GB2313563A

GB2313563A - Drilling aid

Info

Publication number: GB2313563A
Application number: GB9611071A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Bryan Cooper Haynes
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1996-05-28
Filing date: 1996-05-28
Publication date: 1997-12-03
Also published as: GB9611071D0

Abstract

A drilling aid comprises a pad element of drillable material having an adhesive region on one surface thereof, whereby in use the pad element may be secured to a surface to be drilled, over the desired location of the hole. The pad element may be transparent and may be provided with sighting marks and a dimple to act as a starter for the hole to be drilled.

Description

Drillions Aid This invention relates to a drilling aid for use when drilling into hard or brittle surfaces such as ceramics.

One of the problems when drilling into such surfaces is that the drill bit can veer or skate over the surface away from the desired position, resulting in a hole in the wrong position and/or unsightly scratching over the surface. One possibility is to provide a pilot spot by hammering a nail or a centre punch, but this still does not give good lateral support because the spot is too shallow and besides this may crack or shatter the surface to be drilled.

Accordingly, I have developed a drilling aid which assists accurate location and lateral support of the drill bit as it enters the main drilling surface.

In one aspect, this invention provides a drilling aid comprising a pad element of drillable material having an adhesive region on one surface thereof, whereby in use the pad element may be secured to a surface to be drilled, over the desired location of the hole.

By this arrangement, the drill bit may penetrate the pad with little or no lateral movement and thereafter penetrate said surface to be drilled, supported by said pad element.

In another aspect, this invention provides a method of drilling a hole in a surface which comprises initially attaching to said surface a pad element of drillable material over the desired location of the hole to be drilled, and thereafter drilling though said pad element into said surface with a rotary drill bit, whereby, on reaching said surface, said drill bit is at least partially restrained against lateral movement by the hole formed in said pad element.

The term "drillable material" is used to mean a material which may be relatively easily drilled compared to the material at the surface to be drilled. Thus it should preferably be capable of being drilled without significantly snagging the shaft of the drill behind the cutting edges of the bit, to leave a well-defined bore which restrains the shaft of the drill bit laterally. Therefore the material is preferably not significantly compressible and should be capable of being machined relatively easily. It could for example comprise a friable solid plastics material.

The pad element is preferably transparent or transmissive so that it can be aligned with a mark designating the point to be drilled. The pad element may have sighting marks such as cross-lines or concentric circles or other indicia to facilitate alignment with a mark or marks on the surface to be drilled.

The pad element may be provided with a depression or recess, or be dimpled to act as a starter for the hole to be drilled.

The pad element preferably is provided with an adhesive coating over one surface thereof to provide said adhesive region. The adhesive coating is preferably covered by a removable release sheet.

The pad element is preferably between 0.25cm and 1.5cm thick, and ideally around lcm, The invention also extends to a kit comprising a drill bit and a plurality of drilling aids as defined above.

The invention extends to any inventive combination or sub-combination of the features set out above or in the following description.

The invention may be performed in various ways and an embodiment thereof will now be described by way of example only, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a plan view of a drilling aid in accordance with this invention and attached to a surface to be drilled; Figure 2 is a side view of the drilling aid of Figure 1, and Figure 3 is a perspective view of the drilling aid of Figure 1.

Claims

1. A Bullseye Lozenge, an aid to drilling into hard or brittle surfaces such as ceramics or laminated plastics.

2. A Bullseye Lozenge Aid as claimed in 1 which assists lateral support of the drill bit as it enters main drilling surface.

3. A Bullseye Lozenge Aid as claimed in 1 or 2, which assists accurate location of work to be drilled by way of sight markers.

4. A Bullseye Lozenge Aid as claimed in 1 or 2 or 3, which is of a transparent material so that that it can be sighted with a mark to be drilled.

5. A Bullseye Lozenge Aid as claimed in 1 or 2 or 3 or 4, which has a central indentation to act as a starter for the drill bit.

6. A Bullseye Lozenge Aid as claimed in 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5, which has an adhesive backing covered by a removable release sheet.

7. A Bullseye Lozenge Aid as claimed in 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6, which also extends to kit form comprising drill bit and a plurality of Bullseye Lozenge Aids as defined above.