Fri, 03/10/2006 - 00:12

Here are the pictures from the drilling project. I have to tell you, it was much easier that I expected, but then again I wasn't aiming for perfection nor was I scared what might happen. I already had the tank and was ready to give it a shot.

I used a DeWalt cordless drill, and expected the battery would never keep up. I had a back up battery ready. Surprisingly, one battery drilled both holes, and it wasn't even freshly charged.

Using what was handy, I created a dam with carpenters putty. This stuff is great for filling holes in woodwork before painting, and worked just fine for this application. The duct tape was used to tape the garden hose in place, to keep a steady trickle flowing through the dam, which was left open at the other end intentionally. Otherwise you have to drill through a soup, making it hard to see. The bit wandered around at first, but Evan helped steady the drill. I'm sure a wooden template would have done the job as well, if you are wanting precision.

The hole was drilled out in about 60 seconds.

It was a little rough, as I pressed down a little to hard. The inner lip of the hole is somewhat jagged, but will be filled with some silicone when the bulkhead is inserted.

For the second hole, I tried to not press down, so it took about 3 to 5 minutes to drill through. It was a noisy project, but my neighbors are used to my projects by now.

Done. Each hole is 1 3/4", ready for the bulkheads.

The bit was from a club member, who bought it and waited for it to ship from China. It took about 3 weeks to arrive, but he first found them on Ebay I think.