Tile and Glass Drill Bit (3mm)

The tip is not a twist drill point. It is a spear shaped piece of tungsten carbide, ground to a cross, and it works by scraping its way through a hard brittle glaze rather than cutting a chip out of it. That is the right approach for the material and it creates one specific problem: a spear point on a glazed surface has almost nothing to bite into, so it skates. Once it skates it scratches a bright arc across the tile, and the tile is now visibly damaged whether or not the hole ever gets drilled.

The fix is simple and it works. Put a strip of masking tape over the spot and mark through it. The tape gives the tip a surface with some grip and stops it wandering while the point establishes itself. Two strips crossed is better still. Once the tip has cut a small depression in the glaze it will stay where it is and the tape can be ignored.

The other half is speed. Run slow. Very slow. And switch hammer action off completely; a tile under hammer is a cracked tile, every time.

At 3mm this drills for the smallest wall plugs and fixings: mirror clips, small brackets, soap dishes, toilet roll holders and light fittings on tiled walls.

It has a 1/4 inch quick release hex shank, which suits a cordless driver, and that is genuinely useful here because a driver is easy to run at low speed with a squeeze of the trigger.

Buyers are tilers, plumbers, bathroom and kitchen fitters, shopfitters, glaziers and hardware shops.

Ask on 94 77 111 8880 about bits and the right plugs for tiled walls. Island-wide delivery.