what do you use to cut holes in the reservoir lids?

i previously paid for my setup to be custom built only to realize how cheaply it could have been done. it was merely a coleman-type (not even the original coleman brand!) reservoir with the lids nicely cut for 6 holes for 3 inch net pots. the only other thing that required any effort was the small hole drilled to allow the tube from the air pump.

i know how to make this, only thing i'm still trying to figure out is what kind of saw do i need to cut nice round holes in plastic?

Hole saw...

wow, such an obvious answer, how could i have missed that! is that going to be cheap in home depot?

You can also take a utility knife and make a hole in the center where you want to make the hole put a screw in the hole and take a wire around the screw and around the knife and go around in a circle, or take a 3" can and trace it.

u can find one cheap at lowes, home depot, wal mart ect...either go out and spend the money and buy one, borrow one? or just improvise with anything thats sharpe... after u cut it just make sure you kinda clean up the edges and de-burr it...

I cut mine with a Dremel and several different attachment tools. Not real fast but does a good job.

inforat said:

i previously paid for my setup to be custom built only to realize how cheaply it could have been done. it was merely a coleman-type (not even the original coleman brand!) reservoir with the lids nicely cut for 6 holes for 3 inch net pots. the only other thing that required any effort was the small hole drilled to allow the tube from the air pump.

i know how to make this, only thing i'm still trying to figure out is what kind of saw do i need to cut nice round holes in plastic?

Click to expand...

I went to the Home Depot and got a 3 inch round drill bit head. Its a big 3 inch circle/w teeth with a drill bit attached to it. Just be careful when your doing you initial drilling because the lid(s if you mess up and crack a lid) is going to slide around on you while the cutting is going on. The bit costs around 25-35 bucks some are cheaper than most, but if your not a handyman or a do-it-yourselfer, then just get the cheap one.
Once the holes are cut, a 3 Inch mesh pot should fit in the nicely. And if your pot has a problem staying in the cut hole you can poke holes in your mesh pot and run a piece of wood ( I used bamboo skewer) through it to act as rails and hold the cup in place.
Also, you might want to have a file or sand paper handy to file/sand off the plastic frayed ends for a nice, smooth finished feel.

I used a box cutter style knife and just traced out my net pots and cut the hole a little smaller, just "score" it the first time around then the blade will just follow that mark. Seemed to work easy, hope it works for you.

i use a dremel with the largest drill bit that fits into it. crank the fucker to 11 and it vaporizes the plastic. if you live in bat shit crazy land you could use a round cookie/biscuit cutter and a hydraulic jack and some sort of welded frame or your car...