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Drilling Hematite

Spaventa

...
Veteran
Thought that title would thin the herd!

If you know about making stuff like Jewellery or ornaments or whatever from crystals or stones, I need advise about drilling a fairly large hole in a fairly large piece of Hematite.

The Hematite is a 45mm diameter ball. The purpose is to make it into a gear knob for my car.
s-l500.jpg


The hole will be 12mm in diameter and 25mm deep.
I found this drill bit which I plan to use in a pillar drill at slow speed with continuous liquid cooling.

s-l500.jpg


I still have to work out how to clamp the thing and have no idea if it will just shatter or explode so I thought Id see if anyone here can help. Cheers
 

Andyo

Active member
Veteran
vice with leather

vice with leather

use a couple of bits of leather in a stand drill vice
vice
personally id use 3 sizes of cobalt drills marking with a center punch then 1/8th 3/16th and then final size.
need slow speed stand drill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC65HqYcPTw
IMO the video = drill too big to start and a bit fast and he is using a hand drill
needs a stand drill to control down pressure and not wobble.
 

I wood

Well-known member
My first thought is that an abrasive bit would be the thing to use.
Not sure what type that is you've shown though.
Industrial diamond drills are pretty cheap these days.
They are a bit slow to grind a hole but have always worked for me on things like porcelain and cast iron sinks, glass and stone.

The leather is excellent advice.
 

Spaventa

...
Veteran
My first thought is that an abrasive bit would be the thing to use.
Not sure what type that is you've shown though.
Industrial diamond drills are pretty cheap these days.
They are a bit slow to grind a hole but have always worked for me on things like porcelain and cast iron sinks, glass and stone.

The leather is excellent advice.

yes maybe an abrasive one. That one I've shown is just a very good quality tile drill, diamond type. They work well if you have continues water cooling from a squirt bottle.
after a cheap cutting disc came apart on me a 10,000 rpm, I won't use anything cheap.


Im going to hole saw a 45mm hole in some wood, cut in half and use the halves as jaws in pillar drill vice. Some leather strips to face the wooden jaws will be nice.
 

St. Phatty

Active member
Often what people use for clamping round materials is - wood that has a round shape machined it into it.

Also, aluminum, with a round shape machined in.

That basically describes the vises used to dis-assemble & re-assemble hunting rifles. (vises are steel, but with aluminum, wood, & sometimes lead lining.)

Be careful about the hematite powder, you do not want to breathe it ! One of the best approaches I've found to machining dust is LIGHT - so you can see the dust plumes and make sure you aren't inhaling near them.

Save your lungs for the good stuff :woohoo:
 

Spaventa

...
Veteran
Often what people use for clamping round materials is - wood that has a round shape machined it into it.

Also, aluminum, with a round shape machined in.



That basically describes the vises used to dis-assemble & re-assemble hunting rifles. (vises are steel, but with aluminum, wood, & sometimes lead lining.)

Be careful about the hematite powder, you do not want to breathe it ! One of the best approaches I've found to machining dust is LIGHT - so you can see the dust plumes and make sure you aren't inhaling near them.

Save your lungs for the good stuff :woohoo:

Thats what I said basically :biggrin: There will be no dust cos water :tiphat:cooling
 

Spaventa

...
Veteran
Bought this lot. Core type drills should put even less force through the stone. Theres 6,8,10 and 12mm so I can do it in 4 stages.

s-l1600.jpg
 
Im an old machinist. But, the closest material i worked on was drilling glass and ceramic..

Thats a great idea with the shift knob.

I never tried, but id bet the hematite is not too hard. You see different shapes sold for not too much money. That implies that it is easy to machine and polish.

Those diamond core drills you have will work. However, they are very slow. You need to use very light pressure with diamond core drills otherwise all the diamond chips come off straight away. When younare finished drilling, you would have to break the core out of the hole. The core in a 25mm diameter would probably be about 3/4" diameter. That could be really tough to break off. And, use the core drills with flowing water to manage heat and flush the slurry away.

I never tried using core drills in stages. My intuition tells me the first hole would go OK. However, with the subsequent holes, it may be really difficult to get the larger size bit started in the previously drilled smaller hole. Id be curious to learn how that works if you try it.

That carbide tipped Bosch bit you have looks like a glass and tile bit. I would try that first.
 
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Spaventa

...
Veteran
Im an old machinist. But, the closest material i worked on was drilling glass and ceramic..

Thats a great idea with the shift knob.

I never tried, but id bet the hematite is not too hard. You see different shapes sold for not too much money. That implies that it is easy to machine and polish.

Those diamond core drills you have will work. However, they are very slow. You need to use very light pressure with diamond core drills otherwise all the diamond chips come off straight away. When younare finished drilling, you would have to break the core out of the hole. The core in a 25mm diameter would probably be about 3/4" diameter. That could be really tough to break off. And, use the core drills with flowing water to manage heat and flush the slurry away.

I never tried using core drills in stages. My intuition tells me the first hole would go OK. However, with the subsequent holes, it may be really difficult to get the larger size bit started in the previously drilled smaller hole. Id be curious to learn how that works if you try it.

That carbide tipped Bosch bit you have looks like a glass and tile bit. I would try that first.

I thought about it and theres no logical reason to go up in stages with core bits - the smaller holes serve no purpose whatsoever lol

I hear you about the tile bit - I will buy one of those if the 12mm core fails. Starting and controlling the drilling shouldn't be a problem in the pillar drill with the work clamped ...hopefully :big grin:

I came up with idea because Ive become intrigued by the claimed metaphysical properties of crystals and stones. I looked up which stone to get and Hematite is meant to be very protective against negative vibes, help focus and strength. They are meant to work best when close to you or even better if you are holding them so a shift knob for a manual/stick thats in my hand most of the time when i need that protection, focus and whatnot. If its all bull, and its just a cool shift knob that fine too lol it matches the colour of the car pretty well :)
picture.php
picture.php
 
Nice car. Looks Australian. Never been... would love to go.

The body looks really straight and clean. What year is it?

Hematite is always a very interesting material. It is always interesting to hold. I really like the metallic look and the heavyness. Id bet you could sell nice hematite shiftter knobs.
 

Spaventa

...
Veteran
Nice car. Looks Australian. Never been... would love to go.

The body looks really straight and clean. What year is it?

Hematite is always a very interesting material. It is always interesting to hold. I really like the metallic look and the heavyness. Id bet you could sell nice hematite shiftter knobs.

Its 1986 Ford Capri but they started making Capris in 69 so a bit of a classic here in the UK. Mine is one of the very last. They are actually very popular in Australia - they were the only country that got a V8 from the dealers - we just got V6 and 4 bangers. A lot of people my age had an uncle or older brother who had one - often the black sheep of the family lol

I heard Hematite is magnetic too. I bet your right about it being soft. I don't know why but pure intuition told me it would grind no problem. As you say, people are obviously working it
 

Andyo

Active member
Veteran
Ive had a few capris

Ive had a few capris

Its 1986 Ford Capri but they started making Capris in 69 so a bit of a classic here in the UK. Mine is one of the very last. They are actually very popular in Australia - they were the only country that got a V8 from the dealers - we just got V6 and 4 bangers. A lot of people my age had an uncle or older brother who had one - often the black sheep of the family lol

I heard Hematite is magnetic too. I bet your right about it being soft. I don't know why but pure intuition told me it would grind no problem. As you say, people are obviously working it

In the uk 1600 gt 2 ltr 3.0 ltr and 2.8i
And yes i was the black sheep.
Im interested in the australian V8 version i shall read up on it.A
 

Elmer Bud

Genotype Sex Worker AKA strain whore
Veteran
G `day Spav

I met an old fella who worked at Perana in Sth Africa .
They built some fine race cars .

The V8 versions were rare in Oz .

Thanks for sharin

EB .
 

Spaventa

...
Veteran
G `day Spav

I met an old fella who worked at Perana in Sth Africa .
They built some fine race cars .

The V8 versions were rare in Oz .

Thanks for sharin

EB .

I know theres a lot of love for old Ford stuff in Oz. My steering coupler bush came from Australia! - they are the only people who make an upgraded polyurethane one. I really like Australian Ford "Barra" straight six engine (Falcon engine) and came close to getting one shipped here for a project. The shipping cost was the deal breaker lol Cheers
 

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