Hey all. I have a 3x6x1 frag system that’s drilled for a closed loop. The walls are 1” with the floor being 1/2”. I was all set to get wet but it was bothering me that I didn’t polish the holes for the bulkheads. Can not polishing the acrylic lead to cracks down the line??? Anyone with multi year drilled (unpolished holes) acrylic tank please chime in. Thanks guys!
Quick question about polishing acrylic...
- Thread starter amnesiac
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Well, after several acrylic tanks, each with multiple bulkheads and none of them polished, the crack count is zero. So unless you drilled the holes with a chisel, I think you can feel safe about it.;Nailbiting;Playful
homer1475
Figuring out the hobby one coral at a time.
Drilled a friends acrylic sump about 3 years ago now. 2 1" bulkheads and a 2", no cracks, or crazing, and we just drilled them, sanded, added bulkheads.
Heat polishing can end up with issues requiring sheets to be annealed more than other problems. I'd avoid getting it hot, cut with coolant, and don't worry about it 
Yup yup, that's exactly how they were done. Used a fresh hole saw, jig and continuous water cooling from start to finish. The 1 inchers took longer than expected due to multiple battery swap outs. Learned my lesson, next time I'll go cordless on anything bigger than 1/2".Heat polishing can end up with issues requiring sheets to be annealed more than other problems. I'd avoid getting it hot, cut with coolant, and don't worry about it
How long were those cuts? Shouldn't take more than a few minutes with acrylic. Just remember to chip clear constantly with hole saws by peck drilling (cut, retract constantly while flushing the hole), especially with acrylic which will happily remelt all of the chips back into a spongy mass as it cuts meaning you have no teeth left to cut with.
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They were definitely longer than a few mins. I didn't know there was a term for it, but it sounds like I was "peck" drilling (drill a few seconds, let the water stream clear out the chips, drill a few seconds more, rinse repeat). The saw itself was brand new (bought specifically for the job). I dunno, maybe it's time for a new drill......
