True or False: You can drill tempered glass.

[SeymourDuncan]

Hey everybody! I get asked this a lot so I thought I would pull a myth busters and prove once and for all what will happen when you drill into a tempered panel of glass.

I have never broke a pane once when drilling because I follow all the precautions and take my time. Here are just a few of my recent medallions:

And here are my tools.

I use a diamond bit hole saw, a craftsman drill, a c-clamp to hold the hose, and a drill guide. I should also use safety glasses...and so should you but I am not your father.
This is what a tank that is ready to drill should look like

You should rest your drill vertically with no wait on it whatsoever.

Time to drill! Let's see what happens when you attempt to drill a hole into tempered glass. Vrooom vrooom!!!



"Live like tomorrow already happened. Yesterday is only 3 days ahead. Today will be here soon."

 

[SeymourDuncan]

Ok so here is the hole so far! Its about 1mm deep so far!!!

Place your bets!

Does it shatter or do I successfully penetrate the tempered aquarium?
Stay tuned.


"Live like tomorrow already happened. Yesterday is only 3 days ahead. Today will be here soon."

 

[cdness]

I want a video!

It will explode if it is truly tempered. If you still have some of the glass intact it can still hold itself together. But if it is tempered and as soon as you get through the glass it will shatter into tiny little pieces. It's fun when on video

 

[ritter6788]

It's fun when on video

Lol!

 

[SeymourDuncan]

Drilling drilling drilling and....

The noise was a mixture of a glass shattering and a hammer striking a nail.
Now with a little duct tape this should do great as a display tank for someone's mom.

Just kidding. The duct tape is actually a great way to remove the shattered panel to replace it with something a bit more drillable. Luckily it only shattered on the one side because the silicone acts as a shock absorber. Its much easier to remove before you shatter it. Use a razor blade to cut the seal down as far as possible and then take a thin guitar string and run it down the seam to split the glass apart. In my case I am going to have more difficulty due to the glass shards I have created.



"Live like tomorrow already happened. Yesterday is only 3 days ahead. Today will be here soon."

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[SeymourDuncan]

May look small, but boy does it sting in saltwater! Got this bad boy being a show off. 2 lessons in one pic!

Now I just have to scrape off the edges and get a new pain, buying a pane. Our glass shop is pretty inaccurate.

"Live like tomorrow already happened. Yesterday is only 3 days ahead. Today will be here soon."

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Oh my gosh man! LOL!

 

[Reefing Madness]

Holy Crap!!

 

[ohio reefer]

Cut my hand badly the other day on my fluval. Tried taking the top off, worked but got cut b


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[Mike J.]

I needed a good laugh!

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

That was awesome. :rofl:

 

[SeymourDuncan]

I guess you could say I have a lot of tanks on my hands! Its my pleasure to show rather than just tell. This is a hobby first, science second (to most). I like to combine them and it usually turns out to be a lot of fun no matter the wounds. Even my woman had a blast knocking out the shattered pieces! I had to make her slow down!


"Live like tomorrow already happened. Yesterday is only 3 days ahead. Today will be here soon."

 

[Zoanut]

I could have saved you the trouble

Ive drilled a few tempered bottoms (of course not knowing). However, i only got a fraction of the way into it before it blew up. You got pretty far! Its also been my experience that tempered glass is MUCH harder than regular glass (duh) and it seems to dull the bit very quickly before the glass blows.

 

[cdness]

I watched a guy who worked at a shop destroy a 8 foot long by 8 foot tall piece of tempered glass from a commercial window removal I believe. It is unusable for anything other than the original intent as it cannot be easily cut to fit other applications. When broken it takes up less room in the trash. He took a regular hammer and hit the corner dead on. The whole pane of glass shattered into millions of little pieces. It was awesome! Then I realized the reason I was there was to help clean it all up All in good fun though right!

Remember if you are going to re-seal that tank to get every last trace of silicone off the left over panes or it will not seal right.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

I was 100% aware it would break. It was a demo-demo! Haha.
Thanks for the heads up on the seal btw. I use razor blades and rubbing alcohol, that should be plenty right?


"Live like tomorrow already happened. Yesterday is only 3 days ahead. Today will be here soon."

 

[Jawbone flats]

there is always some silicone residue that seems to not come off even with alchohol and fresh razors... almost like a light fog where the silicone was. I have tried alchohol and acetone and truly have found the best way is just using fresh razor blades and change them often.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

On awesome! We have a tornado warning so I may be delaying that. Hopefully the 4 intact panels survive it

Experiment #2

Tempered glass and how it handles sever weather!


Pray for us in the Midwest. Indiana is getting smashed!!!


"Live like tomorrow already happened. Yesterday is only 3 days ahead. Today will be here soon."

 

[ohio reefer]

On awesome! We have a tornado warning so I may be delaying that. Hopefully the 4 intact panels survive it

Experiment #2

Tempered glass and how it handles sever weather!


Pray for us in the Midwest. Indiana is getting smashed!!!


"Live like tomorrow already happened. Yesterday is only 3 days ahead. Today will be here soon."

Ohio got the same storm! Brought out all the battery pumps and everything!


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[SeymourDuncan]

We had a tornado a couple miles north and south of us! Luckily we live in a valley so its rare for them to touch down in town.

I figured I would toss my cats in the tanks to stir the water for me if the power went out but it didn't


"Live like tomorrow already happened. Yesterday is only 3 days ahead. Today will be here soon."