Armeg PTC drill bit... daft question

[Croker]

We have some rock hard porcelain tiles in our bathroom and I need to put a blind up.

I ordered the blind made-to-measure and after researching online how best to drill porcelain, found various recommendations for the Armeg PTC drill bit.

Anyway I ordered one of these PTC bits and am now running out of excuses to tell the missus why I haven't sorted the blind yet... she's getting a bit sick of the sheet of Kingspan insulation that I cut to size for the window a while back!

I'll probably give it a go this weekend but one quick, and probably stupid, question first for you if you don't mind...

There is a sort of soft rubbery coating on the drill tip. Is this just protection that needs removing before use?
Or is it some essential part of the design to stop the drill bit from slipping ?

The drill bit cost about £25 and the blind was a good few quid too and I really don't want to mess this up so... do I leave it on or take it off?

Feel free to call me a plonker if you want

[ayjay]

Take it off.(Plonker)

[Croker]

ayjay... cheers for that

I suppose I asked for the plonker comment... in fact I definitely did... but if the hat fits...!!

[Croker]

Update... Job all done & finished

You know that job you've been dreading for ages; then the time comes, you've run out of excuses so you get the tools out, crack on and hey presto it was easy after all and you don't know what all the fuss was about? … well that was not the case here, it was an absolute git of a job and well worthy of all the fear and dread

The problem was that putting a blind up in a window aperture I had to contort myself into some really uncomfortable positions in order to drill vertically upwards. Each of the 4 holes required took an absolute age to drill (10mm porcelain) but to be fair to the Armeg drill bit I ended up with four perfect 6mm holes which of course is what I wanted.

It was definitely one of those jobs that you're glad you saw through to the end but hope never to have to do again!

Will happily recommend the Armeg drill bit though, and I reckon the job would have been even harder with one of those more commonly seen flat head types especially as you have to start drilling at an angle and I was already uncomfortable enough. You're really supposed to use a water cooling spray with the Armeg but I don't have one and in any case drilling overhead would probably have just annoyed me so I just kept dipping it in a tub of cold water (saw this in a YT video) and it worked just fine for me.

Anyway... the blind is up, I'm happy (still aching, but happy)... and more importantly the missus is happy so one less thing to get aggro about ha ha.

PS removing the rubbery coating on the drill bit before starting worked a treat. I'd recommend it!!

[ayjay]

Update... Job all done & finished

You know that job you've been dreading for ages; then the time comes, you've run out of excuses so you get the tools out, crack on and hey presto it was easy after all and you don't know what all the fuss was about? … well that was not the case here, it was an absolute git of a job and well worthy of all the fear and dread

Well done, and thanks for letting us know.

I started one of those jobs on Friday, taking the hoist mounts out of the front of my van, (my wife is disabled and has to be hoisted in, but I'm changing the van for a wav so the hoist is coming out). Fortunately it started raining just as I got to the really awkward bit, so it's going round to my local garage on Tuesday and they're going to finish it off for me. I'm not too proud to pay someone much younger, more supple and with the right tools.

[Croker]

Too right mate, never be too proud to ask for help... or just get someone else to do the lot!

I've always had an interest in cars but after a changing an exhaust manifold a few years ago (a job which went spectacularly wrong in every way... ) decided never again to any work on a car except for the most piddly minor jobs. I just hate it, never got the right gear, always cold and raining, not enough access blah blah blah… even changing headlight bulbs gives me a headache these days, I really just can't be bothered with it... so off to the garage it goes

Anyway thanks again for replying to my daft question and best of luck with your vehicle