LF 4" diamond glass holesaw. Calgary
 

I am looking for a 4" diamond holesaw to make a hole in a sump part for a filter sock. anyone have one I can buy/borrow?

I see new ones for $50-$60 but I only forsee ever using it for 1 hole.
Other options could be use acrylic(but bonds poor to glass with silicone) or have a go with the waterjet table at work but it etches the glass and makes it real hard to clean algae off of it.

what are you using a 4" hole saw for?

Have you tried any local glass shops?
Without a tripod your going to have a really hard time trying to drill through. I just drilled one of my tanks with my dad and we used a toothless bit and silicone carbide with diamond dust in it. Might work out cheaper if u can just find a glass shop to do it for you.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...89972ac696.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f4d7fed547.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a8c8003319.jpg

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Glass is very easy to drill actually if you keep it cool, slight trickle of water. But yeah what aree you using a 4" hole for? That's a pretty large hole to drill.

He said for a 4" filter sock peice in his sump

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Cut my glass
 

The 4" hole is for a filter sock..... I don't feel there is an issue with it being difficult or not its just a matter of finding a holesaw.

clamping a piece of plywood with the same size hole as your a cutting to the glass as a jig is the easiest way not to skip off your mark and scratch up your glass. ive also seen the diamond jigsaw blades. maybe drill a bunch of holes and cut out whats left after.

I have called a few glass shops and they all have retarded answers and finally admit they don't even have that size and don't have anyone skilled enough to cut it with a scribe wheel. Glass experts my ass More like order and markup experts

Tried asking Concept if they'll do it?

yup they said the glass would have to be 1" thick and they don't have that size saw. Companies don't want to help you out and cut a hole for $20 they want to sell you a huge aquarium for $5000

Why not just go with acrylic?

You can get around the bonding problem by creating a ledge for the acrylic to sit on.

A few small pieces of glass siliconed in place around the space.

Then you can put the acrylic piece in and just use silicone to seal it in.

That's the way my sump was build and hasn't been an issue.

I could go acrylic but im kinda OCD with stuff and would like glass. Heck if i could afford i would build everything from stainless steel.

Well after calling around to some more glass shops I found one that will "try" to cut the hole @ 90$hr shop rate and if they break the piece I still pay the shop time and go home with broken glass. wow now that's customer service at its finest

Well who would have thought that an old dull starrett wood/metal holesaw and a handful of sand/water would grind through glass.... My $10 powerfist drill definitely paid for itself today. The hole is a bit oversized but I put a bead of silicone around the inside and the sock fits nice n tight.


Success has been achieved for $0

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Wow, my hat is off to you. Can you please explain how you did that?

Interestingly (to me anyhow, lol) is that I'm sort of in the same boat. I want to build a sump insert to hold a filter sock or two but the larger size. I've been stuck at the "do I go glass or do I go acrylic for this" decision point for a couple weeks. I'd prefer glass, just .. "because".

Just go slow and let the sand go under the drill bit as often as possible?

yes build a playdoh or plumbers putty dam around the hole to hold sand/water. you need a 1/4" glass bit to make a pilot but you can get a set of small sizes for a few bux on fleabay. I used a cheap 1/2" electric drill but I think a drill press would work best. you don't want much pressure just enough to feel the sand rolling between the saw and glass. drill 1/3 of the way through from one side then flip it over so you don't get breakout on the bottom side. I used pool filter sand mostly quarts but if you could get a fist full of sandblasting grit it would probably work better. took me over an hour to grind my way through but whateves its a hobby.

I think unless you already have an old holesaw/sand/drill. buying the $50 one on amazon would be the best bet as you can resell/rent it out after. The hole size you want is 3 7/8" anyway my 4" was a bit big.

You can also go to crystal glass and have there "experts" break your glass and send you home with a $90 bill. :puke:

congrats bro ive never seen that done before . too bad i saw this post so late i have full access to a glass shop i would have done it for 20 bucks . PM me if you need anything in the future