Botched glass drilling HELP!

Txdragonslayer · Feb 21, 2018

Hey everyone, I ordered some glass from glass cages and I drilled it for the new Shadow overflow, but had a bad blow out on one of the back sides of the holes.

When I put the gasket on, there was still a small gap, and that concerns me.

I am thinking of siliconing a small 3/8" piece over the hole to seal up the contours, do you think that would work??

Or am I over thinking this?

TheAquarian · Feb 21, 2018

The blowout is on the wet side of the bulkhead? Then you could silicone a drilled piece of glass over it but I would test it extensively before running it on the main tank. If it’s on the dry side I would just silicone the between the glass and the back of the bulkhead nut.

hijinks7 · Feb 21, 2018

So that's a rookie mistake.. I did it my first time drilling. What I ended up doing was taking some epoxy for glass I found at home depot in the glue section and filling in the low spots. It didn't look nice but when the black overflow box was attached and the back painted back you never saw it.

I when siliconed around it to be on the safe side. I never had a problem.

Txdragonslayer · Feb 21, 2018

hijinks7 said:
So that's a rookie mistake.. I did it my first time drilling. What I ended up doing was taking some epoxy for glass I found at home depot in the glue section and filling in the low spots. It didn't look nice but when the black overflow box was attached and the back painted back you never saw it.

I when siliconed around it to be on the safe side. I never had a problem.

Ok @hijinks7 it was a rookie mistake indeed, but was drilling 1/2" glass and felt it was taking to long and it caught me by surprise. I think I may try my idea of a small glass behind the blow out, since I trust silicone.

Txdragonslayer · Feb 21, 2018

TheAquarian said:
The blowout is on the wet side of the bulkhead? Then you could silicone a drilled piece of glass over it but I would test it extensively before running it on the main tank. If it’s on the dry side I would just silicone the between the glass and the back of the bulkhead nut.

Yea it's the dry side @TheAquarian I was thinking silicone could work too

ca1ore · Feb 22, 2018

Sorry, was that a tank you were drilling or just a piece of glass? If that's the outside of a tank and the external box will be attached you can just put silicone on the gasket to seal it. You'll have to let it cure for a while but should work fine.

Txdragonslayer · Feb 22, 2018

ca1ore said:
Sorry, was that a tank you were drilling or just a piece of glass? If that's the outside of a tank and the external box will be attached you can just put silicone on the gasket to seal it. You'll have to let it cure for a while but should work fine.

Thanks @ca1ore I don't feel so bad about it now. It was a sheet of glass i was drilling that I will be siliconing to other sheets to make my aquarium. [emoji12]

Radman73 · Feb 22, 2018

I did something similar but not quite as bad. I used a windshield repair kit to level out the glass and it's held fine. For 6 months anyway lol! In all seriousness, it was a pain to build a "dam" to hold the windshield stuff in place but once I did, it cured right up and you'd be hard pressed to tell that there was anything wrong. Made a nice flat seal for the gasket of the overflow.

TheAquarian · Feb 22, 2018

Look that’s what happens when we use rocks to drill holes

Glass is a PITA slow and steady with very little pressure and lots of water, let the drill bit do the work.

Txdragonslayer · Feb 28, 2018

TheAquarian said:
Look that’s what happens when we use rocks to drill holes
Glass is a PITA slow and steady with very little pressure and lots of water, let the drill bit do the work.

PITA for sure, but i dropped some spare glass off at the local glass shop to get cut to size so that i can hide it behind the overflow. I will keep you all posted.

Txdragonslayer · Mar 9, 2018

So I solved my botched drilling potential catastrophe. Thanks to all those who brainstormed with me. @TheAquarian, @Radman73, @calore @hijinks7.

What I did was just take the synergy overflow template to the glass shop, had then drill 2 holes and cut it to the same shape as the overflow, then I siliconed that piece on top of the botched hole side, and it came out great! A perfect seal and if you didn't know about it you can't even see it now.

Next step is to assemble the tank!!

TheAquarian · Mar 9, 2018

Nice fix, can’t wait to see it in action!

racin2438 · Mar 9, 2018

What's helped me out a lot on drilling is I put 2 layers of duct tape on the inside/bottom piece, help me not to push through..

Txdragonslayer · Mar 14, 2018

TheAquarian said:
Nice fix, can’t wait to see it in action!

Thanks

Txdragonslayer · Mar 14, 2018

racin2438 said:
What's helped me out a lot on drilling is I put 2 layers of duct tape on the inside/bottom piece, help me not to push through..

I had put masking tape, but the bit got caught at an angle, not necessarily blow out from pushing through

Txdragonslayer · Mar 14, 2018

Waiting on a couple more things, then I will start my r2r tank build, here is that back panel.

Fin · Mar 14, 2018

I use duct tape over the back of the hole, but also clamp a piece of wood on the back side. It helps reduce the possibility of an uneven breakthrough. Using a drill guide to keep the hole level all the way through helps also. I am fortunate to have a glass drill, but a drill guide will work also.

Txdragonslayer · Mar 25, 2018

Fin said:
I use duct tape over the back of the hole, but also clamp a piece of wood on the back side. It helps reduce the possibility of an uneven breakthrough. Using a drill guide to keep the hole level all the way through helps also. I am fortunate to have a glass drill, but a drill guide will work also.

I like that drill guide, very fancy