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by Peter Brett - June 2006
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Tile Drilling? – Problem Solved
Now I can quite imagine a Product Development meeting at which some clever person comes up with the idea of a mini-core drill for drilling tiles. Many ideas work well on a larger or smaller scale (e.g. see the review of G and J Hall’s step drills a few months ago) but Boa didn’t just leave the idea there. A few other developments turned a good idea into a very accomplished product. If you want to drill very hard masonry products then cooling the tip down helps to cut quicker, reduce friction and reduce dust. Not so easy on a 7mm drill bit! But Boa has been up to the job and have designed a system that delivers small amounts of water to the tip of drill just where it is needed. So, for the plumber drilling tiles to mount a cistern on a wall, the mess is minimal, the holes accurate and the job a great deal easier than it was using other types of drill.
In some ways the drills are unlike any other drill. Each drill bit is just over 50mm long, there are nine sizes ranging from 5mm to 25mm in standard steps available currently. They are in made in a bright, hard steel with a welded edge at one end that looks a bit a like a miniature doughnut. Behind the welded doughnut is a small core hole and on the shaft of the drill is an extended oval through which the drilled core can be easily extracted. What is also behind the welded doughnut is a reverse spiral thread pattern and a small slot. When the drill is used in conjunction with the drill guide and cooling system, water from the reservoir in the drill guide drips through and is carried to the tip of the drill by the reverse spiral thread and the tiny slot. Here, it cools the tip and stops the inevitable dust associated with drilling masonry.
Each drill has a 10mm shank that will fit just about any electric drill. (any ideas for a hex shank in the future?) And, just about any electric drill, cordless or mains, can be used, because the drill bits are not sensitive to changes in drill speeds etc. This can be helpful because it cuts out the necessity to have a very slow speed drill for drilling very hard stuff.
I have had my fair share of looking at new ideas and evaluating them through these pages, so I was prepared for a few glitches. After all, no idea ever springs fully developed from its happy inventor’s brain. What I can say with absolute certainty is that the Boa drill bits worked superbly. You do need to exercise a bit of caution when starting the hole because it can wander and make marks. This is not unique to the Boa drill, others do it too, so it is a problem that you could expect to deal with. Once started, however, the drill cuts straight and true, and seemingly without much effort. Once the full depth is reached, simply withdraw the bit, remove the core from the oval in the bit and proceed with the next hole. Perhaps pausing only to admire the perfectly shaped hole you have just drilled. I tried a few holes without the bonus drill guide and water-cooling system, and it is true that the bit did get very hot. Getting the core out of the bit had to wait while it became cool enough.
I then tried the drill guide and watercooling system on some wall hung tiles. The plastic guide relies on four sucker cups to hold it in place, and thus is ideally suited to smooth surfaces like tiles. On other surfaces you might have to use blue tack, tape or plumber’s mate. When you fill the reservoir, it of course, starts dripping, albeit slowly, so there is some water to take care of. Once you start drilling, the water is clearly doing its job because it starts creating a muddy/dusty trail down the wall. What is clear though, is that the water is a really effective aid to the drilling process. Not only is the dust under control, but the bit is cooler, and the cut seems to proceed more quickly. And when you have finished the hole, the cooler bit is easy to take the core out of. On balance, for the sake of longer bit life and quicker cutting, a muddy trail seems like a minimal problem. In those situations where using the drill guide is not an option, you can still use the drill bit on its own.
Drilling a hard Tuscan tile floor with the largest diameter bit I had (10mm) proved to be nearly as easy.
On the horizontal the drill guide/reservoir is not really a viable option. However the bit proved just as willing to cut these very hard tiles, and if I added a squirt of water now and again it helped things along very well.
I did wonder a bit about some of the larger diameter drills and where they could be used because the average drilling depth of the smaller size bits is about 30mm. This is good enough for putting in the plugs to hold a soap dish or shower curtain. For greater depth of hole you would have to combine the talents of the Boa drill to cut cleanly through the tile/ stone/porcelain and then use a standard masonry bit to drill the rest of the hole into the brick or concrete behind.
So, the answer is a Yes, the Boa drill bits work very effectively, and could be the answer to a variety of drilling dilemmas, particularly for plumbers and builders. The Boa order book is looking very crowded at the moment, so clearly others think they work well too. Make your choice.
Independent Review by Peter Brett
Airstream Communications