Ive seen 4 or 5 in recent weeks, all drilled the same way.

My thoughts on the xray were as follows:

(Anyone with first hand knowledge of the exact procedure please feel free to join in)

I understand the clay is heated for filling the hole. The are surrounding the hole (if not the whole chip) must be warmed to allow the pressure from the duplicated mold to press out the area perfectly. I agree that as a result of this the circular surface join (the outside edge of the drill hole) would be 'fused' and undetectable. However, it could not be possible for the filler to 'fuse' right through the thickness of the chip unless the whole chip was heated until virtually molten. This would surely have resulted in distortion of the inserts and if it was going to be done this way, why bother removing material from the middle - just remove the inlay and melt the chip down.

So, as I said before, the xray should yield one of two results, depending on the depth of material that actually became fused.

If the fused area was just a few microns thick, I would expect to see a faint circle (not solid)

Additionally, and only, in the event of the fused area being thicker and thus less penetrable by the xray, a slightly lighter circular patch caused by the filled area being not quite as dense as I doubt the same amount of pressure would be applied in this case compared to the 30 tons per square inch in the factory.

Unless someone can either totally clue us up, or xray a chip that was for certain drilled through the rim, we may never know.