How We Drill Glass at JackieMac Art

Jackie creates images by assembling fired pieces of dichroic glass on a sheet of clear glass. The finished sheets are then mounted on stainless steel frames or directly to a wall. The standoff brackets we use for mounting the glass have an 8mm diameter bolt which has to pass through the glass. Accordingly we drill holes using a 9mm core drill. We always drill the sheet before bonding the art glass to it.

The drills we use are core drills. This means they leave a core of glass in the centre of the hollow drill. I don't think I have worn out a drill yet, but I may set them aside after drilling fifty or more holes. We get these high quality core drills from THK in Hong Kong.

Before you ask, I want to announce that we don't ship drilled pieces. We've done it in the past, and we've had to make up some very elaborate packaging to keep the glass safe, and the shipping and insurance were costly. And the one shipping breakage we did experience was quite a hassle to deal with. We may ship smaller pieces that have not been drilled if we have spare stock and/or spare time.

We have used toughened glass panels occasionally, but we get the mounting holes drilled at the factory before the glass is toughened. Grinding or drilling toughened glass is something you may not have success with. The glass is likely to shatter as a result and it might be some time after you've done the grinding or drilling. When standard glass breaks you might get several pieces and be able to salvage some of the fused decorative parts. When toughened glass breaks it can be fairly spectacular. At present we feel more comfortable working with 4mm standard glass.

The standoff bolts should not be screwed tightly against the glass. We generally have soft plastic washers against each side of the glass.

The three panels shown together at the end of the video won the 2022 international 'Dichroic by Design' competition sponsored by Coatings By Sandberg in the USA.

The main outlet for our work is currently Arty Nelson Gallery at 126 Trafalgar Street Nelson. If you want to see more of Jackie's art work you could search for JackieMac Art Nelson New Zealand.

From time to time I may share some useful ideas on my blog at: cootestruth.wordpress.com