Step-by-Step: Drilling Holes in Your Glass Tank for Bulkheads

Looking for Advice

Looking for Advice

I have been lurking/studying up via this thread in order to prep for drilling my 37 Oceanic cube.

I ordered some hole saws from Lau. I placed my order last month for the sizes that I needed and after 4 weeks had gone by and without receiving any bits I contacted Lau. He promptly sent out another set. Shortly thereafter wouldn't you know it the first set shows up. Great! However, when I did some test runs I noticed that all the bits had a slight wobble to them.

A few days later, the second set shows up (took about a week). I slap these bits run them on my drill and they all have a slight wobble as well. *** over? At this point I'm thinking that maybe my drill's end is bent or something. This project involved drilling some holes in an acrylic overflow. The bi-metal bits I purchased worked flawlessly and they spun true. So, the theory about my drill being busted was out the door.

I went ahead and drilled two holes in the backside of my tank. One 1" hole (the overflow), and one 0.75" hole (the return).

Both holes took about 35 minutes each to drill. My hand drill's speed trigger can't be locked in place so I took a piece of "hundred mile an hour tape" and used that piece to tape/set the drill to my best estimation of about 200 rpm(s).

The 1' hole turned out ok ( is used the same tape on the backside of the hole to help with chipping), there is some chipping from the drill's exit. The second hole turned out messy. No cracks but some larger than expected chips along the hole's fringes. I took my time, both holes started out drilling fine, and I used a special glass cutting liquid from HD to lubricate and cool the bits.

I guess the slightly wobby bits are the cause of this. I am unimpressed by the quality of these hole saws. An aquaintance who helped me construct my sump for this tank showed me his hole saws. The quality is significantly better (very noticable just by looks alone)-and I am sure the price tag is immense. Anybody who plans on a prolonged career of cutting holes in glass shold probably buy some quality bits.

The only reason I mention the bit issue is so that the any future user of these bits knows that there could be issues.

Now finally the advice I need part!! I am not confident that the bulkhead installation will be leak free. Especially, for the 0.75" hole. What are some measures to help augment the bulkheads gasket's job in order to provide a water tight seal? Please be very specific!!!

Thanks so much!!

G


I reden
 
From what I have read on other threads and this one as well I believe, use some silicone on the tank plus on the threads....no need to use teflon tape or plumber's putty, just the silicone. Don't over-tighten your bulkheads either, real easy to break the bulkhead and/or put too much pressure on the glass and crack it.
 
well I hope you pay for the second set of bits instead of getting "freebies" especialy since he was taking a loss in order to help you in a situation that wasn't in his control ( mail being slow or losing your part) I had to do the same thing.

The bits are cheap and they do work. 9 dollars with shipping included was a bargain compared to spending 60-90 dollars for a bit if your only going to use it for a couple of holes I think it is worth buying the from lau each time.. if you plan to do 6-10 tanks then go buy the better quality american made bits if you think they will last.

For most drilling their tank is a one time event and laus bits are pretty much disposable diamond bits.
 
I drilled test holes lastnight and have found the 60mm bit way to small for the bulkheads from savko.

I will need a 64 or 65 mm drill bit to clear the threads on the bulkhead that the nut screw onto.
I tried to wiggle the bit and ream it out and was successful to about 3mm but the hole is still to darn small.
*note I purchased the heavy duty bulkhead fittings*
 
I drilled test holes lastnight and have found the 60mm bit way to small for the bulkheads from savko.

I will need a 64 or 65 mm drill bit to clear the threads on the bulkhead that the nut screw onto.
I tried to wiggle the bit and ream it out and was successful to about 3mm but the hole is still to darn small.
*note I purchased the heavy duty bulkhead fittings*
 
donald altman

I used, and will continue to order from, plumbingsupply.com. They have a graph showing all dimensions of their schedule 80 bulkhead fittings. Based on the conversion of those measurements, I used bits from lau: 1 inch - 48mm, 1 1/2 inch - 70mm and 2 inch - 85mm. I would do the math before ordering bits. Its true that the hole will come out a little bigger than the bit size due to wobble, but if your drilling a larger tank the glass is thicker and the hole may not be perfectly square to the surface glass. Therefore, a little extra hole size will allow the bulkhead to fit properly.
 
well with the math 1.5 inch is exactly 63mm
But dtaranath on this page told me it would work with the 60 mm so that is what I ordered. However it is to small.. even after heavy reaming it just will not fit.. I could Dremel it but A dremel bit would be more then shipping a new lau bit to me from hongkong in the right size... lol

On my practice drills I used 1/4 glass and literaly drilled through it in about 2 minutes on the highest speed my hand drill could spin.. I didn't use lube just some tape the the hole came out perfectly..
reaming it out chipped it up sorta but did expand the hole a bit.
just not big enough.. I think the heavy duty fittings must be schedule 80 and not 40. savko susbstituted what I ordered for the more costly fitting since they were out of the cheaper one.
 
i'm sorry the schedule 80 didn't fit for you. I'm glad you tested it on a practice run first. I had no problems with any of my 6 holes, but I used the schedule 40 bulkheads. What you might want to do is call savko and ask them if you can send back the schedule 80 and have them send you a schedule 40 like you originally asked. Then you might not have to get any new bits at all.
 
yeah I will probably do that.. but 9 dollars for the new bit is still probably cheaper then shippnig a box of 2 bulkheads..
Yeah I didn't realize these were schedule 80 but they must be.

(I have no idea how you can get a package from hongkong shipped to a us adress for less then 5 dollars but im not complaining.)
 
I want to try the Sch 80 BHs next tank I make for myself. A lot of people on the RC Boards (and elsewhere on the www) seem to really like them more than the regular duty BHs. Only drawback is the larger size doesnt always fit in tight spaces like some overflow boxes etc. And yes as you (unfortunately) figured out they require larger holes in the tank to fit similar size plumbing.
 
The chart on plumbingsupply.com shows a 1 1/2 inch sch 80 bulkhead requires a 2 9/16 hole so 2.5625 x 25.4mm = 65.0875mm hole. Thats why I used a 70mm hole saw. If lau had one closer to 66mm, I would have used that.
 
Questions for u experts... did anyof you actually drill a 3 inch hole to accomodate a 2 inch bulk head. Im looking to purchase the 75mm diamond hole saw from lau i was just hoping someone who had already doen this could point me to the best place to buy the bulkhead.....


Im gonna use this to feed the water to my ocean motions four way in a closed loop
 
Questions for u experts... did anyof you actually drill a 3 inch hole to accomodate a 2 inch bulk head. Im looking to purchase the 75mm diamond hole saw from lau i was just hoping someone who had already doen this could point me to the best place to buy the bulkhead.....


Im gonna use this to feed the water to my ocean motions four way in a closed loop
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8650502#post8650502 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reefn00b
Questions for u experts... did anyof you actually drill a 3 inch hole to accomodate a 2 inch bulk head. Im looking to purchase the 75mm diamond hole saw from lau i was just hoping someone who had already doen this could point me to the best place to buy the bulkhead.....


Im gonna use this to feed the water to my ocean motions four way in a closed loop
Click to expand...


What kind of pump are you using? Does your pump have a 2" intake?

One of the things you could do is cut out holes for two 1.5" bulkheads. Have them connected with a 1.5-1.5-2.0 inch wye which you can send down to your pump. Having two intakes from the tank can help to reduce the amount of suction within the tank itself.
 
I have two 1.5" BHs the serve as the intake for my Dart CL pump. They both step up and combine at a 2" PVC T and head down to the Dart. The water then leaves the Dart and goes thru my OM 4 Way. It works really well.
You could try that.
 
I would like to thank "Just One More Tank" and every one else on this thread for their advice & experience. I have decided to start it up again ( This obsession with SW) after a long rest.
I have purchased a drill guide & some 45 & 40mm diamond hole saws from Lau, & will be burning the midnight oil in the garage & pondering what to do next to make it a better system this time.
Being retired I now have the time & patience to devote to a lifestyle of just enjoying my reef & shareing it with all. Once again thanks for the time you take to help others, & RC is without a doubt the Best!!

Steve926
 
reefnOOb - I drilled four bulkhead holes 3 3/16 inch for a 2 inch bulkhead. 3.1875 x 25.4mm = 80.96mm I bought 85mm hole saws from lau and they worked great. These are for two darts each feeding an om 4way on the 300 and one dart for an om 4way on the 130. This way there are two inch drains feeding a two inch input. I did not try to get all these on one hole saw due to the glass thichness.
 
So you think if I drill 2 holes to feed the water into the pump i would be better off? I guess that would minimize the suction in the tank so that there would be less of a chance of my fish getting sucked to the guard... speak of which what are you guys using as your strainers, does anyone have anything that doesnt stick out very far?
 
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