Drilling Glass

[craggles]

I have a 10mm glass fishtank and i want to drill a 55mm hole in the base.

Im after some advice on drilling glass,and here is how i was thinking of doing it.

use a diamond bit,,use a battery drill,shall i use on torque setting?

fill the tank to say with 8mm of water,cut a hole with the bit 1st through thin ply and use as template.

Now is the key not to use presure and just let the weight of the drill do the cutting?

shall i got very slow or will that chip at it?

Ive not drilled glass before only cut it,


thanks for the help

craig

 

[breezer]

cut a cicle or get a glasier to do it.

not for a "bottom drain" is it?

 

[craggles]

cut a cicle or get a glasier to do it.

not for a "bottom drain" is it?

It is for a bottom drain how did you guess,its so i can sump the tank

ive not really got anyone local to do it,,ive found someone who said will do it for £50 and if tank breaks he aint responsible.hmm

 

[breezer]

My thoughts.

55 mm hole in 10mm glass, for bottom drain for fish tank

1) drill hole may split / crack what ever fish tank written off

2) bloke in the pub cuts hole for £50. may split / crack what ever fish tank written off

3) hole succesfull, put pipe in through hole. forgot about bolt holes for flange

4) "glue" flange on, connect another pipe marvelous all working. fill tank with grvel then lid of bottom drain fill with water switch on pump, bottom drain sucks out all gravel.

If it was a pond then yes i could understand, but a bottom drain for a fish tank. if it was that good an idea they would make fish tanks with botom drains in.

sorry, i think its a novel idea, pointless, and the ods are against you.

mind you, i was at my mates the other day and i overheard his fish in the tank.

one said to the other, do you know how to drive this thing?

 

[craggles]

My thoughts.

55 mm hole in 10mm glass, for bottom drain for fish tank

1) drill hole may split / crack what ever fish tank written off

2) bloke in the pub cuts hole for £50. may split / crack what ever fish tank written off

3) hole succesfull, put pipe in through hole. forgot about bolt holes for flange

4) "glue" flange on, connect another pipe marvelous all working. fill tank with grvel then lid of bottom drain fill with water switch on pump, bottom drain sucks out all gravel.

If it was a pond then yes i could understand, but a bottom drain for a fish tank. if it was that good an idea they would make fish tanks with botom drains in.

sorry, i think its a novel idea, pointless, and the ods are against you.

mind you, i was at my mates the other day and i overheard his fish in the tank.

one said to the other, do you know how to drive this thing?

Having a bottom drain in a marine tank is a common move,you drill the hole put a stand pipe in and you build a glas weir which sets the water hight water goes down weir and through into the sump (which houses all the equiptment and macro algaes)and the return takes it back.

sand goes nowhere near the hole as the weir in sealed around to say 2ft high.(glass box inside the tank) tank fills to high and pores over and down hole through bulkhead

if weir blocks only water just above return pumps back which you allow for in the main tank

if return stops then only water which is poring over weir goes down

trust me i know hundreds of reefers and its very very common this way.just non will drill,,they buy the tanks this way

like the tank joke

 

[breezer]

you never mentioned it was for a marine tank, but then i never asked.

good luck what ever you do.

 

[craggles]

you never mentioned it was for a marine tank, but then i never asked.

good luck what ever you do.

Sorry i should of put that

thanks with a bit of luck it wont break,just make sure ive not had a few beers 1st.

 

[Chud]

If you do a search on youtube there are some good tutorial vids on there for tank drilling.

Just make sure you do not drill to close to the edge - 1.5x hole diameter is a minimum I believe...

 

[craggles]

If you do a search on youtube there are some good tutorial vids on there for tank drilling.

Just make sure you do not drill to close to the edge - 1.5x hole diameter is a minimum I believe...

Thanks for that just found a few on there.

Ive looked all over for the distance of the hole from the edge,for safty i think ill go a 2x just to be sure.

 

[Chud]

try asking in the DIY section of ultimatereef.com - loads of folks there have experience in tank drilling.

 

[craggles]

try asking in the DIY section of ultimatereef.com - loads of folks there have experience in tank drilling.

Im a member on there but its not my usual im on a couple of other marine forums

I was going to post but i thought,,a diy forum might be a better way forward with experts

are you on UR by anychance