't you check out 365 Drills good products and won't break the bank

 

[Deleted member 1779]

What else can you use the best selling diamond tile drill kit for

Lets imagine you saw our product pitch and went for the BFKMX bathroom fitters kit all in one tile drilling solution. It arrives (hooray) and you start to get on with your bathroom.

(This project is repeated in full on our website - Below we can only use ten pictures.
the website shows 21 picture - click here to see the full article or carry on reading below to get the main points)

One of the most frustrating thing that can happen is that you are presented with one or two non standard hole sizes to drill.
GOOD NEWS. I am going to show you how to adapt the BFKMX so that ANY hole is possible with this kit. It truly is the all in one solution.

First of all if you have a 12mm or 14mm hole to drill for a fischer kit its not a problem just cut out a plug in the tile with either the 16mm or 30mm hole. Above is the 30mm scenario and you can imagine the sink will butt up against the hole so not a problem it will be concealed.

The advantage of the 30mm hole is that you can put the tile on the wall first and mark it out. Then drill a big hole. And then use a hammer action drill inside the hole without fear of hitting the tile.

If you dont like the size of the 30mm then you can use the 16mm. As you can see the fischer bolt fits perfectly inside this plug.

The hole is snug and less room for error. You might choose this size if there is a wooden baton behind and you only intend to screw the bolt in so there is less chance of you hitting the tile with a hammer action drill. In my experience its better to tile the wall first and then cut out your fixings hole for the sink rather than try to mark out the tile and fit it over a preexisting hole.

If its not you doing first fix try to have a word with your plumber to tell him NOT to fit the bolt before you tile. The other little thing to note is that these bolts are at trouser level and prone to prodding parts of your anatomy that you dont want prodding. If you are tiling over two days these things sticking out can get in the way.

OK on to the next thing. Here we see our client has opted for a 53mm or 2 inch press button flush for a loo pan. Good news is that we keep this size (we keep all sizes) in stock. But its Saturday afternoon and you want to finish your project and besides its only one hole so spending on a single size is a waste of time and money.

Here's how to get round it. Drill a single 30mm hole into the tile. Then draw a circle round the part of the tile you haven't cut.

Reposition the guide plate so that you see a half moon. And then start to open up the hole so that you cut sections out at a time.

Here is your oversized button press at 50mm.

You can see that if you mark the tile right you can drill out a triangle hole and the fitting will slip into place.

Here it is when you slip it into place flush to the tile.

This is what it looks like from the back. Its not going to win an awards for symmetry but the point is you got the job done and most items come with a capping plate to conceal irregular holes.

Here is the back washer. And once that goes on then there is a really tight fit

There - you can see that the item is fitted with zero fuss. And it has saved you having to buy loads of different size drill bits. And time waiting for delivery.

You will have one happy client !

Next we have a combination of copper 15mm pipes, plastic etc etc

As you can imagine the 15mm slips nicely into the 16mm hole !

Next what we are showing you is that the 15mm pipe can come through a 30mm socket if you have used the polyplumb style of plastic fitting.

It looks perfect and made for the job. Another thing to note is that pipes can often be "capped off" with cap ends.

So the 30mm will let you slip a tile over the 15mm copper pipe with its cap end in place. No need to remove and have Niagara Falls all over yourself.

While we have the camera out lets show you that the 16mm hole is universal and accepts grey plastic pipe And of course it accepts white polyplumb plastic pipe just as comfortably.

The end comments are really to drum in the message that if you cut PLUGS out of tiles then you can mostly bring any service pipe through.

It just needs a bit of thinking about. Lots of white goods will hide anything you drill for 240v cables, pipes, sockets, buttons, bendy electrical pipe, shower heads, body jets and the list goes on.

You might be forgiven for asking why we stock 37 different sizes when the BFKMX does practically anything.

Well the point is that if you are doing a whole hotel and you need a bespoke size, or something like LED lighting with very little clearance then the good news is we are the only supplier to have a comprehensive size range for you. And we can have it on site next day.
But the honest lesson is that once you have a BFKMX in your toolbox then you have a full drilling capability for very hard porcelain tiles.

Read Full Article with all 21 Pictures

 

[mikethetile]

thats a handy post richard

and a handy kit too

 

[Deleted member 1779]

Yes the thing with this main kit is that you have three things

1) 6mm for red

rawl plugs and 8mm for brown

2) All the common service pipes with the 16mm 30mm and 40mm

3) The abilty to use the kit to cut plugs out of tiles. So its a good all-rounder

A tile only has to slip over the fitting - It doesnt have to be exact. For 99% of fittings that's true. And that includes the Fischer fitting kits.