Project External Glass Overflow

Tunjee, The tank looks beautiful! Nice job! I do have a couple questions for you. How thick would you say your silicone joints are on the overflow box? And, did you consciously try for that thickness?

Thanks.
 
Lunchbucket said:
inside the stand looks nice. get more pics as the progress comes along

Lunchbucket
Click to expand...

Cant wait to see your cube project as well Lunch that tank should be in your possesion by now I hope.
 
T Sandman said:
Tunjee, The tank looks beautiful! Nice job! I do have a couple questions for you. How thick would you say your silicone joints are on the overflow box? And, did you consciously try for that thickness?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I kept the thickness at least as thick as the joints on the 20g itself. Cant use too much of that stuff.
 
Tunjee - not doing a cube anymore :( got a 58gal Oceanic RR tank and RR stand BRAND NEW for FREE!!!!!!!!!!!! so guess what i am setting up instead :D

actually working on the plumbing right now...just taking a little break to make sure i have the durso right :D

Lunchbucket
 
First off, thanks for this thread and the great information!

Second, I have a few questions.

I bought the dremel bits 7103 and 7134 and when I got them home the shafts were to small to fit in my dremel. I solved this by putting some electrical tape on the shaft and then putting it in the chuck. It worked but was a mess. Is there an adapter or something to make the smaller shaft bits work in a larger dremel?

Next I drilled the hole with the bit 7103. I went slowly but it would occasionally get hot and glow red. I was spraying it with a spray bottle of water but maybe not enough? I was practicing on some glass that was already broken and the first couple times I cracked it pretty bad. I got to where I could only crack it slightly (about 1/2" diameter of cracks around the drill hole) but never got to the point I didn't crack it at all.

The 7134 bit worked much better and I could go right through the cracked glass with no further cracking. It worked so good I tried to drill the initial hole with it and it worked better than the 7103 bit but it got hot and glowed red a few times and when I was done with the hole the bit was toast. :( When I was just making the circle for the hole with this bit it hardly ever glowed red and worked great though.

So now I have 2 bits that are already used up? I drilled 4 holes with the 7103 bit and 1 hole with the 7134 bit and made about 1" of cut with it. I guess I let them get to hot and that ruined them? I was spraying water on them probably every 10 or 15 seconds. Do you need to do this constantly? Or should I have stopped drilling every 30 seconds or so and let the bit cool back down?

Thanks in advance for any tips you can give me.

Nathan

[edit]PS - I'm drilling a 40 gallon breeder with 5/16" glass.[edit]
 
Those bits worked perfect for me. You need to make sure the bits dont run dry, the water must pool up and around the work zone as much as possible flowing into the cut. The grindings should be washed away as they form because they inhibit the cutting process. You dont want to see any toothpaste or white powder looking material, keep it wet and clean. Your bit should never change color or get red hot, lots and lots of water is the trick. I cut for an hour straight without taking a break or cool down time. Your bits could be ruined, I'd get new ones. Dont forget to plunge the bit up and down while cutting and also back it off and spray water to clean it out. It's a messy job and you will get wet too. Have fun! HTH

Tony
 
Did you ever get some small cracks splintering away from the initial hole when drilling with the 7103 bit?

Thanks, Nathan
 
WOO HOO!!!!! Got it done tonight! This is my 3rd 40 breeder that I've tried to have drilled to put in my office. The first one was shattered by the LFS as they were drilling the 3rd and last hole. The second they got the holes all drilled without breaking it but there were several large chip out and I'm not sure if that was the problem but I ended up breaking it when I was tightening up a bulkhead. So I ended up with the dremel idea for the 3rd tank to try to put as little pressure on the glass as possible.

I ended up with 1 TINY chip out about 1/32" and very shallow. On the tank the 2nd tank that I ended up breaking when I was tightening the bulkhead had some chip outs that were 1/4" and halfway through the glass. HOPEFULLY I will get this one up and running without breaking it!!

I got new bits at Lowes tonight and was very careful and used a LOT of water - I was spraying the bit down like every 2 seconds. I had to get some adapter things to fit the 3/32" bit and everything worked great. It was a bit of work. I spent right at 1 1/2 hours drilling 3 - 1 3/4" holes for 1" bulkheads.

Thanks for the info!

Nathan
 
:thumbsup: Mas agua! I read mineral oil works even better but you better do it outside heh imagine the mess.
 
I'm going to do something similar to this on my 20L. Is there a reason for making the slots rounded on the top and bottom? Is it just easier to make them that way rather than squared off? Just curious if there's some flow benefit to that shape or what.
 
If I were to do this again I would probably do it like this months TOTM. Just cut a slot and insert piece of acrylic against the back wall of the tank. The acrylic would have teeth routed out, not the glass.
 
flaunt said:
I'm going to do something similar to this on my 20L. Is there a reason for making the slots rounded on the top and bottom? Is it just easier to make them that way rather than squared off? Just curious if there's some flow benefit to that shape or what.
Click to expand...

They are rounded because right angles would encourage it to crack.
 
I just cracked my 7gallon bow front trying to cut slots into it =( I drilled two easy as butter then when I drilled the pilot hole in the 3rd it cracked

Not a happy camper
 
if your doing a direct hole and your drilling a thin tank such as yours you have to do it in layers.
for small tanks i would use the dremel 7123 bit which is cylindrical and just go down from the top of the tank or if you still have the trim on, just angle it and slowly but surely you will get a nice cut. this bit will eat all the glass where your slot will be.
 
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