Just seems more secure. I drill my holes with a hole saw and with the tabs only there is just a little wobble room. I did try a test with one of the two inch ones and was able to push the screen loose but it took more pressure than I think any of the spiders I would have in that sized enclosure would be able to produce.
Ah I see- what type of hole saw do you use? I don't mean the brand.
Your statement is wrong. That's like saying, all nails or screws are the same, or that all drill bits are the same. I think you should look up hole saw, you will find at least 3 different types (NOT brands) that I know of off the top of my head. I know what I'm talking about.
It's pretty much just like the top picture in this wikipedia article on hole saws.
My friend dropped me a lead on a huge Dremel kit on sale at Harbor Freight for the holidays, $20 for a huge kit with any bit i could ever need. probably gone now but i cant imagine a better kit for building custom enclosures.
Blazin, what type of bit do you use for the holes. I use some small brad point bits. They do a decent job. What, if any, type of lubrication do you use for drilling?
An acrylic tank maker I met, showed me a bit he used, it was very pointy. Hard for me to describe really. It sort of looks like a normal bit, but he did tell me it has a 90 degree angle at the tip. He doesn't need any lubrication. I'm spinning the drilling a BIT too fast I can tell. Sounds like you work in a machine shop, all sorts of great "toys". I'd love to drill w/out lubrication.
I wish I had access to those, that's really cool.
Oh yeah I know about them thanks anyway. W/the right speed and lubrication I'm able to drill just right (the plastic should come out as a single piece according to one of the plastic sites I read), but that takes a lot of practice. I tend to drill too fast or too slow hah.
I've always liked the look of round vents, but the tabs sometimes ruin the aesthetic for me if they protrude past the frame of the vent (something which only seems to be an issue if you use thin acrylic).
Agreed, even though for me it's not so much the inside of the enclosure that I care about as the tabs being visible from the outside (see shebeen's pic in the above post).
I should've prefaced this with the disclaimer that I'm (knowingly) being quite nit-picky. I'm gradually moving my collection over to zoo-quality-ish natural setups and it's been a struggle to find the right balance between convenience, cost, and sating my own outrageous standards for aesthetics (lol). I meant no offense to you in regard to the way you do things; I think it looks fine for enclosures like the one pictured above.