epic drilling fail

[eagle9252]

Well tried to drill a 10 gallon tank this morning everything was going great until the side completely shattered who would have thought. it was really thin and I was :going to add a layer of glass anyway. yes I'll just add a complete side panel over the side
Lesson learned

 

[ichthyoid]

I use a Dremmel with diamond bit to drill 10 gal tanks (or anything else thin). Never broke one yet.

Use plumbers putty to make a ring around the hole, by rolling it out then making a loop. Fill the ring with water before drilling to cool the bit.

I also use a Sharpie to trace the hole outline. Follow the outline and you're good.

Good luck.

 

[mph84]

Was it tempered??

 

[grouper therapy]

when drilling thin glass always chuck the bit so that it will free spin/stall at the slightest resistance. I've drilled dozens with this method

 

[chris s]

grouper therapy;800909 wrote: when drilling thin glass always chuck the bit so that it will free spin/stall at the slightest resistance. I've drilled dozens with this method

+1

Drilling thin glass is almost an art. There is no room for error.

 

[eagle9252]

mph84;800908 wrote: Was it tempered??

we have a winner, never even dropped the drill as i was holding all the weight off of the glass.

was going to fix it with 1/8 lexan but think i'll get a piece of double strength glass. It will have some baffles in it which will add strength to the non-temp side. I will still double the glass where the hole will be for support. I have already pulled both rims off.

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[ichthyoid]

As cheap as 10 gal tanks are, and as low as the price is, I find it hard to believe that they would add the expense of tempered glass...why?

My $0.02

 

[ichthyoid]

Sure shattered like tempered.
(thx for the pic)

This just boggles my mind!
(added cost of tempered)

 

[eagle9252]

that's what i thought. but the wife picked it up a wally world so... it is what it is.

I would have thought the bottom only to be temp. not the sides.

probably about 4.00 to 6.00 worth of temp.

 

[kwill]

That sucks, at least it's only a 10 gal.

 

[eagle9252]

it was simple...
here goes...

<span style="font-size: 15px">well... guess it was tempered</span>

thats it.

i see thousands of lbs of double and triple strength and tempered every day. it still amazes me how a big piece of 72" x 84" DS glass can bend and does not break.

 

[grouper therapy]

That is first for me too don't understandnd why they would
!

 

[jef4y]

Insurance costs.

May even be a case that they couldn't get product insurance on ANYTHING if they didn't temper it all.

There's a reason we don't make candles at the store (despite the demand for it). You literally cannot find insurance for a small business if you make them.

 

[ichthyoid]

The lawyers and HR will be the doom of us all...

 

[mph84]

From my experience all cheap 10's are tempered. I used them w/ my 55 gal and it was actually hard to find one that wasn't tempered.

 

[ichthyoid]

I bought a bunch years ago (untempered).

Now I'm going to hang on to them.

 

[eagle9252]

After cleaning up the tank I decided that I really did not want to put fresh silicone over the skinned semi-cured silicone so I cleaned out all of the silicone on the inside of the tank. This means that the tank will be completely resealed. It just makes me feel better. also the stupid rim broke while i was removing it. :^(

I also drilled holes in the replacement DS glass and I’m adding a piece of TS glass to reinforce the hole. Then I will set the baffles. I really only needed 1 for the pump area but decide to do a bubble trap just because.

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[eagle9252]

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[grouper therapy]

ichthyoid;801001 wrote: I bought a bunch years ago (untempered).

Now I'm going to hang on to them.

Me too Bill I've never had one that was tempered.

 

[eagle9252]

Bad thing is i had one that's about 20 yrs old and the rim was coming loose. So i told the wife to pick me up one as i did not feel like fixing it...:doh: