How do I drill a 1/4" hole in a 3/4" thick pane of tempered glass?

Answer 1

Tempered glass is nothing more than regular glass that has been tempered. Before tempering you can work the glass to fit you requirement. You can drill bevel or cut the shape you desire.once you temper it you can no longer work the glass.
In the tempering process the glass is heated to a near molten temperature.Then the glass is cooled. This process makes the glass 200 times more able to take an impact than regular glass. This is also a safety feature in that it breaks into tiny chard's. I hope this makes you able to understand why you can not drill tempered glass

Answer 2

Generally, you can not drill or cut tempered glass. This is usually not a consumer doable item. There are different degrees of glass temper. Glass is usually cut, drilled and then tempered. As soon as you start to drill or stress the glass surface it will shatter into millions (OK maybe thousands) of little quarter inch bits. Its made that way in order not to produce shards of sharp glass. Its a safety thing. You will have to order it made the way you want it or use a different kind of glass. If you don't believe it and insist on trying to drill a hole, do it outside, wear safety glasses, and cover the glass with a sheet so as to contain all the little pieces of glass that will happen. Its quite an experience to see a piece of temperd glass explode.

Answer 3

If you can't drill tempered glass, then what has the automobile glass chip repair guy been doing to my car's front windshield all these years? If you can't drill tempered glass, then what are those "remove the fog from your thermopane winows" guys been doing all these years? Both auto windshield glass and thermopane winfow glass are typical examples of tempered glass.

If you attack the glass like a lout without a proper diamond glass hole saw and try to drill it like a piece of wood or metal, of course it will shatter. You have to respect the fact that you are dealing with raw unannealed glass full of lattice-fault possible dislocations that what causes it to fall apart under pressure.

A good-sized section of the area around the hole should be firmly supportive of these dislocatable lattices, such that they are prevented from sliding apart, the hole kept as small as just required, and preferably not too close to the edge of the glass in order to retain some interior structural support.

Using high speed, or a dremel-style drill, allow the drill to do the etching without force so as to not disturb local lattices while the hole saw does its grinding.. The auto windshield is laminated in addition to being tempered, so the plastic insert between its tempered sides supports its lattices when being drilled. If you provide that degree of support around your hole, the glass will not be ablr to shatter. Check out videos on removing fog from thermopane windows and automobile windshield repair.

-Mark The Handyman, Toronto.

Answer 4

You can't. All holes in tempered glass have to be there before it is tempered. If you attempt it, you will find it very difficult to breach the surface and when you do scratch through, the whole sheet will disintigrate into small cubical pieces. Depending on your goal, you may be able to use an adhesive like E-6000 to adhere a hanger to the back.

Answer 5

You can not drill a hole in tempered glass, it will shatter.

Answer 6

this is not somthing you want to try. you have to have glass cuting bits and even then you risk braking the glass.
your best bet is to have it done by a pro.

yes you can drill temperd glass its done all the time! but with out the right bit it will brake like said dont try it at home have a pro do it.

Answer 7

You can't, it's tempered. You have to cut, polish, and make holes before the tempering process.

Answer 8

You don't. Tempered glass will explode into a jillion pieces. I went to a glass co. one time to have a piece cut. They told me they could not cut it. I didn't believe them and came home and attempted to cut it. It literally exploded and I had about a 5 gal. can of tiny glass to pick up. So......don't even try.

Answer 9

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