How To Drill a Hole in Glass

Give your glass mirrors that extra “Wow” look, by drilling mounting holes through the glass.

Glass is considered to be harder than steel, but very unpredictable in how it can break. The thicker the glass the better your results.

With your marker, mark where you want to drill your hole. The farther from the edge, the better your results.

Using a scrap piece of material as backing, set the mirror on a flat sturdy surface.

Instead of using a center punch, securely tape a scrap piece of thick, transparent plastic onto the glass surface.

As with any power tool operation, always follow safety guidelines.

Using the small drill bit, drill a hole through the plastic, this will be your pilot hole.

Glass is very hard and will dull a regular drill bit very quickly, it is not necessary to drill into the glass at this point though it will help.

With the Spade drill bit start drilling through the clear piece of plastic and into the mirror surface.

No, that is not smoke or steam but finely ground abrasive glass dust, make sure you do not breathe this in.

Drill very slowly and keep the area moist with water, and remember, patience, patience and more patience.

When the tip of the spade drill bit is through the mirror, carefully turn the mirror over onto the other side and continue drilling

Be extra careful when drilling on the reverse side, chips of glass will fly away from the work.

Clean and carefully mount your mirror and wait for those “Wow!” comments.

Glass was first developed by the Sumerians around 3000 B.C. by mixing silica and sand in very hot forms.

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