It actually took only 9 months to work around, and the new method is actually quite effective. After fixing some early bugs it’s as effective as the original drill technique.
The drill started flaking out in early 2015, completely broke in December 2016, and was back online in May 2018. The new method works but is quite a lot riskier and less stable. Every activation increases the chance of a permanent failure. The same was obviously true before, but you just worsen the risk profile a bit. Of course a worse risk profile with drilling is way better than no drilling!