cutting glass
- Thread starter eagleONE
- Start date
Avalanche Wolf
New member
I know people drill them for that. There is a guy on ebay that sells the bits along with a few places around town. There are also a few store that will cut them for a price also.
sumyungviet
New member
i tested drilled a 10gallon, dont know how big your tank is, but the glass on the 10gallon was pretty thin. I used a dremel w/ diamond tip bits. First i trimmed off the plastic molding in the area for the over flow, then i just cut out a l________l .. never used the tank though. I can take pics of the tank if my discription is too confusing.
Larry
Larry
eagleONE
New member
Avalanche, yeah I read the post about some guy in Hong Kong that sells the bits. Which store will do the cutting?
Sumyungviet, was it hard? That's exactly how I want to do mines. I was thinking about using a dremel, but I've been kind of relunctant to do it... mainly because I'm afraid it will crack. I'm still searching whether a dremel is the prefect tool for it.
I have a 30 gal I want to do it on.
And maybe, if I'm skilled enough, I'll do it to my 100.
Thanks for the tips guys
-Jay
Sumyungviet, was it hard? That's exactly how I want to do mines. I was thinking about using a dremel, but I've been kind of relunctant to do it... mainly because I'm afraid it will crack. I'm still searching whether a dremel is the prefect tool for it.
I have a 30 gal I want to do it on.
And maybe, if I'm skilled enough, I'll do it to my 100.
Thanks for the tips guys
-Jay
Jay,
Are you drilling the side or the bottom. You have to be careful in drilling the bottom because many tanks have tempered bottom glass - which will shatter. The side pane may or may not be tempered.
Regarding drilling a hole - Wombat2 (who's leading the search party for Matt) has use the dremel method quite a few times. If you reach him at Reefs.org, he might be willing to drill it for pretty cheap or at least show you how to do it.
Minh
Are you drilling the side or the bottom. You have to be careful in drilling the bottom because many tanks have tempered bottom glass - which will shatter. The side pane may or may not be tempered.
Regarding drilling a hole - Wombat2 (who's leading the search party for Matt) has use the dremel method quite a few times. If you reach him at Reefs.org, he might be willing to drill it for pretty cheap or at least show you how to do it.
Minh
sumyungviet
New member
the main thing, is to let the bit do the work, if you force the bit, it will heat up pretty quick, and you'll see the glass glow. Its kinda hard to explain how it goes, you just gotta try it out, you could test on an old 10 gallon. Thats what i did before i drilled my 30 cube.
CaliforniaDreamer
Premium Member
I have "drilled" a number of tanks using the dremel method and it is really very easy. If you can do a 10 with its thin glass you can do one with much thicker glass without any problem if you have the patients. I use the diamond bit to start the hole and then switch to the carbide tile cutter. I run a steady stream of water over the bit to keep it cool. I have one tank that was drilled with a bit sized for 1" bulkheads but was less than happy with the results. There was considerable chip-out on the inside of the tank where the bulkhead gasket goes and I worry about it eventually developing a leak. I think the person that did that drilling was a bit heavy handed, and didn't do like Larry mentioned and let the drill do the work.
sumyungviet
New member
regarding the chip out, have you treid maybe doing alittle from both sides, that way its kind of like 'scoring' .. giving the glass a guide of 'where to chip' .. or maybe drill teh tank from the inside out, so if ther's chipping, it will happen on the ouside vs. being on the inside.
xia
New member
Have you seen this thread. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=603816
It's got lots of good tips and resources.
It's got lots of good tips and resources.
jlfnjlf
New member
Matt (Wombat2) helped me with the dremel method, and I have done 6 holes now with out a hitch. I let a slow trickle of water run on the bit the entire time I am cutting. If you would like I can show how I did mine. That is what Matt did, and Now I think I could cut anything.
I think I read somewhere that Matt was black listed from RC for life.
John
I think I read somewhere that Matt was black listed from RC for life.
John
