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Drilling a hole into a Belle bath. Fitting Victorian taps. Drill steel baths. Project fitting taps.
Call 365drills to help: 01992 410636 : [email protected]
Clients brief was to drill a hole into this bath without damage to it.
Reason is to fit a set of rose gold victorian mixer taps. Two holes at 35mm need to be drilled.
Above is the bath. Not fitted (a bonus!) and full access to all sides. Set up in the garage. The client wants the holes drilling in the bath at one end
We take the centre line which actually offsets the Bette Logo and mark the places for the taps.
The rose gold taps should fit into the cross hairs and look central.
Touchdown and you can see everything is central. The holes we will drill in the bath are in the right place
We have used the diamond core to mark out a permiter for the hole. This is to stop the paint chipping when we drill the metal.
Close up. You can see how neat the diamond core is when drilling out the enamel paint. Makes for a perfect circle.
Now is also a good time to remove the marker pen from the bath. We use pentel permanent markers and baby wipes to remove them.
Before drilling any hole in a bath really make sure you have the markings just right.
Erggg now its starting to look ugly. OK so before you drill the hole in the bath you have to get rid of all that enamel. Otherwise it will slow the drill down
The enamel will blunt the drill teeth. Not what you want. Spend time getting rid of it.
You can go mad and remove all the enamel from the hole or like us just the main areas. The centre is cleared for the pilot drill. The outsides are removed for where the drill teeth will run. Maybe its a bit lazy to not take it all out
Here is a shot of it all removed and cleaned up. The drill site is ready to accept the tank cutter drill to make that hole in the bath
Here we go... So fit the tank cutter central to the metal disk on the bath. The tank cutter is smaller than the diamond core drill so the hole will be inside the ring.
But again take time to centralise the drill before cutting the pilot hole into the bath.
Agressive! These tank cutters make easy work of steel. They shred the hole into the bath. Its quite messy. The shards are very sharp. But you need to move quickly and surely through the bath. Do not blunt the drill or tank cutter. IF you blunt the tank cutter the steel will turn blue through heat. And you will shatter the paint.
You must make sure the pilot is true as well. Do not let the pilot hole go from round to oval. Or otherwise the drill will drift. Speed is the trick here.
Be fast. Be quick. Make sure you mean it. Dont ***** foot about. But then again dont push too hard. Dont force the drill. Dont let it overheat. Its a fine balance. A sharp tool will do a great job. Spending that time removing the enamel will help the drill stay sharp. Enamel blunts tank cutters.
This is a close up of the hole being formed. At this stage it is looking like a dangerous mess. Your nice clean white bath is a mix of grey dust and sharp needle like shards of metal. KEEP GOING !!
Pop... You will come out the other side. Be prepared.. Dont let the drill itself bash down on the bath as you crash though. Expect it..
After you clean up test fit the equipment. Does it GO THROUGH THE HOLE.. Find out....
If your items fit then no further drilling work is needed into the bath for the hole. Now its time to make good.
Clean the holes with a file first. Then paint. Use a good enamel paint. This will stop the rust forming. You must protect the bath from rusting.
Leave no exposed metal. Make sure you cover the bare metal. The hole is forned in the bath but you dont want water to get in
Paint underneath as well. Make sure its belts and braces. Do both sides. Prior to final fit also use silicone.
No metal should show. Just white paint. Let it set. Wait 24hours before fitting.
All painted and all dry. Now its time for the final fit.
And we have our victorian taps fitted to the Belle Bath via a set of brand new holes we drilled into the enamel and steel
Did this project help you drill your own bath or educate you as to what you need to do? At 365drills we provide a bath drilling service for £200+VAT per day. Or we supply the full set of drills and toolpack (paint & brushes etc) to do this job for £49.99. If you need help call us. We can come and do it. Or we can provide all the equipment you need. Call us on 01992 410636 for more info. Or email [email protected] : We are experts and drilling holes in ANY bath.
