dose anybody know how to drill holes in fibreglass?

[SLACkra]

hey guys, a friend and i are making a sortof aquaculture thing in the cellar of my house. anyways we tried having tubs connected via pvc and it didn't work to well :roll: . i found a place selling 40gallon (approx) fibre glass tubs for $15 each so i picked up two. anyways i am looking into ways to have one overflow into the other. 1 is elevated by using 4 bricks and is 6" taller than the lower one.

i think drilling a hole into it and installing a bulkhead would be the best but i am unsure of how to drill holes into fibre glass or if theres anything to watch out for when drilling holes into fibre glass.

anybody got any advice?

andrew

 

[westhamsc]

andrew use a hole saw in the size you want but you must cover up well hands arms legs face and all make sure you also where protective glasses as it is not nice stuff to get in your eye's trust me

 

[SLACkra]

hole saw? would it be possible to use one of em drill bits with the addit circle saw like thing?

i will try to find the camera and take some pics of it so you get what i am trying to do,

andrew

 

[westhamsc]

that is a hole saw mate :lol:

 

[SLACkra]

just cause i don't know the names of all the tool dosen't mean squat. so just wear a mask glasses etc and alls good? will it be a perfect circle or will it chip a bit off here and there?

andrew

 

[westhamsc]

put your drill on the highst speed it has and you'll be fine all so long sleaved top and a tight fitting pair of gloves whould be ideal and your set mate

 

[Wrasse]

Drilling fibreglass is pretty easy, no tricks to it. If you can do it outside and trickle water to the surface (while drilling with a battery drill, not mains) you will save a lot of glass dust.

 

[inthegrass]

if you can get somebody to hold a vacuum cleaner close to the hole you are drilling along with hole saw with drill set on high speed as stated, this works well.
good luck.

 

[SLACkra]

ok cool, i will just have to find a suitable bulk head before i go cutting. i am sure i can get my friend to hold the vacume. 80gallon approx reservior. should be fun

 

[The Rock]

as wrasse says, water is good to use when drilling glass or fiber-glass. What ever you do avoid breathing in any dust, very very bad.

 

[moosenoose]

You might also try initially try drilling it with the drill switched in reverse (jokes aside), as it'll prevent the drill from grabbing the fibreglass and tearing at it. Works for hardened plastics and similar stuff like that ?? I'm not sure about fibreglass - it's just a thought.

 

[geckodan]

Drill part way through from one side and then change sides and using the pilot hole drill from the other side. That way there is no "break through" splinters to worry about. A little vaseline or mineral oil will reduce the dust dramatically.

 

[SLACkra]

its not that thick. probably only 3mm thick maybe 5mm.

i think i will drill a hole with a normal drill bit first then use the circle saw drill bit. i might use vaseline to reduce the amount of dust.

What ever you do avoid breathing in any dust, very very bad.

how so?

andrew

 

[deathinfire]

breathing in fibre glass dust actually isnt that harmful (thou it should be avoided of course ), I gave myself a scare a few weeks back when i was fixing my motorbike fairings (sanding and drilling) which were fibre glass, anyways i got a really bad cold and had troubles breathing, i assumed it was from the FG dust, so i went to see a doctor, the doctor said that FG actually doesnt cause any allergic reactions to the surface of the lungs and that my breathing was just a part of the cold.....So you cant seriously harm yourself if you inhale a small amount of FG.

Sorry for the long story

 

[SLACkra]

just a lil update. i drilled the fibre glass and had to modify it a bit so the bulkhead would scew in nicely. used outdoor strength sikaflex to seal the bulkhead and alls good and not leaking.

then using a couple bricks i have it slightly above the other one where the water simple over flows through the bulkhead and into the other tub.

with the help of a old powerhead/mechanical filter phil kindly gave me several months ago and some old irrigation tubing i got it so the water circulates nicely!

so it works! will probably post some pics this weekend,

cheers and thanks for the advice,

andrew