Diamond coated glass bit needed

[Kylaohhh]

Ok guys! My husband has decided to drill and bulkhead our two saltwater tanks (say a little prayer!) and he has asked me to see if anyone here knows where to get the bit in the SA area. We talked to pretty much every aquarium shop in town I think but he wants to do it himself. :roll *sigh* So anyway if anyone knows where one can be purchased and could offer their advice on how to do it without cracking the glass it would be much appreciated.

[GaryP]

Aqautic Warehouse and Forever Pets are the only two shops I know of that drill tanks. The problem is that they are so expensive, its hard to justify buying a bit for a one time project. You'll end up paying about $20-25 per hole and I think a new bit is about $150. I don't know if there is a local supplier. Online might be a better bet.

Check with Pete (~pete~), he was looking into it a while back.

[GaryP]

Here you go:

http://www.diamond-drill-bit-and-tool.com/Diamond-Drill/Default.htm?Diamond-Drill-Bit.htm

[eric]

I've seen that site come up a bit as well as ebay. I just bought this one
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4362795416
Should receive it any day now.

Planning to drill a couple 10 gals for sumps. I've not drilled glass yet, but plan on practicing (at least once), either using some sort of water bath, or just have someone feed some water around while drilling.

I've decided against drilling my new hex, makes my wife a little more relieved and I don't have to break it down.

[dow]

What size bit do you need?

[Kylaohhh]

Ok he says he wants an inch and a half size bit. We have at least two to drill on our 55 g and then we are going to try to set up a fuge for a friend. Then he wants to pipe in our other 44 g into our fuge he's setting up. So it will become expensive to have the work done as we go along versus just buying the bit and doing it ourselves. Plus we want to upgrade to a larger tank eventually so there ya go...

[ratboy]

I would go with a bigger bit and bulkhead than that. An 1.5" hole will only allow < 1" hole after you put in the bulkhead. I would go for a 2" or larger hole to allow for a larger bulkheads and more flow esp if you want to upgrade your tank later. to drill the tank build a dam of putty around where you plan to drill the hole. Fill the hole with antifreeze. I'd recommend a drillpress and slowly start up/down motions on the glass. Dont go too fast and make sure you allow fluid to fill under the bit with each pass. Good luck!

[dow]

Well, the bit I have is a 2". I bought mine from a guy called oksupplies on ebay. Here's a link to him. His prices are very good, and service is prompt. The bit arrived as described, and worked very well.

http://stores.ebay.com/OKSupplies

BTW, holler if you need any help drilling that tank, once you find a bit.

[ratboy]

Also if you use the good ryan herco bulkheads they are a nonstandard size so verify your bulkheads will fit the holes you drill.

[alexwolf]

i have 15 ryan herco bullheads, if you need any they are $16 each.

[Tim Marvin]

$16 each, in that case I'll take 4 two inch ones....

[alexwolf]

tim, i didnt order the 2".....thread thread or soc thread?

[eric]

He's almost *making* money by drilling them himself :)

Mine's from the same guy as Dow's. I got the 1 1/2" because I'm using 3/4" bulkheads (I'm not running much water though) I drilled one hole with a hole saw in acrylic last night and the hole could be slightly smaller for the 3/4" bulkhead, but 1" would be too small. Coming around the long way to make a point, I am not sure even a 1" standard bulkhead will fit in a 1 1/2" hole.

[Kylaohhh]

Ok so what size it do we need for 1 1/2" inner dimension bulkheads? Or an approximation of that size.

[dow]

I saw a hole size chart at http://www.savko.com. At any rate, I'm using threaded PVC couplings instead of bulkheads on mine. That's the reason for the size hole I went with. I'm running 1-1/2" drains. Seems like a bulkhead that size was going to require a 2-5/8" hole.

[Kylaohhh]

Oh yeah and dow, we would love your expertise when we are ready to drill. I think it's hilarious that my hubby thought drilling holes in the tank would be "no big deal." I am sooo glad I found you guys when I did. Btw....how do we become official members? To whom do we pay our dues? I hear tell there are discounts to MAAST members at various places around town. That could sure come in handy.

[dow]

I'll be glad to help. PM me if you want to see what it looks like with the PVC couplings set up. If you go that route (about a dollar a bulkhead for the pvc) then a 2" bit will work. If you use standard bulkheads, then you'll need a 2-5/8" bit.

[Kylaohhh]

Another question...do pvc fittings work better than bulkheads as far as fitting properly?

[dow]

Good question. I read about using the pvc threaded collars on reefcentral.com, and I think that they'll work just fine. I'm waiting for my pump to get here next week to do a freshwater flow test, so at this point things are just waiting. The only thing that I was told to watch out for was to use the gray fittings (like they use for electrical work) because the threads are slightly different and will screw all the way together. Standard pvc threaded collars have pipe threads in them, and the more you screw them tohether, the tighter they get. It's possible, if you have thin glass, that you'll run out of tightening before you get the thing sealed. I hope that's clear. It's much easier to show than it is to describe.

[ratboy]

Ive only seen pvc fittings used on large 1.5" and larger acrylic tanks where the tank is tapped and died to thread the tank material itself. For glass I would use a quality bulkhead - ie ryan herco. Different brand and style bulkheads often require different hole sizes. The holes on my oceanic are pretty loose around the bulkhead but as long as they are centered they do not leak. I had to use the cheaper bulkheads on my tank sice the holes were already drilled and I didnt want to mess with redrilling 4 holes through 2" of glass in the bottom of my tank.
-Erik