Drilling a glass tank

[nickxx4360]

I want to drilling holes in my 55 on the back side. if i want to drill a 1" hole, what size hole saw should i use??

[Chuck S]

If you are talking about the normal I inch bulkhead FT to FT you will need a 1 3/4 inch hole. Just be careful drilling glass as you can easily crack your tank if you do not know what your doing. You do know you will need to wet sand it right?

[nickxx4360]

I got some bushing @ home depot. They are 1" sch 40, threaded. I measured the od of the threads, and they were 1 and 1/4" ,that should be the size hole saw I get right. what bit should I use to wet sand the glass, my chuck is 3/8"

[Chuck S]

Ah okay so you did not get the normal bulkhead fittings used in the Aquatics industry. Go ahead the next size up to allow the hole through from your diameter. Also you will need a diamond head drill bit and make sure to wet sand to reduce friction. You do not want to crack that tank. Most LFS will drill tanks also.

[travid]

My belief is that if your glass is old it will be very brittle, even glaziers will balk at drilling this glass.
By old I mean 1 year or more.
If I were you I would look to a lfs or a glazier to drill for me, the price of the bit alone would be near the price of getting someone who has done heaps of them, to do it for you.

Cheers David

[colonel]

I drilled 4 holes just a few weeks ago for the first time
with a diamond tip hole saw I bought online...
I took the tanks out side, made a couple of holes in a piece
of wood , then clamped the wood to the tank .
Then I put a garden hose on the top of the tank where I was going to drill and that was that You can see 2 of the four holes on the basement sump pic. that I put in the equiptment photo section

[Chuck S]

Diamond tip hole saw good going. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif