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

[Budde]

How do I find out if all of the walls are Tempered?

 

[jmart55]

Contacting the manufacturer is the safe bet. I once took a piece of glass top to a glass company, the owner had a pen sized tool that he scratched on the piece to determine if it was tempered. I have no idea what that tool was.
I'm on RC occasionally but did not find this thread till tonight. Within the last 3 weeks I have:
Ordered a stainless bit with carbide compound only to find it didn't give me the cutting confidence I desired.
Waited for my $80 USA made bit to arrive.
Cut four holes, with the last one being near perfect.
Upon removing the plywood jig I used managed to drop a C clamp and break my tank.
My stupidity knows no bounds.
Great thread guys!

 

[socalchris]

I just drilled my tank and got some small chippage/flake on the inside of the tank....the holes themselves though are pretty perfect looking...just the inside rim area...can anyone look at these pics and let me know what they think? I'd really appreciate it.

 

[bleedingthought]

Just go slower next time. On those, put silicone on the bulkhead (slip gasket all the way to the top first than put a 1/4" bead of silicone after the gasket all the way around the flange) and after tightening the bulkhead, let the silicone dry for 24 hours. Shouldn't leak.

 

[socalchris]

Okay, just so I'm clear, I'll use the pic below...same bulkheads I got from savko:

the gasket (obviously the black ring towards the bottom) gets the silicone on the flat side? and the flat side goes against the inside of the tank right? what exactly is the flange on a bulkhead? is it the top piece in the pic? the one that screws onto the back of the bulkhead outside of the tank?

 

[bleedingthought]

I put silicone between the gasket and the glass. The frange is the "male" piece of the bulkhead and the nut is the "female." You can put silicone between the the flange and the gasket too, though. It won't hurt.

 

[socalchris]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12085971#post12085971 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bleedingthought
I put silicone between the gasket and the glass. The frange is the "male" piece of the bulkhead and the nut is the "female." You can put silicone between the the flange and the gasket too, though. It won't hurt.

sweet, thanks for the help

 

[hllywd]

If the outside isn't chipped and it makes you feel better insert the bulkhead so the gasket is against the better surface, inside or outside orientation doesn't normally matter as long as the flange and gasket are on the same side. If the gasket covers the chips it shouldn't be a problem either.
Bulkheads should seal fine without silicone which can cause problems (leaks) down the road if not immediately. I personally wouldn't use silicone on a bulkhead nor have I ever had one leak.

Tim

 

[poltergeist]

I also highly recommend duct-taping the back side of the glass before you drill, this gives a little extra resistance so the backside chipping will be minimal. (just where the hole will come through)

This is standard practice in the glass industry.

 

[newb]

justonemoretank thank you for starting this thread and sharing your experience. hllywd the sunglasses and car door example made it very easy for me to figure out if it was safe for me to drill. lau was an excelent seller 38 45 &60mm with ship was $26.00. ordered on tuesday bits arrived on the next thursday friday night i had two new holes in a perfectly good fishtank. i used the duct tape on the back and ran a hose over the top. slow speed cordless and everything went fine. one tank down one to go

 

[OceanSpray]

The ingenuity of the people posting in these threads is amazing. Lots of great info here. Great job!

 

[stankyk]

bulkhead ? schedule 80 looks better but the required hole size is 1 and 7/8 as opposed to the 1 and 3/4 its just an 1/8 of an inch difference will it work. great thread by the way!!!

 

[JustOneMoreTank]

Sch 80 Bulkheads work great. You just have to make sure that you get the correct size hole (larger than "standard" bulkheads) drilled in the tank.
I see everyone is still having fun with the thread!

 

[gsxunv04]

do you use a slow drill speed?

 

[FrozenSurfer]

I just put 2 one inch holes in a Oceanic 37 and a few more in a couple of smaller tanks... and then a few more in some frag tanks that I'm setting up.

I suggest a practice tank if you are nervous. Buy a 10 gal from petco, they're like $11 or so. If you can drill that, you can pretty much drill anything as the glass is way thin.

I always use a higher speed with the drill, it keeps it from binding up on the glass and cracking it. I start the bit off on about a 40-45 degree angle and keep it there for about halfway through the drilling.

So far I've put a few hundred holes in tanks, no problems thus far.

 

[gsxunv04]

ok so use a high drill speed, thanks

 

[YeahitsK]

I had a problem when I was drilling my tank. The bit jumped on me as I was flattening out the angle and I put a pretty good scratch on it:

How big of a problem is this? I was planning to cut another pane of glass to cover this area and silicone it in place, then install the bulkhead over this. I'm curious to hear opinions if this is a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[FrozenSurfer]

What size tank are we talking about? That looks like some decently thick glass.... How deep are the scratches?

 

[VSpeck]

just a question i dont know if its mentioned in this thread or not but when i drill my tanks i take a piece of half inch plywood and drill a hole the same size as the diamond bit and hold the bit in place with the plywood so it cant jump around on me.

dont know if that makes sense to anyone but me but picture a hole say stencil

 

[FrozenSurfer]

It makes sense. Just make sure you don't use the same diamond bit to drill the wood. I tired that one time.. the bit was way dull due to the wood gumming it up. I just start the drill off on an angle, get it going then slowly straighten out the bit.