Lets find the better ways how to drill our rocks.

[Enchantra]

p.s. I do not have course enough grit to try the experiment I mentioned. I'll order some but it'll be awhile - so much going on in my life I think I'm going to pop a sprocket any minute...

*waggles her finger at you*
You're not allowed to pop a sprocket Okay??
Afterall if you pop a sprocket there is no way I could ever come see you if I ever manage to round up the funds to do my visiting around the country of friends.   saved18

[lonelygems]

Hello buddies....i feel guilty for didn't interact for a weeks. So much to do......

I did a hole with hollow diamond bit, it works good and faster ( for a 5mm diameter and above) but still i got a problem when i used more than 8mm diameter bit.....slab started spin crazy when a bit go through....sometimes injured my fingers. If i hold the slab very tight, i'll breakage the bottom side of it.....so i go really slooow and carefully when the bit goes through.....any ideas please?

[lithicbeads]

 In the olden days people would use sodium silicate (waterglass) to glue the slab to a piece of 2x wood  so they could securely grab the wood. You just soak the slab off.

[lonelygems]

Thanks Frank, i can imagine it will work.......sometimes i should drill more than 20 pcs to make a set for jewelry so i must go fast....

By the way, i followed your suggestions about soldering ultrasonic needle and succed, it didn't pop out quickly or broke anymore, I'm curious about iron cone, is it weight, length or shape is also affected to vibration? Wich grit is best? I used 150 grit, with soldering problems solved i still took a hour to drill 10mm.

[Helene]

This has no relevance to drilling holes, but potters' use sodium silicate cement to patch kilns, and Sodium Silicate is used as a major deflocculant in preparing slip. It reduces the amount of water needed, therefore reducing shrinkage. 

Frank nice to learn I have another use for it.

[lithicbeads]

Hi, 150 grit should be fine. Some drills are sold with 220 grit and I often use 60/90 as I usually have a lot around. I'm glad your bits are holding. That is a lot of time if you are talking about drilling a 10 mm deep hole or is it a ten mm wide hole?If it is 10mm deep  what diameter bit are you using? I am not familiar with the controls on your machine but you are trying to get a spray cone of water and grit of about 30 degrees relative to the drill bit. Have you seen my youtube ultrasonic drilling video?
The correct cone angle is shown and the total time for the completed hole and the hole diameter are stated. The horn size and shape are designed to deliver optimum frequency waves to different size bits. As the horn and bit become very large the drilling speed slows down. If you are drilling 10 mm wide holes we over here would use a water swivel drill. I will post pictures and a tutorial on the use of water swivel drills later this week , probably not until the weekend. Frank If you search youtube for ultrasonic drilling my video is one of them on the page.

[mick B]

About 3 years ago I made this attachment for my Industrial mill drill, fabricated from Stainless steel to suit a dremel, a very robust set up, great for drilling my cabs and carvings, I manufacture stainless medical equipment, lucky to be able to build my own gear. May build one to fit my air pencil grinder, works great with cores, ball end bits and tripple ripples, able to drill up to 1/4 in the dremel, anything larger go directly to my drill, I also have a stainless base that I clamp the stone in water, but a friend borrowed it. I find the smaller bits work better at higher speeds than my mill drill does.

Cheers mick B

[3rdRockFromTheFun]

That's pretty bad-ass mick!  yes16

[lonelygems]

Hi, 150 grit should be fine. Some drills are sold with 220 grit and I often use 60/90 as I usually have a lot around. I'm glad your bits are holding. That is a lot of time if you are talking about drilling a 10 mm deep hole or is it a ten mm wide hole?If it is 10mm deep  what diameter bit are you using? I am not familiar with the controls on your machine but you are trying to get a spray cone of water and grit of about 30 degrees relative to the drill bit. Have you seen my youtube ultrasonic drilling video?
The correct cone angle is shown and the total time for the completed hole and the hole diameter are stated. The horn size and shape are designed to deliver optimum frequency waves to different size bits. As the horn and bit become very large the drilling speed slows down. If you are drilling 10 mm wide holes we over here would use a water swivel drill. I will post pictures and a tutorial on the use of water swivel drills later this week , probably not until the weekend. Frank If you search youtube for ultrasonic drilling my video is one of them on the page.


Thank you Frank, your information help me, i drilled 10mm depth with 1mm diameter bit in 1 hour each, what a frustating for me. I suspect the horn, my unit come with no water pump or grit container, i put a plastic container under the horn and filled it with water and grid. I'd manually spray the horn by spoon repeatly and got pain on my shoulder and back.......5 holes in 5 hours spooning horn.

I'll modified this post with my ultrasonic pictures tomorrow so you can see what is my problem is, thanks again Frank.