Method and system for drilling ceramic

A system for machining a hole in a component, the system comprising:

• a drilling machine having a holder and a jet head, the holder operable to mount a component that has a target region at which a hole is to be drilled, the holder and the jet head situated or capable of being situated relative to each other in a drilling arrangement in which the target region is at a first position that is vertically equal to or vertically above a second position at which the jet head is located;
• and
• the drilling machine operable to jet a liquid stream from the jet head, the liquid stream containing either abrasive particles or a laser beam, the liquid stream to impinge the target region such that the abrasive particles or the laser beam causes removal of material from the component at the target region to form the hole in the component, where the liquid stream rebounds off of the component as back-splash liquid, and the drilling arrangement causes gravitational draining of the back-splash liquid from the target region to reduce interference between the back-splash liquid and the liquid stream.