# Drilling a granite surface plate



## Schmitty (Sep 7, 2008)

*Drilling a granite surface plate & frame/whipping post*

Just drilled a 1" hole through a 5+" thick piece of granite. Damn easy with the right tools. Old Delta drill press, Paragon long arbor, and Starrett diamond holesaw.

I shortened the arobor for rigidity sake, and turned the end down to .5" so I could run it in my Jacobs chuck. Stuck the drill press under the granite, and ran drill the table up into the bottom good and snug. It drilled pretty fast.. only had to stop to break off the core stubs that would bottom out on the inside of the hole saw.. I found the saw for just over 30 bucks which is half price or less.

Should have the whipping post done in a day or two.

-Schmitty-


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## DY123 (Mar 19, 2010)

Impressive...can I borrow that drill/arbor


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## unterhausen (Sep 28, 2008)

how big is that piece of granite?


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## Schmitty (Sep 7, 2008)

DY123 said:


> Impressive...can I borrow that drill/arbor


I'd actually be happy to sell it cheap to whoever needs it...or trade use for softtgoods! I was wondering what I would ever do with it again. There was some runout in the chuck and holesaw, but it didn't effect the hole one bit. 
I had originally ordered a Starrett carbide hole saw, but the arbor threads were totally crooked.. massive runout. I returned it and they didn't have another to send, so I started my quest for a cheap diamond saw as the carbide saw looked a bit lame. Glad I found cheap diamond.

The table is pretty big 5'x3'...

-Schmitty-


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## willapajames (Dec 18, 2005)

Oh yeah? Well, I've drilled a 1,600' hole, 2.5" diameter through sandstone and shale. But I'm a geologist. :thumbsup:


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## unterhausen (Sep 28, 2008)

Schmitty, how hard is it to move that piece of granite around?


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## WTF-IDK (Feb 23, 2009)

what's the hole for?


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## Schmitty (Sep 7, 2008)

unterhausen said:


> Schmitty, how hard is it to move that piece of granite around?


Not hard now that I have it on all metal casters! Still takes a good hard push to move it, and it's hard to stop once moving. This one has sweet heavy cast iron legs.

For sure get your plate on wheels somehow.. I know.. it costs $$ for the steel, and they don't give nice casters away either.

I made a rolling stand for the plate I just got rid of.. tailgate height (Tacoma) so I could in a pinch slide it in/out of the bed by myself.. just turned it into a welding/work table.

-Scmitty-


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## smdubovsky (Apr 27, 2007)

Good work. I've only used diamond bits wet. Surround the hole w/ some putty and form a little pool. For something that thick after the first 'core' you've made your own pool. Keeps dust down (to zero) and surely makes the bit last longer.


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## Schmitty (Sep 7, 2008)

smdubovsky said:


> Good work. I've only used diamond bits wet. Surround the hole w/ some putty and form a little pool. For something that thick after the first 'core' you've made your own pool. Keeps dust down (to zero) and surely makes the bit last longer.


Yeah, Drew at Engin said the suggested the same. It wasn't dust as much as a heavy powdered sugar consistency. Looked cleaner than pics I've seen of sludge everywhere, and the saw looked fine as well.. vacuumed the 'dust' right up, no smearing what amounts to lapping compound into the plate. Maybe if I could have done it in one push to get through, but I was unchucking the saw, banging out cores (and fishing for the last few), etc.... sludge would have sucked.

Should have the post done tomorrow.

-Schmitty-


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## Schmitty (Sep 7, 2008)

Got the post done! Glad to *finally* havea nice alignment table... ready to move on to other projects.

-Schmitty-


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## mike047 (Jan 8, 2010)

Did you buy the rock new or at an auction?


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## Schmitty (Sep 7, 2008)

Neither.. saw it on Ebay in my general location, contacted the guy, ended up not bidding due to hauling logistics, and he contacted me after it failed to sell with a killer price delivered.

-Schmitty-


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