Drilling wally world 10G - Page 2 - Aquarium Advice

InfernoST · 06-26-2009, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HN1

One word of advice that I received from a guy in our club that drills a lot of tanks... usee two blocks of wood to "sandwich" the glass. Then drill through the wood first to avoid placing too much torque directly on the glass when the bit starts.

Wood | Glass | Wood

Very smart idea, this way the pressure of drilling process doesn't fracture the surrounding glass.

FishEggs · 07-01-2009, 12:22 AM

also the thinner glass of the ten gallon is actually harder to drill without cracking than thicker glass. so if you do break or crack the glass dont be too worried about drilling the big tank. i would use the cordless for the slower speed with more control.
i did drill a piece of tempered glass just to see what happens. as soon as the bit pierced through the back side the whole piece shattered into the tiny bits. it was fun

partypalooza5 · 07-01-2009, 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FishEggs

i did drill a piece of tempered glass just to see what happens. as soon as the bit pierced through the back side the whole piece shattered into the tiny bits. it was fun

HAHA sounds like a good use of time!

SparKy697 · 07-01-2009, 01:04 AM

Not sure about the logic behind removing the ground lead on the cord of a drill...

You may be hard pressed to find a 10g tank that has tempered glass on any side or even the bottom. I have two that I have drilled through the bottom.

Go slow. The wood method works well too. There is no such thing as too much water on the bit. I prefer drilling outside and using a garden hose to trickle a constant stream over building a dam out of putty and filling it with water. Either works though.

InfernoST · 07-01-2009, 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SparKy697

Not sure about the logic behind removing the ground lead on the cord of a drill...

You may be hard pressed to find a 10g tank that has tempered glass on any side or even the bottom. I have two that I have drilled through the bottom.

Go slow. The wood method works well too. There is no such thing as too much water on the bit. I prefer drilling outside and using a garden hose to trickle a constant stream over building a dam out of putty and filling it with water. Either works though.

If the ground is used on a corded drill the chassis of the drill now becomes a path for electrical current to flow. You've heard the phrase electricity and water don't mix, if you are holding any metal part of the drill and the water finds a ground source you will get zapped/electrocuted, so it's better to use a non grounded plug when using an electric drill with water, the cordless eliminates and possibility of getting electrocuted. I learned this the hard way when i was younger.

SparKy697 · 07-01-2009, 09:54 AM

Tempered bottom on a 10g? Guess I got lucky. I think the two I have are All Glass brand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by InfernoST

If the ground is used on a corded drill the chassis of the drill now becomes a path for electrical current to flow. You've heard the phrase electricity and water don't mix, if you are holding any metal part of the drill and the water finds a ground source you will get zapped/electrocuted, so it's better to use a non grounded plug when using an electric drill with water, the cordless eliminates and possibility of getting electrocuted. I learned this the hard way when i was younger.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but your thinking is a little flawed. If you have a drill with metal parts, they will be grounded by connection to that third wire in the power cord. If something in the motor should short and somehow apply the "hot lead" to the metal parts of the drill, the ground lead provides a path back to the electric panel. This completes a low resistance circuit and will trip the breaker. Without that low resistance path YOU could become the return path to the earth.

I would not suggest removing that reference to ground on your cord. If you are worried use a battery drill as stated. If a corded drill motor is what you have and you are worried about this, just plug it into a GFCI outlet. Any leakage current will be detected and the GFCI will trip.

partypalooza5 · 07-01-2009, 01:52 AM

The 10G I have now has a sticker saying tempered bottom. So I guess walmart tanks do have tempered bottoms. But thats no big deal because I need to drill through the side anyway.

Thanks to everyone for their advise with this.