Armeg??

[Paul R Cox]

At least a couple of shops have quoted that Armeg say their cutters can do as many as a thousand holes! As this came from more than one shop I can only assume this has come from a rep. There's no such info on their web site and you'd think if they were capable of these amazing figures they'd be boasting about it big time. Even if they could manage just a hundred holes, that would be impressive. I don't mind paying for the right tools if they do the job. I've seen the 365's and they look good but I have a lot of drilling to do on thick porcelain so it might be worth investing a little more.
I've been trawling the threads on here and still don't really have an answer so has anyone had any long term experience with Armeg or similar and how many holes could you realisticly expect to get out of say a 16mm but? Also, if the pilot drill burns out after two holes I guess they could prove really costly.

 

[Spud]

I have the armeg hole cutting set and they are good ,you are right about the pilot drill bits i get about 10-15 holes from the pilot bits the core bits last and last but the pilots do work out expensive

 

[kilty55]

i use montolit hole cuters,they fit onto an angle grinder,have prob used each one 30 to 40 times each now and still rip through anything.

 

[simhopper]

you should be getting 30+ holes from the PTC bits on porcelain,

these bits require good pressure to be exerted on the drill and must me water cooled at all times on a slow speed drill

If the tip snaps its because you have not done the above

Once they become blunt use them on ceramics and stone

 

[Paul R Cox]

Thanks all. I wonder if you could use one of these cutters without the pilot? Either using a guide hole in a piece of "softish" material or by starting at a slight angle? The angle method is how i've always started off with smaller bits. I appreciate though that the larger the diameter, the harder this would be. Has anyone tried this?

 

[Gazzer]

What about the Marcrist range as they do away with the pilot hole,
Tradetiler Tile Marcrist PG850 Porcelain tile drilling system

Just another option.

 

[doug boardley]

can't remember what make my hole bits are, but they're really good, done scores of holes in porc and still plenty of life left in them, altho the pilot gave up months ago. But what I do is, cut a corner in a piece of tile or ply and clamp it onto the tile to be holed, and just use the ply/tile off cut as a guide and an aid to stop skating

 

[Arthur@Reidheat]

We have been using a Marcrist set of diamond drills which are water cooled.
We have used the range up to 110mm and found them to be very good.
If they begin to loose their edge with hard surfaces the advice is to drill into breeze or brick which cleans the diamonds. This is true and to date we have not had to buy replacements.
They have been in weekly use since about November
Hope this helps

Arthur@Reidheat

 

[doug boardley]

good first post Arthur

 

[White Room]

Good post Arthur, go to the new members mate and introduce yourself