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would really love advice / tips and tricks for glass cutting. Ive tried quite afew times (like a dozen or so) on random bits and have not had any luck at all (it always end up traveling out side of the scribed line). I see io as a art for now (until I master it and then prove that it can be done by anyone once they have the skill set ;-) )

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would really love advice / tips and tricks for glass cutting. Ive tried quite afew times (like a dozen or so) on random bits and have not had any luck at all (it always end up traveling out side of the scribed line). I see io as a art for now (until I master it and then prove that it can be done by anyone once they have the skill set ;-) )

you got to score it on both sides and do it a couple of times so its good, i bet there would be some good walk throu's with picks an stuff if you googled it :lol:

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you got to score it on both sides and do it a couple of times so its good, i bet there would be some good walk throu's with picks an stuff if you googled it :lol:

NO! Score it on one side only, and only score it once. Give it a fast, hard snap over the end of a table or something similiar. Practice makes perfect

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Although there is no doubt who is right here I have tried cutting glass by scoring back and forth over the line it didn't work.. I have also tried cutting it by scoring both sides that didn't work either, the only thing that worked was one descent score on one side and snapping the glass or turning it over and tapping the break along the score..

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Im a 55 year old glazier with advanced trade cert.

The way to cut the glass is to get a good glass cutter (the green diamantor cutter are what we use) dip the wheel of the cutter into a light machine oil (we use Inox) and make ONE firm cut along the glass. This does not cut but provides a weak line in the glass that will allow the glass to part along the line as long as the cut is still "warm"

How you part the glass depends on how much is to be taken off.

If its less than about an inch, you will probably need pliers with paralal jaws and either a cloth or cardboard to cushion the steel on glass thing (unless you have glaziers plyers). The plyers jaw should be even with the edge of the cut and you gently pull down and back and the nips will come away. This leaves an uneven surface... an nipped edge. This can be ground by using 80 grit belt sander with wet and dry sand belts. DO NOT LEAVE THE SANDER IN ONE PLACE as the glass will burn and break through thermal stress. Take the edges of first so the glass dosnt "shell" before grinding. Give the glass time to cool down and move the sander back and forth.

if its about 1inch to say 6inches, make the score (cut ) in the glass the same way but put the handle of the cutter directly under the cut (cut side up) and firmly push down either side of the mark untill it breaks. If your cut is "warm" and fresh the glass SHOULD part evenly along the mark but

not always. We dont get an even break everytime we cut due to several reasons. The cut or score may have "misses" in it, this can often be fixed by joining the missed area with recuttin g but dont go over the existing cuts... just join the ends up___________ _______.Another reason for breakage is ions within the glass that cant be seen but can cause a break when cutting . and possibly the main reason that the glass may not break true is the method of manufacture. Glass use to be made by drawing the glass up similar to a knife dipped in treakle, this meant that the speed that the glass was drawn decided on the thickness of the glass(all NZ made glass was made this way) but this had a few faults in it. bearing wear and tremors would creat ripples in glass and this meant a difference in thickness. This veration in thickness made the cut often divert off line and therefore break (have a look at the edge and you may well see a grain like mark on the glass) Old glass is sometimes harder to cut as again, the veration in thickness creates the stress of the cut going off line. Again just lightly sand the edges as it will help protect the glass and stop shells.

The third method is as Evil discribed and when the cut is made, hold the glass level and slide it to the edge of the table with the cut 1 to 2 inches on the table. raise the leading edge about 300 mm or more and snap it down. BEWARE as this can sometime break and fall with possible damage to you. Again sand the edges

For tha amount of glass that you will be cutting, a self oiling cutter is a total waste of money as all its doing is saving you from dipping you cutter in oil. The cutting wheel is the same on both cutters. Whereas some companies use self oilers, we dont.

The things that damage all cutters and is the normal problem is when a cut is started over the edge of the glass. The cut should ALWAYs be started 1 or 2 mm in from the edge. By starting the cut over the edge creates a miss in the cut that will often allow the break to vere of course and therefore break.

Hopefully this will help

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Wow Barrie, thanks for that, I think you have covered everything that I had wondered about (and that i have been doing wrong). I have had a look at online tutorials before tryiing all this and they make it seem so easy but do not describe in detail how you do it correctly (for example, not starting the cut over the edge of the glass). I will have to retry glass cutting with all this in mind and with a new glass cutter.

through different trials, I have tried thinsg like scribing both sides, scribing over an existign scribe, tappi9ng on the scribed side, tapping on tehg non scribed side, using oil (cookign oil though), using the khooks/notches on nteh cutter to try to break try glass and loths of others....The one thing which I do remember trying (and thought it would work / was smart) was to use a hair dryer to heat the scribed area in hope that5\ it woulkd slowly create that stress on teh scribe and crack it correctly... didnt work either :-(

Thanks for such a good writeup, will give it another go when I have more glass

Matt

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