Spring Loaded Center Punch Packs Potent Point Power

Never use a spring loaded center punch when trying to drill a small hole in a shower door. The shower door handle was loose. The little rubber gasket that went around the edge and separated the extruded magnesium handle from the safety glass acrylic door was all crumpled down, so I drilled 3 tiny 1/16th holes in the magnesium handle, no problem. Then, I tried to drill through the glass, so the screws would be in shear, and the handle would stop coming off in our hands each time we opened the shower door. Even with cutting fluid, the drill bit made no progress.

So I thought, shortsightedly, 'why not use a center punch to make a starter divot, where the 1/16th drill bit could then grab?' The center punch had worked marvelously on the magnesium handle, three times. As the CLICK of the first center punch sounded, the entire door shattered and my right hand went through it. "Safety glass" means just several small blood gushing cuts, and not a large artery opening gash.

A new 69" by 40-1/2" custom shower door costs "only" $479 from Home Depot. Kohler now owns the whole world it seems.

Spring loaded center punches and safety glass don't mix. Now I know, if I am ever trapped in my car and the door won't open (as they refused to do in August of 1986 when I took my dad's 1978 Delta 88 sky borne and sheared two NIPSCO poles, just before it exploded in a spectacular fire ball) , the center punch I keep in the center counsel storage compartment will be handy to shatter the windshield or side windows, if need be.