Want to borrow glass hole saw

[braddo]

I'd like to drill my tank and being that I am impatient and cheap I thought I would ask here if any one would be willing to loan\rent me their diamond hole saws before I order online. I am looking to drill holes for 3/4" and 1" bulkheads.

-Brad

 

[Chichas01]

If you want it done 'now', take it over to Perkins Glass on Broadway in Seattle (1420 Broadway near Pike).
The old guy there will drill it out for you on Saturday as that is the only day he prefers to do that kind of work. He only charges around $10-$12 per hole I think.

 

[braddo]

Perfect, I will give him a call. Thanks Chichas.

 

[braddo]

Looks like I will have to give Aqueon a call on Monday. I took my tank to Perkins Glass today and the old guy did a scratch test on my tank. He swears the back glass is tempered, he says it has a much harder surface than standard glass. There are no tempered stickers anywhere on the tank and Aqueon's website claims only the bottom on the 50 is tempered.

 

[Chichas01]

Should only be the bottom that is tempered if it's over 45. I think he was worried about my 20B and told me the same thing as well and I had to assure him it was not tempered.

 

[fishoutofwater]

i have drilled a couple fo 50's and they do have tempered glass on the back. was told it wasnt and it was. uh. both i tried to drill broke and shattered in a million pieces. was def tempered.

 

[braddo]

i have drilled a couple fo 50's and they do have tempered glass on the back.

Do you happen to know what brand tank they were? Everything I can find on the internet says only the bottoms are ever tempered on the Aqueon\AGA tanks.

 

[fishoutofwater]

they were both aga. the only tag was for bottom that said tempered. but when the back broke i was pissed. so i drilled the bottom to prove a point and it shattered just like the back. so it was tempered.

 

[artguy1]

Get the drill bit HERE for a good price

Go to Seattle Stained Glass on 45th, across the street from Dick's Hamburger place...talk to POE...

I bought a 1.75" glass hole bit from him last week and he has many other drill bits at reasonable prices,,,,plus he's a good guy and has a 55 gallon freshwater...he wasn't sure why someone would drill a hole in an aquarium...so I enlighten him as to what happens the Marine Side of life...

Good luck, watch out for tempered glass however.

You might do some reading online. I read somewhere that when one wears POLARIZED sun glasses that you will see the pattern in tempered glass and not regular glass...just like auto hatchback windows, side windows, etc...

I did this on my bowfront and you can see the texture on the front glass for sure.

I don't say this is a 100% guaranteed way to see if glass is tempered, but it worked for me...do your own research and take your chances. Just trying to help a fellow salty out.

 

[braddo]

I just got off the phone with Aqueon, they say the bottom will always be tempered if their spec sheet says it should be but they will also sometimes use tempered glass on the sides if they run out of standard glass.

Time for me to find a polarized lense or sunglasses to check all the sides of my tank I guess.

 

[braddo]

Well I picked up a cheap pair of polarized sunglasses at Target today. Just using polarized sunglasses it was hard to see the marks in tempered glass unless the lighting and the angle was just right.

I did more searching online for a better technique and found this. http://www.salt-city.org/showthread.php?t=9542

Using my laptop and the polarized sunglasses I was easily able to see the tell tale signs of tempering in every car and house window I tested. However using this method none of the panes of glass in the tank appear to be tempered.

So Aqueon says the bottom is tempered, the dude at the glass shop thinks it's all tempered and as far as I can tell nothing is tempered. I'm tempted to take the gamble and drill the bottom of the tank. $150 is an expensive bet for me, I like to stick to the $5 tables in the casino.

 

[mercedes]

Well I picked up a cheap pair of polarized sunglasses at Target today. Just using polarized sunglasses it was hard to see the marks in tempered glass unless the lighting and the angle was just right.

I did more searching online for a better technique and found this. http://www.salt-city.org/showthread.php?t=9542

Using my laptop and the polarized sunglasses I was easily able to see the tell tale signs of tempering in every car and house window I tested. However using this method none of the panes of glass in the tank appear to be tempered.

So Aqueon says the bottom is tempered, the dude at the glass shop thinks it's all tempered and as far as I can tell nothing is tempered. I'm tempted to take the gamble and drill the bottom of the tank. $150 is an expensive bet for me, I like to stick to the $5 tables in the casino.

oh hell! let's drill it already! i can't wait to get the tank setup any longer. heh!

 

[braddo]

Well, the tank has two new holes in the back of it. I took the tank back to Perkins glass and told the guy to go for it, if it breaks it breaks.

I decided not to push my luck to drilled the back even though I'm confident the bottom was not tempered even thought the support person at Aqueon guaranteed me it was.

Anyway on to the next step. Thanks again for the tip on Perkins glass Chichas, it was the cheapest place I found to drill the glass. For anyone else out there wondering if their tank is tempered I recommend the polarized lense and LCD method.

 

[Chichas01]

Very cool trick for figuring out if the glass is tempered or not. Glad it worked out for you.

 

[veralteaquatics]

ARSA drills tanks as well..FYI