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[JRAGS]

  Ok. Here's the deal , I drill a lot of holes in glass. I have a vertical shaft diamond grinder. Works fine. I get maybe 200 to 300 holes from one 1/4 in diamond abrasive bit. Now if I try to use it on Agate, it laughs at me and the bit is shot. Now the bits are costly, say 20 bucks a piece for a good one. The cheap ones are a waste of time. They wear out fast. I want to drill holes in agates rather than wrap them in wire. Way too time consuming and the principal of using wrap just wont work on my chimes if the stone is in the middle of a strand. For the bottom of the strand, the wire is fine but you wouldn't want to see my wire wrap technique. Embarrassing to say the least. I need holes and lots of them. . 1/8th inch would be fantastic but 1/4 inch will work. HELP ME PLEASE. I have hundreds of holes to cut and real soon..........

[iceopals]

Shoot.   Let me know if you have any luck.   I have some pieces of turquoise that are looking for some holes as well.   

[lithicbeads]

 Your bits must be made for glass. The bond ( brazing ) must be wrong for agate.Lopacki has very good diamond bits if used properly with adequate water and very frequent lifting out of the hole to irrigate the bit and wash out the swarf, the dust. You can call and speak to them. For bigger holes Jade Carver should have some small core bits at a reasonable price . You are going to get a lot of break out in any case and you are talking about a huge amount of time. I charge a buck a hole for drilling a slab of normal thickness. I drill holes of 1.25 , 2.5 or 4 mm. The reason I can do this is because of my investment in a high quality ultrasonic drill. It costs well over $10,000 dollars so it is not for everyone. If you are still in a jam in three weeks when I return from Wyoming get in touch.

[Itsandbits]

drilling holes in stone; because of the hardness, is going to be time consuming if you want to conserve your bits. Like Frank says, use lots of water, lift the bit many times as you are drilling to clean the hole and stop heat buildup and give lubrication to the cutting area. A couple of seconds and lift, and don't force it because it only takes a second to wreck the bit.
All that being said; Franks offer is a very good one to say the least!!!!

[JRAGS]

    when I drill in agate, I do it entirely under water. Keeping the bit wet is not the issue. It's what type bit I have to use. A dollar a hole seems very fair but not for me at this time. I was hoping to combine agates in to my chimes. At 20 or 30 holes per chime, It would over price my project to a unreasonable selling price. I know, you get what you pay for... But most people forget, We're in Washington, not back East. If they were going back east, 2 holes per stone would be cheap at a dollar each hole.  I have another alternative but more time consuming. I'll still have to make a hole but not directly into the stone and I wont get any breakage.. Thanks folks, I just answered my own question. You guys are great.... Back to work.

[Itsandbits]

even drilling under water; I do too, if you don't lift the bit every couple of seconds you will kill it. Glad you found a cost effective solution 

[JRAGS]

  By applying copper tape to the outer edges and then tinning the surface whith solder , I can then apply a piece of tin brass wire to each the top and bottom edges creating a loop , sealing the wire again with solder. It will work for my wind chimes fine. Yes, it will reduce the ring sound of the agate, but the agate is more to create a sun catcher effect, not sound. There always enough glass to make my sounds. although I am always looking for a better way to do something, sometimes I just have to make do. After all who wants to pay 100 dollars for a wind chime.