Acrylic drilling

[Liam]

I am planning to drill the bulkheads in a 150 gallon acrylic,has anyone drilled an acrylic tank and if so what did you use for a hole cutter and where did you get them?
I have drilled 1/4" before using homedepot hole cutters but i don't Know that i would trust them for this kind of job,any info is appreciated,thanks,Liam.

 

[Yaktop]

http://www.shopsmartxpress.com/AmeriGls/MAIN.htm

 

[Liam]

thanks for the link yaktop,i don't see anything specific to acrylic.
Am i overlooking something?

 

[Piscevore]

Yeah, I've had that same thought. I think you probably don't want to use the glass hole saws, but you probably don't want to use a wood hole saw either. I bet there is a hole saw specifically for acrylic out there...Have you tried calling a local plastics shop??

 

[delta]

Forstner (spelling) bits are the way to go they slice the circle out not just the outter edge like a hole saw makes perfect hole every time.

they are a wood cutting bit so any woodworking supply should carry them they may even have them at lowes/HD

 

[NateHanson]

I agree with Greg. Forstner is the safest way to go. They cut very cleanly without grabbing at the end. You won't find forstner bits that large at HD though. You can either order them from grizzly.com or woodworkers supply (www.woodworker.com). Or you can probably get one locally at Woodcraft in Woburn (see online for other locations).

The only warning on these is that forstner bits can be tricky in a hand drill. Especially very large bits. They can grab and hurt your wrist (maybe even the acrylic) if they aren't held perfectly straight. Go slowly. Keep the bit and acrylic cool with water.

 

[PenMan]

Forstner bits drill a real smooth sided hole in wood. The need to be run real slow and should be used in a drill press. Check some of the threads on Reef Central about drilling plastic. If this is the way that is suggested and you have problem with the location of the hole, let me know. I have a Shopsmith machine that also acts as a horizontal boring machine ( side ways drill press).

 

[NateHanson]

Try to get a forstner bit with teeth on the sides. Sometimes smaller bits just have a sharp edge around the circumference of the bit, but they don't work nearly as well in wood, and I doubt they'll work at all well in acrylic. The one you want has a serrated edge around the entire bottom rim of the bit.

Nate

 

[JayG]

James from Envision Acrylics suggested using a good quality bi-metal hole saw so that is what I did and had no problems drilling through the 1/2" acrylic. I drilled two 1.5" and two 3/4" holes in my tank. I ordered my bits from McMaster-Carr.

 

[Liam]

Thanks for the info guys and thanks for the link Nate,i think i'll pick up some forstner bits and give them a test run in some scrap acrylic.

 

[MarkO]

Should I use these (Forstner) bits when drilling the acrylic for my calcium reactor?

 

[NateHanson]

You can either use Forstner bits of hole saws Mark. I used hole saws for drilling through acrylic tube for my skimmer, and it worked well. You should be able to get a better range of sizes in Forstner bits. With a hole saw I had to pick a close size, and then dremel it a bit to get it large enough for what I was doing.