How to drill my own aquarium?

[Anonymous]

I've got an old glass aquarium that I'd like to pre drill for surface skimming. Does anyone know how I could drill it myself? Do I need special bits. What if I want the diameter to be 1 inch?

Thanks

-Nathan

 

[Anonymous]

I understand that you don't drill it as much as you grind it, slowly, with a lot of lubrication. A conventional drill bit would probably splinter the glass,

 

[Anonymous]

you need a glass bit .they are rather costly.it will be cheaper to have someone do it for you.ask you lfs if they drill tanks or know someone who does.i had a tank drilled for $75. a drill bit to drill a one inch hole is about $130.and you take a risk as a person who does not know what he is doing of breaking your tank.

 

[Anonymous]

A local glass store drilled a 1 3/4 hole in
a 20 gal tank for $8.35.
The risk of broken glass was ours, but our
"driller" claimed 100+ tanks drilled, no failures.

 

[Anonymous]

Actually, all of the above is the correct answer here, The two most common ways to wind up with a hole in your tank besides shooting it with a 9mm that is is to either grind it or drill it. To grind a hole still requires the use of a glass drill to hold the tin collar, a small amount of grinding compoud is diluted and then applied to the surface to be drilled, the collar is then set into the grinding paste mixture and the collar acts as a guide while the hole is ground in the glass and eventually goes through. This method works fine for thinner walled aqauriums but is'nt practical for aquariums much thicker then 3/8". The advantage to using this method is the grinding collars cost about $10.00 ea. whereas drill bits for drilling glass start at $100.00 and go up from there.
The drilling method is just that a special diamond impregnated bit which is put into a glass drill and then lowered into a cooling collar which contains a solution to keep the bit cool during drilling, much quicker but the bits are Expensive as has been said.In either case the purchase of a glass drill(about $500.00) hardly makes this a DIY project.Unless you happen to be Tim the Toolman Taylor . I live in Ct, and we get $20.00 per hole which when all things are considered is still a bargain. One other thing to consider here is that if the bottom of your tank is tempered glass then it is undrillable, many of the smaller tanks have tempered bottoms.HTH...David

 

[Anonymous]

Nathan,
Don't know how handy you are with DIY but what I've done is make my own drill! Before you laugh....it really works. You need a good drill press for starters. Then take a 1" piece of galvanized conduit, grind a edge to it, take a 1" washer and weld it to the opposite end, take a 1/4" 20 bolt and weld that to the washer, HAS TO BE STRAIGHT.
Get some valve grinding compound from an auto parts store.
To actually drill the tank, take some molding clay and form a dike around the place you want to drill, add a small amount of the grinding compound, position the drill where you want to make a hole, then slooowly apply the drill bit to the glass, DON"T FORCE IT TO HARD! Takes about 10mins. to drill through 3/8" glass. Also put a backup on the underside of the hole, a board works fine for me.
If you don't have the grinder,drillpress, welder, etc.....then like everyone above has said "have it done". Just happens I have all the necessary tools to do it. Good Luck!
Sean
PS This works on NON-TEMPERED GLASS ONLY!

[This message has been edited by Sean (edited 28 October 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Sean (edited 28 October 1999).]

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Sean,

Unfortunately I don't have the tools to do that... I wish I had a workshop!!!!!!

Thanks for all your suggestions guys. Looks like I may just take it to a glass place and have them drill it for me. Cheaper than an LFS.

-Nathan

 

[Anonymous]

Hello all first post what i used to drill a 1 inch hole in my 90 gal was get a diamond imp hole saw style bit from home depot about 11 dollars some plumers putty and a gallon of antifreeze use the plummers putty to make a dam to hold the antifreeze in at the point that you want your hole put the diamond bit into the antifreeze and start grinding slow while stedying the bit with your hand to start a circle once started grind away stop every so often to let bit cool i run it under cold water to cool not that hot and to clean the grindings off cuts faster and that you are not takeing a chance on heat build up breaking the glass when you are almost through the glass go very slow hope this helps. 8 holes so far on different tanks and no breakage knock on wood ps.keep pets away from antifreeze




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