Things I wish I knew before I started drilling a tank:
- Take it slow...really slow...measure again, and again, then one more time just to make sure.
- start by drawing your guide circle on the glass with a sharpie, then place a strip of packing tape over the circle, AND on the other side of the glass as well. This does 2 things. 1. the circle doesn't wash off during drilling 2. it keeps the edge of the hole nice and clean and doesn't let the drill bit push out of the glass early and create all those little annoying chips on the back side
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- put a towel inside the tank opposite where you're drilling. It catches all the water, glass dust, and the hole you just sawed out...makes clean up much easier.
- You're not really drilling, it's more like grinding a hole in the glass.
- roll plumber's into a "snake" then use it to create a "dam" around the guide circle...fill that reservoir with water to keep the bit cool and dust from flying everywhere.
- I tried the drill bit guide some of the sites advertise...I found them harder to use and couldn't gauge the pressure accurately.
- when doing it by hand, start at a slight angle till you get a groove established, then slowly work toward horizontal where it's cutting the entire radius of the hole.
- let the weight of the drill be the only downward pressure...it takes a while, but it will make a nice clean hole in the end.
So the story behind the lesson?
Ordered my tank, did all my research on how to drill it...and the first hole I did:
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Yup, so much for that tank. Deciding to make the most of it, I decided the drill guides weren't for me, I needed to learn to do it by hand where I could develop the "feel" for it...so I turned my cracked tank into swiss cheese...
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That helped a ton, but I was still annoyed with the little chips on the inside edge of every hole....no matter how light the pressure was. Then I learned the tape trick and the holes came out perfect.
Ordered another tank, and the next weekend I tried it again.
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Everything was a perfect "tight" fit...maybe too tight in one spot. Dang gum it... did it again...I had drilled too close to the top, and the pressure of test fitting my drain cracked the tank! Again! Since it was above the waterline, and I wasn't willing to lay out the cash for another one, I thought I'd just live with it. A couple of days later I got the idea of trying a windshield repair kit...worked like a charm. If I didn't point it, nobody could find it.
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