Tank Drilling

[Ben1]

Where can I get my tank drilled. It is empty but most of the local galss supply houses dont do house calls. I dont feel like loading the thing in the car and dragging out. They also dont guarantee it wont break.

Can they be drilled easily with a 9v hand held drill? Could I do it myself?


Has anyone tried this them selves?

 

[PeeJ]

as far as i know, diamond bits are quite pricey

 

[hdtran]

(1) Don't even think of drilling tempered glass (e.g. the bottom). If your side glass is plate, you can do it, but practice on scrap plate glass first.
(2) Yes, diamond bits are a bit on the pricey side. DIY's (e.g. amateur astronomers) do it using just a plain hollow round bit and feed a SiC abrasive slurry. I've cut holes in granite using a hole-cutting bit, and feeding an abrasive slurry.
(3) Don't even think of doing it without either (a) a small drill press, or (b) a fixture to keep your bit aligned with the glass as you drill
(4) The key to drilling through glass or ceramic is patience, not force. A 9V handheld (held in a mini-drill press fixture) will eventually cut through a large depth of plate glass. With, of course, patience.
(5) Another key to this is fluid lubrication (e.g. water slurry) to remove ground-up glass. Which brings me to
(6) Electricity and water don't mix. If you're planning on doing this, it's better to have your drill be vertical. (Or you can use vegetable oil as your fluid).

 

[Ben1]

I can get a diamond bit at 1 3/4" for 42$, to pay someone to drill 3 holes it would be 50$ so it would be cheaper to drill myself.

Unless I break the 150, which would suck. As long as its kept cool with water while drilling I think I can do it but read that you need very slow speeds for glass drilling with certain bits, 200-300rpm and the only drill I have is a hand drill dewalt that runs 0-1100 rpm. I would have trouble I think with keeping my hand steady, and keeping a steady speed. I guess I could rent a drill press from HD.

 

[Ben1]

vegetable oil sounds like a good idea, where can I get a fixture to hold the drill steady? It is 1/2" glass, how long will it take to drill a hole in 1/2" (I think)?

 

[t gallo]

i cant describe what its like to drill glass, you kinda have to do it a few times and you will get the feel for it.

get yourself a good diamond bit, doesent have to be a 150.00 dollar bit, i used a 50.00 doller bit and it worked great.

what you should do to keep the drill bit on track and somewhat steady is get yourself a piece 3/4 plywood and drill the same diameter hole in it as you plan on drilling with the glass bit later thru the tank.
after you drill the same size hole thru the plywood , get yourself two plastic woodworkers clamps and clamp the plywood section over the spot you intend to drill the hole thru the tank ,now insert the diamond bit thru the plywood and this will keep your bit in blace durring the drilling.

you want to start out slow drilling thru the glass and keep lite pressure on the bit, do not push hard while drilling, nice and easy even pressure..

every 5 minutes of drilling you want to pull the bit out and dunk it in water, room tempature.

the key to not cracking the glass on the inside is to go slow with minimal presure, in other words DO NOT RUSH THE BIT.

 

[hdtran]

For making a fixture, all you need is a board (relatively thick, e.g. as thick or thicker than your drill), and drill a hole through it which is the size of your drill.

Then, fix your fixture to your glass, and voila! Instant fixture! (or maybe it's a jig. I can never remember the difference between a jig and a fixture ). Now, to drill, you just put the bit inside the hole in the board. This prevents you from wandering around.

Re: speed. It doesn't really matter. It's a complex function between speed, force, & abrasive. Just be sure there's plenty of liquid to help wash away the ground glass slurry before it can wedge up into your tool.

1000 rpm is excessive, mainly because the centrifugal forces fling away the liquid, not because it's too fast.

Be sure to practice on scrap glass before you try it on your tank 8)

 

[Ben1]

Sounds like good advice, I am going to try this.

I have to order the bit, which do you think is better of these to, the 45 mm

http://www.khue.com/dept/grind/dbits.htm

or the 1 and 3/4" from
http://www.diamond-drill-bit-and-tool.c ... l/MAIN.htm

Thanks for all the helpful tips!

 

[hdtran]

No difference. Your hole will be slightly oversize (because you can't hold your drill perfectly vertical while going in). Go with what's cheaper.

 

[Lurshy]

Ben if I read your post correctly you 'save' 8 dollars by doing this yourself (42$ bit vs. 50$). Is that realy saving? what is experience worth?

 

[Ben1]

I also save myself from loading the tank in the car and unloading it twice. The glass cutter also plainly says he might break it and cant garuntee anything. I see no reason not to try it.

 

[Anonymous]

He says he might break it and he is an experienced glass worker with ALL of the proper tools. You are ordering bits, rigging plywood bit holders, and using veggie oil. Who is MORE likely to break the tank?

But if you want to try it, practice on some other glass first.

Good luck

 

[Marrowbone]

8 dollars isn't much to save on drilling that hole, sure. But you can drill as many more as you want for free 8)

 

[Ben1]

Manny have you ever tried to drill galss before?

You can only drill a handful of holes with the cheaper glass bits before the diamond edges break off.

 

[reef150]

I picked up one of the ~$42 bits from diamond-drill-and-bit.com (or whatever) and drilled 2 holes in my 150...

I planned to use a press, and even picked up one on E-bay, but it ended up that I could not get the drill into the corner where I needed it when in the press, so I just did it free-hand.

A couple of tricks that I used, picked up from this board...

- get yourself a wax toilet bowl ring (a new one please) and use it as a "well" to hold your cooling fluid of choice. I used vegetable oil since I was not going to be able to fully clean the tank after drilling. Some anti-freeze, but did not want that in my tank. I poured about 1/8 inch in, started drilling and added a little along the way...

- make a cardboard template with a hole the size out the O.D. of the drill bit, one or two layers thick, and tape it to the glass. This will help keep the bit from slipping as it begings to dig into the glass. (I did not do this, just tried to be real steady with the drill until it wore a little grove, then the drill did the work... the template would have made this a lot easier to start)

- I was drilling with the tank on a platform, so there was backing to the glass (styrofoam with plywood beneath.... I later went back and cut out the necessary hole underneath the stand). Some type of backing is probably good for when the bit begins to break through, but does not seem as critical as when drilling wood, etc.

- slow and easy... gentle pressure... let the bit do the work. Don't force it like you might with wood or metal... just let it wear away. If freehanding, be careful not to twist / flex the drill. The thicker the glass the "safer" it feels.... not as prone to flex stresses. I stopped now and then to check to ensure the glass was not getting too hot (never got too hot to touch).

For the 1.75 holes on 1/2 glass, it probably took me somewhere around 5 min per hole, max. Take your time and go for it... definately easier than dragging the tank out to some glass shop that won't guarantee the drill anyway.... and hey, if you break it, then you have an excuse to order that take with Starfire glass that you wish you had gotten originally...

good luck.....

 

[Anonymous]

I'm all for doing everything myself. But when it comes to a five pieces of glass holding back a half ton of water and containing thousands of dollars of corals, fish, and rocks, I don't think I would trust myself to drill holes in them. Come to think of it, I don't trust a glass driller either....I think I would just sell that tank and buy a pre-drilled tank. Maybe it's because I live in an apartment and I have nightmares about my tank cracking and gushing water everywhere.

 

[greenb]

I just had 2 holes drilled in the back of my tank. I wished I would've done it myself. I lugged my tank out from the basement drove an hour. 10 minutes later I had to holes in the back of my tank.

All the guy used was a little drill press and a $8 hole saw you can get from any tool store.

So I think if you a little bit handy and follow the advice above, plus tank careful measurements if you are going to use an overflow box, I don't think you'll have any problems.

my 2cents
bob

 

[Anonymous]

The board I idea is interesting to get the bit started in the glass but will be in the way quickly IMO. Once the bit is started it's not going anywhere. Put some duct tape on the other side of the glass to minimize chipping when you finally break through. You can use a decent amount of force and move quickly though the first 75% but it's the final section that requires a more delicate touch in order to make sure you are cutting straight and don't get any chips. I would use a diamond bit, regular hand drill, duct tape, squirt bottle of water for lubrication and papertowels to contain the mess. It isn't hard and as long as you have patience you won't brek the glass unless it's extremely thin i.e. small tanks - you are much better drilling bigger tanks with thicker glass.