[ohman11]

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

I used 3" net pots (pictures attached). I bought a 100 pack a couple of years ago when I was in Las Vegas. If I remember correctly they were about $25 for the 100 pack. That would make them about $0.25 a piece.
Well, I didn't use a hole saw. I drilled them freehand with a rotary tool I already had (pictures attached). It wasn't as hard as it sounds. I first needed a template for the hole size. I traced the top of the basket onto the thin plastic lid of a margarine tub, cut it out. Then trimmed it down until it just barely fit into the top of the basket, that way I knew it would be slightly smaller than the baskets so the baskets wouldn't fall through the holes. I drew a straight line, straight down the side of the tube. All the holes would be centered on this line. This is important to the water level in the tube because it will begin to overflow out the lowest point, if one hole was lower than the other it will overflow at that point. The line insures that all the holes would be level and in line with all the rest.

Then I measured the length of the tube, subtracted 4 inches for each side (2" for the end caps, and 2" for the end spacing), then divided that by 12 (amount of pots I wanted). This would give me the spacing between pots. Because the template was a thin plastic it easily bends around the tube, making it easy to trace on the tube. I put a mark on one end at 4 inches (2" for the end caps, and 2" for the end spacing), then centered the template on the long line with the edge of it at the 4" mark. Then traced the template on the tube, and put an "x" in the center of the outline, on the long line. That was my starting point, from there I made 11 more "x's" along the line at the pre-determined spacing that I figured out earlier. I eye-balled the centering of the template on the "x," but it would probably be better to place a hole in the center of the template, so it would be easier to line up with the "x" on the tube.

Once I had all my holes drawn on the tube I used the rotary tool to cut them out. It cuts through the ADS tubing very easily. Sounds like a long process but it was actually easy. Using another person to hold the tube and tape measure so I could get a straight line the whole process took about 30 min.

P.S. Measure twice, cut once.

Thats a good idea and much cheaper than a hole saw. I just bought a 3 5\8 one and they are pretty pricey. I plan to make a few more so I guess I will get my moneys worth out of it.