Drilling Acrylic Tank

[REEFAHOLIC]

Anybody know where I can get an acrylic tank drilled.

Thanks
Tina

[georgeortiz]

Hi,
I got my tank drilled here:
Aqua Trend Designs Inc
1030 Basse Rd
San Antonio, TX 78212
(210) 733-0462
They charge 20 bucks per hole. I don't know if they have changed thier price but, I had it done a few months ago.

[witecap4u]

Tina, you should be able to do it your self if you are careful....cs

[REEFAHOLIC]

Thanks for the info

[Henry]

you can do it. Acrylic is alot easier to work than glass.

[Tim Marvin]

Use a wood cutting hole saw and go slow. Acrylic is simple to drill. If it is thin be very careful not to push on the holesaw, just let it do the work.

[dan]

if you want i can drill it for you. what size?

[matt]

Get Dan to do it. He has the experience to do it well. While acrylic won't crack easily, it can melt quite easily when cut with a hole saw on a hand drill. This stresses the acrylic exactly where you need it to be strong. You have to do it without allowing enough heat build up to melt the plastic. The way I put large holes in acrylic is to drill a pilot hole, then flush trim around the interior of a "template" with the router. Usually the template is just a scrap of acrylic that I've used the hole saw on. Or it can be the inside of a PVC female fitting if it's the correct size. Either way, the routed holes are perfect and there's no chance of damaging the acrylic, unless of course the template falls off.

[PeeJ]

what else does aquatrend do? do they sell stuff?

[Tim Marvin]

I didn't know that Matt. I run the hose on the acrylic as I cut, maybe that keeps it cool enough?

[PeeJ]

If you can smell it, you've probably gone to fast.

[dan]

slow is the trick and a good drill.