Glass Shattered while drilling

[Joe0813]

You could easily replace the single panel of glass with a drillable piece and resilicone it in.

I drilled my 1/2" tank with 2x 3-1/4" holes and 1x 2" hole for my herbie overflow and returns. It was nerve wracking but we used a wood template clamped to the glass and filled the template with water letting the drill do all the work. No chipping or cracking occurred.

It sounds like you drilled a tempered piece of glass, that or the bit moved around, or you put too much pressure on it. The bit needs to do all the work. Each hole took me and my buddy 10 minutes to drill as we went very slow doing it.

false you cant just replace the back... you need to pull the whole tank apart and clean every last bit of silicone off. Otherwise the new silicone wont stick

 

[JamesHolt]

false you cant just replace the back... you need to pull the whole tank apart and clean every last bit of silicone off. Otherwise the new silicone wont stick

True, plus that tank will only be $55 to replace at petco's $1 a gallon sale..

 

[Joe0813]

youd spend more money on silicone and razor blades than the tank is worth. id just go on craigslist and get another one

 

[MarkS]

Not to go off topic ..... but, I'm curious ......
Certainly not practical $$, but is it possible to anneal the glass, 'drill' the hole, then re-temper it?:

I don't know if that is possible or not and I've never heard of it done, but if so, you'd have to anneal the entire panel. It would be easier and cheaper to just buy a new, untempered panel and drill that.

 

[laga77]

I had been drilling for 2-3 minutes when it shattered. It was only about 1/2 way through.

That right there says that it was not tempered. Tempered glass shatters as soon as the bit touches the glass. You put too much pressure on the drill and/or got the bit too hot.

 

[Ou8me2]

youd spend more money on silicone and razor blades than the tank is worth. id just go on craigslist and get another one

It all depends on the tank and the situation. I re-sealed a 75-gallon and it cost me less than 5 bucks for 100 razor blades and 20.00 for 2-10 ounces tubes of GESCS1200 Silicone adhesive. I used very thick beads and still didn't use half of the 2nd tube. The hardest part is it is very time consuming to properly reseal a tank. Lots of elbow grease and scraping and cleaning and scraping more and cleaning more over and over for a few hours. Then you need to let it cure for several days. Most silicone may list 24-72 hours but if you are using a thick bead and as you should it could easily take 7 days to cure.

I think though in this situation and Petco has the $1.00 per gallon sale right now. It would be a lot less hassle than replacing the glass and doing the repair yourself. Which is what I would do in this situation. Buying a new piece of glass and the silicone etc would almost cost you as much. You could spend $30.00 on just getting the piece of glass. *Just guessing* The cost of replacing a piece of glass is what is the most expensive most always.

 

[MarkS]

That right there says that it was not tempered. Tempered glass shatters as soon as the bit touches the glass. You put too much pressure on the drill and/or got the bit too hot.

That's why I asked him to clarify how the glass shattered. He responded "a million pieces". That makes me think it shattered into a million tiny cubes, i.e., tempered. I have a feeling it was hyperbole and it actually shattered into a bunch of shards (non-tempered). Until he clarifies, I'm going to assume tempered.

For the OP:

 

[Joe0813]

It all depends on the tank and the situation. I re-sealed a 75-gallon and it cost me less than 5 bucks for 100 razor blades and 20.00 for 2-10 ounces tubes of GESCS1200 Silicone adhesive. I used very thick beads and still didn't use half of the 2nd tube. The hardest part is it is very time consuming to properly reseal a tank. Lots of elbow grease and scraping and cleaning and scraping more and cleaning more over and over for a few hours. Then you need to let it cure for several days. Most silicone may list 24-72 hours but if you are using a thick bead and as you should it could easily take 7 days to cure.

I think though in this situation and Petco has the $1.00 per gallon sale right now. It would be a lot less hassle than replacing the glass and doing the repair yourself. Which is what I would do in this situation. Buying a new piece of glass and the silicone etc would almost cost you as much. You could spend $30.00 on just getting the piece of glass. *Just guessing* The cost of replacing a piece of glass is what is the most expensive most always.

should have mentioned that I meant if he paid a company to do it

 

[EvenFurther]

That right there says that it was not tempered. Tempered glass shatters as soon as the bit touches the glass. You put too much pressure on the drill and/or got the bit too hot.

What your saying is not accurate at all, really just misinformation. It might shattter very quick, or it might not shatter quick. But it will shatter, not crack. His description clearly indicates tempered, and it was a 55.

 

[jason2459]

I've seen videos of people drilling for a bit before the tempered glass broke. Doesn't have to happen as soon as the drilling starts.

 

[MarkS]

I've seen videos of people drilling for a bit before the tempered glass broke. Doesn't have to happen as soon as the drilling starts.

Correct. I've drilled what I thought was annealed glass and got nearly 1/16" in before it exploded on me. Once you break the "skin", which can vary in thickness, the panel will explode. And yes, I was using plenty of coolant...

 

[Gorgok]

I've tried breaking tempered glass on purpose by scoring it a bunch with a glass cutter. It didn't do anything but scratch it. Dropping the point of an axe on it did break it finally, and it crackled and popped for a while as i bagged it up.

 

[VirginiaMarine]

I hate to hear this. I went through the same agonizing when I got my 75 gallon. I was afraid despite all my efforts , when I started drilling that it would break the glass. Fortunately the back was not tempered.


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[ThisGuy12]

false you cant just replace the back... you need to pull the whole tank apart and clean every last bit of silicone off. Otherwise the new silicone wont stick

Huh? no you don't, you need to take the broken (which is already off since it's in a million pieces anyways) pieces off, cut the 3 seams associated clean ALL silicone and redo it, the structural seam exists between the glass to glass, any excess silicone to chamfer or round the corners does nothing structurally but add a bit of visual.

Why not give it a go, you have a broken panel, if you can find it cheap then go for it, I bet it doesn't cost more than $20 to replace (at least it wouldn't here), depending on the thickness.

Also, some of you are very unfamiliar with tempered glass and how it works, just because you can make it through the first layer or two doesn't mean the pane isn't tempered, you haven't broken the seal to the core (so to speak) yet. Tempered glass is glass heated to near melting point and quickly cooled adding additional strength to the glass, the downside is it changes the molecule makeup of the glass. It's under tension/compression at all times.

There is also chemically treated glass which breaks finer and is of similar makeup to annealed glass, but that's for another discussion.

 

[MarkS]

Never mind.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

Huh? no you don't, you need to take the broken (which is already off since it's in a million pieces anyways) pieces off, cut the 3 seams associated clean ALL silicone and redo it, the structural seam exists between the glass to glass, any excess silicone to chamfer or round the corners does nothing structurally but add a bit of visual.

Not quite there either....the entire inner seal would also need to be completely removed...the amount of work involved to remove the inner seal and clean it suitably enough for silicone is absurd...it is easier to deconstruct the whole tank...that said once the remainder of the back panel is removed and the entire inner seal is removed one could easily replace a panel...now the next problem arises...the entire 55 is built of tempered glass with plastic trims..this is done because they can use thinner glass to reduce shipping weight..now replacing that back panel with the same size annealed panel with holes in it is going to create an unsafe panel compromising the entire tank...you would have to replace the panel with another tempered panel which means laying out and have hour drilled prior to tempering...a pre-drilled tempered panel of that size will easily cost between 60&100$ depending on where you can get it..couple tubes of silicone another 20$...razor blades elbow grease and a crap tone of time equates to it not being a monetary feasible option...to each tier own though..some will swear that the glass doesn't matter or that they always use what is on hand etc etc fact is 99%of 55g tanks are tempered I would tend to think it is done for a reason

 

[ThisGuy12]

Not quite there either....the entire inner seal would also need to be completely removed...the amount of work involved to remove the inner seal and clean it suitably enough for silicone is absurd...it is easier to deconstruct the whole tank...that said once the remainder of the back panel is removed and the entire inner seal is removed one could easily replace a panel...now the next problem arises...the entire 55 is built of tempered glass with plastic trims..this is done because they can use thinner glass to reduce shipping weight..now replacing that back panel with the same size annealed panel with holes in it is going to create an unsafe panel compromising the entire tank...you would have to replace the panel with another tempered panel which means laying out and have hour drilled prior to tempering...a pre-drilled tempered panel of that size will easily cost between 60&100$ depending on where you can get it..couple tubes of silicone another 20$...razor blades elbow grease and a crap tone of time equates to it not being a monetary feasible option...to each tier own though..some will swear that the glass doesn't matter or that they always use what is on hand etc etc fact is 99%of 55g tanks are tempered I would tend to think it is done for a reason

Oh I definitely don't think it's worthwhile to so so for a small tank like that but it is definitely doable, and who knows, maybe this particular person has a connection for glass?

The annealed vs tempered glass argument has been :deadhorse: like crazy. My tank is 100% 1/2" annealed glass, all 280 gallons of it. Prior to me owning it this tank ran for 12 years just fine.

Arguments can be made for either way.

Manufacturers also install rims around mass produced tanks, is that to say we all need to have some kind of rim? No.

Replacing the back glass with an annealed pane with holes wouldn't cause any problems in my opinion. That is just my opinion of course Would I go with anything less than 1/4", nope.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

Replacing the back glass with an annealed pane with holes wouldn't cause any problems in my opinion. That is just my opinion of course Would I go with anything less than 1/4", nope.

Good luck fitting 1/4"glass into a track designed to fit 3/16" glass...

Your right as far as the tanks go in general annealed or tempered makes no difference...however a tank that should be made of 1/4" but can be done with 3/16" tempered I would not replace the broken panel with 3/16" annealed...and since the track/trim it did in is designed for the glass thickness you would be very hard pressed to fit the thicker (should have been used in the first place) glass...

And obviously tanks don't all need trim..there are very specific calculations that need to be done to design tanks based on length and height, to determine what glass is to be used, which is then also dictated by how the tank will be supported...either trim euro braces or rimless..