my first attempt at drilling and cutting glass

failure.......

in the process of building a sump/fuge using 2 tanks for my 55 gallon. cut some of the baffles today, didn't go to bad although its hard to be precise with the scoring wheel i got. i am pretty sure a little extra silicone will compensate.

i was very excited after drilling the 2 holes with the glass hole saw successfully (so i thought). After i removed the template i found that i cracked the tank drilling the first hole . i think i had the clutch on my drill set to high although it was set for less then 1/4 of full power (14V drill). It got caught up a little bit at the very end of the hole. lucky the tank was just 15$, and i decided to drill before gluing the baffles in case this happened.

any advice on drilling would be cool,

oh yeah not a complete failure i only have one finger taped up

 

just take it slow and make sure you have a constant pool of water or flow of wtaer on the bit to keep it cool.

 

yeah i definitly plan on slowing it down a little next time. i did have a pool of water keeping it cool.

any idea on how many holes this bit can dill??? its from glass-holes.com
i have to drill 4 more holes, assuming i dont mess up anymore

 

i've drilled 6 holes with an ebay bit and i'd use it again if i needed it.

 

I got my bits from glass-holes as well and have drilled 10 holes so far with out any issues, they still look and feel new. I use a thin ring of PVC pipe with some acrylic caulk (it cleans up easily) as a damm to hold a bit of cooking corn oil as a lubricant and run duct tape across the other side so when the glass begins to cut through the oil does not run away...

 

good idea, i'll probably try that later this week, the water was running out the backside as i drilled pretty quick. was the oil hard to rinse off completely???

 

I have cut a few holes, here are some tips.
1) Use running water, I had a squirt bottle and with one hand sprayed the bit. Use Duct Tape to make a temp funnel/drain to a bucket.
2) Speed on the drill should be on high however do not apply any presser to the drill - DO NOT APPLY ANY PRESSER TO THE DRILL. Let the drill do all the work. Take breaks if you need it there is no hurry here I hole took me around 15 minutes.
3) Apply something (wood and clamp) to the back of the hole so you dont push it through at the end and chip the glass.

 

As for cleaning up, a bit of Dawn dish soap has left the tank squeeky clean...rinse well!

 

Going slow is definitely key with drilling glass. Sorry about your crack!

http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-aquarium-articles-how-tos/drilling-glass-aquarium-54340.html

 

second attempt SUCCESS,

drilled a couple holes tonight went great, very easy. put some tape back behind the holes i was drilling to hold cooling water in, and to ease the chuck of glass out.

set the drill on the lowest clutch setting,

used high speed to start the hole, and slow speed to cut through

did not apply any pressure to the drill

took my time

thanks for all your suggestions, i have to start a thread with some pics once i get the sump/fuge finished