So Im trying to drill a 1.5 inch hole into a 10 gallon glass tank to add to my system...

Im using a hole saw made to drill into glass and a hand drill heh..I can even get the hole started because I cant keep the drill stable. Is it possible to do this with a hand drill? Or will I need a press or something...

Any help would be appreciated!!

hah nevermind...I guess i asked too quickly...5 minutes later and I got a hole in my tank...It just takes a while to get it started...

Tempered glass isn't really that fun to work with when it comes to punching holes in it. It's fairly brittle and can just fall apart if done incorrectly.

Here are a couple of links:
http://www.thekrib.com/TankHardware/glass.html#6

http://www.wetdryfilter.com/drilling_holes.htm

Good luck!
Chris

thanks..its not the cleanest hole, but it works fine for my needs!!

Sounds like you got the job done OK. Getting the groove started is the most difficult part. Some people begin by holding the drill at an angle to cut an arc in the glass to use as a guide to keep the bit steady.

I use one of these, instead:

Craftsman portable drill guide (http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?pid=00967173000&vertical=Sears&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes)

It also has a groove in the base to make drilling PVC easy. The price has gone down by $10 since I bought mine. GRRRRR :)

Also, don't be tempted to buy 10 gallon tanks at Walmart: the glass is supposedly thinner or weaker than non-Walmart tanks and doesn't suffer drilling as gladly.

Dan