Drilling glass

[daninthesand]

I built this jig today for drilling glass. Using a hand drill for drilling is always cumbersome because the bit tends to skate across the glass before it gets a chance to start cutting.

The jig holds the bit in place so you can get the hole started easier.

The jig is made in about 2 minutes using scrap wood: a 4 x 4 inch piece of 1/4 inch plywood, and two pieces of 3/4 inch board, about 4 inches long and 1 inch wide. The two 3/4 inch boards are fastend to the plywood as shown. Then a hole is drilled the same size as the bit you are using. I made this jig for a 1-1/8" glass drill, so i used the same size hole saw to cut the hole through the plywood. ( the glass drill is not meant for cutting wood!)The jig is clamped to the glass (not too tight! just snug) bridging the area to be drilled.

Not shown in the picture is the little putty dam I build on the glass around the drilling area to hold a shallow amount of drilling coolant to keep the bit cool.

Once the jig is built it is a simple matter of setting up the jig wherever you need to drill. You could drill dozens of holes in a matter of an hour this way. It worked great for me and I thought I'd share.

[daninthesand]

;D

[daninthesand]

;D

[mahojazz]

wow, so far have u made any unsuccessful holes with this jig?? just curious. i dun even dare to cut the glass, not toking abt drilling it. ;)

[Jason]

looks good Dan, I use a simmilar set-up but I used plexi for the jig instead of wood.

[daninthesand]

Yes it works great. Several holes so far with no problems. I use proper cutting lubricant and highly recommend it.

Jason, I was going to use plexi, but i had no glue for it. the wood seems to work...

Daniel

[McGilly]

8)

[Jason]

Jeff where did you get the diamond paste from?

I drilled the bottom of a tank that had 1" thick glass a few months ago, I did'nt use a drill guide or press, it took about 40 minutes- I thought my arm was gonna fall off.

[roger]

Wish I would have though about making a jig when I drilled my tanks the other day. That would have made for nicer work but what I got will just have to do.

What I found that works is holding the drill at an angle to the glass to start your drilling and let it get started. Once you have a small crescent going you can bring the drill back to the upright position (and stow the tray tables :) ) without skipping around on the glass. Not perfect but it worked.

I had 24 holes to drill so I opted for the 70$ drill bit since I didnt have the time to spend. jehmco.com or aquatic-eco.com both carry the drill bits. I was outside so I just ran a hose over to the tanks and let the water run over the edges for cooling.

Roger

[McGilly]

8)

[OEG]

Hi fellas I thank you all for the advice im drilling my 29 gals. now and doing the jig thing and alls going welll. thanks for the info.
Oscar

[daninthesand]

Diamond paste... hmmmm interesting. I've seen copper "tube bits" where you use a carbide drilling powder (grit), that ends up being cheaper than the diamond drill bit I used. But I found a good (cheaper) source for these bits at CR Lawrence

You have to register to optain prices, but it is worth the trouble to save a few bucks on a million glass working items, including glass drills of any size. 1 1/8 inch diamond drill bit like the one I pictured above only cost me about 54 bucks (US$35 a tad cheaper than the US$54 jehmco price ;))
Check out the website.

www.crlawrence.com