Replacement Diamond Painting Drills: Complete Guide
What replacement drills are, what you need before ordering, how to handle DMC color matching and dye-lot variation, and how round, acrylic square and resin square drills differ.
What Are Replacement Diamond Painting Drills?
Replacement drills are the standard drills commonly supplied with diamond painting kits. They do not have an enhancement coating or specialty finish.
You may need replacement drills because a kit was short on one color, a bag spilled, some drills were damaged or unusable, or you are completing an older or incomplete project.
What Do I Need Before Ordering?
1. DMC number
Find the standardized DMC color number on your kit chart or legend. Do not choose a replacement color from a website photograph alone.
2. Shape
Know whether your canvas uses round or square drills.
3. Square material
If you are replacing square drills, choose acrylic or resin. Both can be used on the same canvas, but they have slightly different geometry.
Not sure which number on your chart is the DMC code? See the illustrated DMC guide →
Will Replacement Drills Match My Kit Exactly?
Not necessarily. DPD cannot guarantee an exact match to drills supplied by another manufacturer, even when the DMC number is the same.
Why can the same DMC number look different?
There are two common reasons:
- Dye-lot variation. Drills produced in different manufacturing batches can vary slightly in shade or tone.
- Manufacturer variation. Different factories can interpret or reproduce the same standardized color slightly differently.
Screen color adds another variable. A phone, tablet or monitor can change how a drill appears because of brightness, color settings, camera processing and lighting.
When multiple packs of the same replacement color are ordered together, DPD fills them from a single dye lot whenever possible so your replacement drills are consistent with one another.
Dye-lot variation affects more than replacement drills. For a complete explanation of batch-to-batch color variation across standard, replacement and enhancement drills, see our Diamond Painting Drill Dye Lots & Color Variation Guide.
Round, Acrylic Square & Resin Square Drills
| Type | Material | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Round replacement drills | Acrylic | Standard round replacement format. |
| Square acrylic drills | Acrylic | High-quality acrylic can sparkle as much as resin. Slightly more forgiving placement and may show a little more spacing. |
| Square resin drills | Resin | Different molding geometry allows the drills to sit somewhat closer together for a tighter grid. |
Acrylic and resin square drills are interchangeable. Resin is often used in premium kits because it is a more expensive material, but material alone does not determine sparkle or overall quality.
Acrylic sometimes gets a poor reputation because low-cost kits may use poor-quality acrylic with more unusable or misshapen drills. DPD offers high-quality acrylic replacement drills.
Read the detailed Acrylic vs. Resin Square Drill Guide →
How Many Replacement Drills Are in a Pack?
DPD replacement drills are sold in small bags containing approximately 200 drills. Small packs are ideal when you run short and do not need thousands of replacements.
Need more than 200? Increase the quantity and order multiple bags of the same DMC number.
Each bag is labeled with its DMC number for easy identification.
Ready to replace a missing color?
Confirm the DMC number and shape first, then choose the replacement drills you need.
Shop Replacement Drills