Rock drilling techniques

[SPotter]

Im going to redo my scape and I want to build pillars. I tried drilling a test piece of rock and that didnt go sell well....I now have a lot of rubble.

So any tips and or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

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[skyrne_isk]

Im going to redo my scape and I want to build pillars. I tried drilling a test piece of rock and that didnt go sell well....I now have a lot of rubble.

So any tips and or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

Glad you asked! I drilled some rock I bought from Tonga and the concrete/masonry drill bit went through like butter. The bit literally melted the rock and I was stoked. Some other Fiji/Marco pieces I had busted like glass and I had no idea why. I believe it comes down to the type of rock it is - and whether or not it is saturated with water, IME. I ended up drilling more shallow holes (my pegs were fiberglass driveway markers - they work great) and using hydraulic cement to help 'seat' the pieces together.

Be careful, though. The Tonga rock that was easy to drill - I got a little carried away and created some sweet unsupported overhangs that were effectively counterbalanced. Eventually, the vibrations caused the rock to crack where they had been drilled. Lesson - support your overhangs (with a separate, unbonded piece) no matter how cool they look.

If you are working with dry rock, I would strongly urge you to use Portland cement and support your pieces with duct tape while it dries overnight. I did this a couple tanks back and the rock broke before the cement did. It held with almost no drilling. The hydraulic cement doesn't have the strongest holding properties; it also dries so fast it is tricky to work with - good news is it cures underwater (applied outside the tank in my case and let dry for 6 hours before going underwater). Bad news is it can crumble later if improperly applied.

HTH!

 

[SPotter]

that helps a lot!!!!! i wasnt using a mason bit and the rock was bone dry but the rock i will ultimately be drilling will come straight from my tank and will mostly be pukani.

What size drill bit did you use?

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[AS]

Definitely use masonry bits. You should also drill a pilot hole first. Use a thin bit a drill the hole and then replace with a wider bit and so on, and so on until you get desired width. I also use a high speed and drill slowly.

For deep holes in large rocks, I would suggest a masonry drill. You can rent one from a local hardware store that does equipment rental. You should get multiple people together, it cost about $75.00 for a 4 hour rental.

 

[skyrne_isk]

Definitely use masonry bits. You should also drill a pilot hole first. Use a thin bit a drill the hole and then replace with a wider bit and so on, and so on until you get desired width. I also use a high speed and drill slowly.

For deep holes in large rocks, I would suggest a masonry drill. You can rent one from a local hardware store that does equipment rental. You should get multiple people together, it cost about $75.00 for a 4 hour rental.

Here is what I used, was perfect.

If I can link it, here's the page:
http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay...gId=10051&cmRelshp=req&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1

Remember, don't get too clever!

 

[ohioreefer]

I did mine with a 1" masonry bit easy as can be bit was only like 20.00

 

[SPotter]

my rocks are larger than basketballs so I am thinking about breaking some of them up so I can be a little more creative with the layout.

 

[skyrne_isk]

my rocks are larger than basketballs so I am thinking about breaking some of them up so I can be a little more creative with the layout.

The best advice I can give you on using concrete on your reef is it can really help the rocks fit together like puzzle pieces. I know it is nice when the rocks do that for us, but too often I ended up with precarious rock towers because the fit was close but not quite as tight fitting as I needed. The cement can hold together sections of your reef at most or keep things fitting nice and tight (including any rods/support).

Oh, and once you get things pieced together but before putting rock in the tank, I would strongly advise you to drill holes for frag plugs. Going with a pegged system was one of the best ideas I went with from folks on here.

HTH!

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

masonary, rock, limestone, granite etc, should be drilled at a fairly low speed, just slightly faster then what you would use to drill glass...using the hammer function of your drill is also very helpful...holes smaller then 1/4" can be drilled at a higher speed too..

 

[nogascans]

In tank drilling

In tank drilling

I looked around and couldn't really find an answer, so here goes.

Can you safely drill rock in tank (long masonry bit, battery drill) to add some frag plug holes, or would this create issues with water quality due to galvqnic acid and metal shards?

Sincerely,

David

 

[MacWilliams]

I wouldnt definitely not drill inside a tank. Not worth the shavings getting into the tank and ruining something. Just take the rock out and drill it. Shouldnt take you more than 10 minutes.

 

[Kdawg_69]

you could always find yourself a cheap big bowl put the rock in it and then drill it and just discard the water after your done if you already have stuff on the rock that you don't want to die/be shocked from being out of the water so long

 

[slief]

I glued my live rock together using pond foam. The foam I used damn near matched the live rock making difficult to see the seams. It's been 7 years or more years since then and the rock has grown so much over the years as a result of coraline that you could never tell it wasn't one large rock formation where it's glued together. Any foam has long since been cemented in by calcareous growth.

Here is a shot of one of my formations going together. I removed any excess foam so it looked natural. This peninsula is formed by several pieces that I pieced together like a puzzle. I was dealing with very large rocks and nearly 1000 pounds of live rock. With this particular piece, it was put together inside the tank which is where you see me.

This is a shot of that same peninsula taken today from nearly the same position. Its almost hard to recognize with the corals and other rocks on the bottom of the tank. It's literally grown inches just by virtue of the coraline shelves and plates that have formed which makes it even more different.

I like the idea of drilling the rocks but I'd be afraid of cracking prize pieces where as glueing without the drilling allows for a bit more breathing room and flexibility when it comes to stacking positions. There are some aspects of my aquascape that would have been impossible to drill. That said, I am not sure how glueing would work for pillars though. Also if I were to go that route, I would definitely use the cement as others have mentioned. I would also use some of the bits and pieces of rock to smash into the exposed surfaces of the cement so that the texture of the rock blends better where the cement is.I'd probably go as far as trying to make the cement part of the rock formation as opposed to just something to hold it together.