Easiest way to drill?

martin57

Hi people,

Being a bit of a Frank Spencer when it comes to diy I am now tasked with putting up a wall bracket for a plasma tv.

The wall screws are 10m so just wondering when drilling the 10m holes is it better maybe to do a drill of 6m or 8m first and then just make bigger with the 10m bit?

wall has no electric sockets in it.

Thanks for your advice.
Martin57

spadoosh

Guessing its bolts your using?! a 6mm or 8mm pilot hole is probably too big, the drill bit will be more likely to wobble something like a 2mm or 3mm hole will be more suitable as its only a guide. Just as esy though to go straight in, start slow to 'mark' the wall and increase speed an pressure untill your at the desired depth. if you have any masking tape, measure the depth you want and mark it on the drill bit with the tape. This saves you wasting plugs (if your using them) and means you can do it in one go.

ormus

pilot holes should be approx 1/3rd max, the size of the final hole.
but these are used mainly in wood or metal. for walls theres no real need to drill a pilot hole.

Chunks

What are the walls constructed of OP since it has a bearing on the fixings you'll need etc? Mine are block and plaster and provided you have long enough fixings (and a nice (tight) hole to stick them in) jobs a good 'un.

PS. Surprised there's no comment about the sizing mentioned - plasma needing 10m holes is a video wall.....

googler

What kind of wall is it, and into what kind of wall fixings are you going to put these 10mm screws?

pinkteapot

I usually drill with a bit that's 1-2mm down from what I need, because I have a bad tendency to wiggle when I drill (ooh-err) and so make the hole slightly bigger than the drill bit is meant to. It's much easier to make a hole bigger if need be than smaller.

Chunks

Agree pt. Nothing worse than a wiggly hole especially with an expensive plasma hanging off it.

spadoosh

I normally find the wiggly holes are from bad/cheap drill bits tbh, i bought a set off ebay (mistake i know) and was using a metal bit to drill a pilot hole when it hit the rsj it bent over on itself. Now i know an rsj are supposed to be strong but isnt a metal bit still supposed to go through it and not bounce off!?! That and the rest of the bits seem to drill around the hole i want to drill iykwim so i end up with a O around the dot mark. Bought bosch ones now, no problems.

martin57

Thanks for replies. Its a block plaster wall. And the bits are a 10 pack I think from poundland, but bought 2 packs just in case. I will probably use a slightly smaller bit as using matches to fill out too big a hole may be ok for curtain rails, but not for a plasma tv..:)

martin57

Myser

martin57 wrote: »

The wall screws are 10m so just wondering when drilling the 10m holes is it better maybe to do a drill of 6m or 8m first and then just make bigger with the 10m bit?

10 metres, wow they're huge wall screws!

Do you mean 10mm?

Just check that your drill bits aren't wood bits and are suitable for plaster. Brick/stone bits usually have a red marking on them and a blunt head. Wood bits will have a sharp pointed head. This link may help identify the correct drill bit:

http://diydata.com/tool/drillbits/drillbits.php

keystone

Not being funny or wishing to be rude but at this rate I can see a nice new plasma TV crashing to the the floor at some stage.

Poundland bits? Are you sure?

OP I really think for an item of this value you should be slipping a handyman a few quid to do it for you.

Cheers