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Drilling Acrylic





I'v just purchased a wet/dry filter for my new plant tank.  The sump is made
of acrylic and I need to drill a hole in the side for a bulk head fitting.
 As this is an expensive piece of plastic and I don't want to screw it up,
I'm looking for recommendations on how to drill the hole.  The filter is an
Amiracle 150.

Ross, the best way to drill into acrylic is to mask the area to be drilled with
masking tape and then use a very slow drill with a panel drill type cutting edge.
ie the flat type as opposed to a standard cone shaped dill tip. 

Drill a small pilot hole first and then switch to the larger panel drill, using oil 
as a coolant, this served a dual purpose, cooling:it stops the plastic melting 
and resolidifying binding up the swarf, and second lubricate: the swarf then 
does not catch so easily on the drill and makes its way out of the hole 
in a more even way.

The masking tape helps to stop the back surface cracking out as the drill
gets to the end of the cut.

If you do happen to crack it, the orange Plastruct glue is the best stuff to use
and welds the acrylic so well that in many cases, you cannot see where the 
crack was.

Regards

Marque - APD - ANGFA(NSW) :-)