A Dragon in Sheep’s Clothing

Finally was able to test drilling stained glass with my Dremel. I did indeed have the complete Dremel Work Station to set up a little drill press on the dining room table.

I padded the metal bottom by setting it on a mousepad that had about a 1/8″ rubber backing. I also managed to figure out how to secure the drill in the housing even though the manual missed this critical step. I tried unsuccessfully to screw the drill into the housing by turning the whole drill, but there wasn’t enough space to turn it completely. About 15 minutes and three attempts later, I discovered that the threads at the base of the housing were part of a large nut that you can turn from underneath. Three seconds later, ta-da: drill secured vertically.

I couldn’t find the set of diamond drill bits I had for woodcarving several months ago (long story), so I ended up buying one for this test. I also picked up a set of three small aluminum foil pans.

To drill the glass, I needed to have enough water in the pan to reach the glass. This keeps the bit and glass cool. I set the glass on two pieces of light wood that I glued together to create a base. To drill, the glass is placed on the wood, and when you drill through the back of the glass, you drill the wood instead of going through the bottom of the pan. One website suggested using styrofoam as a base, which I may try, but I I think I could rig a more stable base from wood.

Anyway, after all this set up, it only took a few minutes to successfully drill a hole through a piece of glass. On my first try, the glass started sliding sideways, so the drill left a trail. On the second try, I held the glass as firmly as possible, and it seemed to work. I went more slowly at first so I wouldn’t make the drill heat up too fast or crack the glass. The back did chip slightly when the drill came out the other side, so I guess I was going too fast at that point.

So there we have it. I can successfully drill through stained glass. I have an idea to create a better base to secure the glass. I couldn’t use the clamps that I have because then the glass wouldn’t sit flat in the pan; I was left holding the glass with my fingers for this test (which is why the first pass went sideways). Then all I’ll need to do is to drill a few more pieces and start building the jewelry!