How do you drill rock?

[scubaD]

So we got our Marco Rock today. It rocks as posted in the Vendor experience board. We plan to follow the slideshow demo on the marcorocks site. We have our acrylic sheets and our acrylic rods and weldon are coming tomorrow. Next thing is to arrange the rock how we think we are going to want it and then drill half inch holes in the rock to run the rod through. Anything special I need to do to drill a half inch hole in a rock? Will my cordless drill and standard half inch bit do it, or should I put it in hammer drill mode? Or do I need a special bit? I don't want to crack the rocks, just drill a hole. Any inisght? Thanks.

 

[Troubleman]

I use regular drill bits, nice and slow with no problems. It is very soft rock.... a hammer drill will shatter it.

bob

 

[bosronrb]

Holes

I would get a carbide mansonary bit. Also i would not use a hammer drill it would be more likely to crack the rock. A normal bit might work for 1 hole only.I work in construction and drill into rock and brick all the time and a hammer drill will sometimes crack them drilling a hole that big.I have never tried to drill this type of rock but that is my best guess.

 

[Troubleman]

I have drilled many holes into marco rock with normal bits and have continued to use them on many other projects..... this is not typical "rock" as it is not even close to the hardness as you would find in your back yard. It drills quite easily and quickly.

 

[Dragon2115]

I ran into a problem drilling some Marco rock recently. The problem was that the rock has lots of nooks and crannies and the bit would grab the rock and shatter it. I gave up before I was left with a pile of rubble and glued the rocks in place. This is with the Fiji rock not the Tonga.