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Enlarging Existing holes in Acrylic


wanareef

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When building this new tank with external overflow, I wanted to use this the Hofer Gurgle Buster, to keep the tank quiet. So while I was assembling the overflow box, I routed out the three holes for the 1" PVC pipe. Snug fit, you really have to push and turn the pipe in the hole.

 

On RC I have seen this as many others have Bean Animal's Silent & Failsafe Overflow and decided to incorporate that on to this tank.

 

Problem is there is a 1 1/8" hole and a hole saw would just skate all over the place leaving marks in the acrylic. So I came up with a simple idea, make a "guide" for the mandrel of the hole saw to slide in. This will keep the saw mandrel or pilot drill steady.

 

I positioned the guide hole (scrap plastic with hole drilled in the middle) where I wanted the center of the hole to be in relationship to the existing hole (did I say that right?) and used WO #4 to hold it in place. I did this for all three holes.

 

Picked out the correct hole size for the 1 1/2" BH's and proceeded. It took longer to get the plug out than it was to drill the three holes.

 

Just an idea for your next build...or fix

 

 

First pix if of the guide hole

Second blurry pix is the guide hole "glued" in the existing hole

Third pix the hole saw/drill

Fourth pix you can see the hole guide and the plug from the new hole.

Fifth pix the high $$ tools from Harbor Freight

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