# Cutting glass 101



## rdooley79 (Apr 24, 2007)

Cutting glass 101 LOL
go to home depot, ask where they have acrylic sheets. they sell the glass cutting tool set for $15. it has a grease pen and cutting tool and cutting oil. if they have glass there you can buy it there but it is kinda expensive compared to what you can find around. if you have a Lowes around they still cut glass but home depot does not. you could probably sweet talk one of the people there to let you have some of the glass cutting scraps to practice on. if not then find your local habitat for humanity location. call them or go down. they have everything you could ever need and CHEAP! the one that is close to my house has glass sheets that have been boogered up but that doesn't matter to me. they also have windows and other glass stuff that is cheap. now when you get all your stuff together, DON'T FORGET EYE GLASSES AND GLOVES AND A FACE MASK! 
List of stuff:
Glass cutter - Home depot $15
Glass - wherever you want to get it price ranges, Lowes
Safety Glasses - Home Depot or Harbor Freight
Safety Gloves - Home Depot or Harbor Freight
Face Mask - Home Depot or Harbor Freight
Straight Edge, Level, Ruler, something really straight - Home Depot or Harbor Freight if you don't have something long and hard and straight as an arrow, must be stiff also. I use a level.
Glass cutting bits - Harbor Freight , buy their diamond coated hole saws and glass cutting bits, will be bout $40 for all the stuff you need, they also have allot of the stuff home depot has. they don't sell glass sheets buy your safety glasses and mask and gloves here. http://www.harborfreight.com 


when you get home have a flat table you can work on that wont flex too much. try your new cutter on some scrap glass. 

Put s couple of drops of cutting oil along the place you want to cut. it will help extend the life of your cutting tool. Line up your straight edge offset a little from where you want to cut taking in to account the width of the tool. place the tool on the glass and push pretty hard, your not trying to cut it through and wont but listening for a crunching kind of sound. Keeping the same pressure on the tool draw the tool along keeping pressure and the tools orientation straight. really it is very easy you'll see what i mean after the first cut. now that you have a line scribed take the piece of glass and place it so the scribe is off the table an inch or so, tap the glass on the side of the scribe that you want to remove from what ever shape you want to make and then grab the piece you want to remove and pushing down in one motion, snap the piece off. that simple. 

Before yesterday I was kinda pessimistic about cutting glass, now I can cut anything i could think of and I've made about 10 cuts. not an expert but seriously after the second practice cut yesterday I was ready to make a new top for my hex tank. You can make curving lines and all of that very easily. Everyone makes it sound so hard or is scared to do it but once you do one cut your ready for almost anything. 

As far as drilling holes, just have a squirt bottle full of water and paper towels and ;your safety equipment. Go pretty slow, don't get in a rush and don't press to make it drill faster. eventually it will go through and just takes time and patience, if your short on either wait till you have both, time and patience, ! 


thats pretty much all I know about cutting and drilling glass!

Have FUN!


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

Not trying to steal anyones smoke, but here a couple things I'd add...

You can put a piece of cardboard or thin carpeting to cover your work surface. It provides a little give. 

A pair of running pliers is a good investment(also at HD/Lowes, + ...) and is more reliable and safer then using your hands. Especially with narrow cuts.

You'll also need something to round off the sharp cut edge of the glass. A diamond sharpening stone has been recommended before. I use an abrasive stone that I picked up at a local stained glass place.

Those thin sticky mats you put under cutting boards are good to use under a straight edge to keep from moving. Just add a couple small pieces to the bottom.

I personally do enough glass cutting to justify getting a better cutter then what's at HD/Lowes. A reasonable one is $20-$25, is self lubricating and have replaceable cutting wheels. Well worth it, IMO.

Besides a grease pencil, a fine tip permenant marker works well too.

A square is a good idea for the kinds of pieces we cut.

I get a lot of my glass from old storm windows from the dump and old fish tanks. Beware of tempered glass.

EricG.NH


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## rdooley79 (Apr 24, 2007)

your absolutely correct! those are great suggestions. you dont NEED them though to get started. best thing is get some scrap glass and a cutter and try it. really it is VERY easy to do. if your a little jumpy about trying it because your worried about cutting yourself, make sure you use gloves. Glass is strong and will not break if you look at it wrong. interesting, glass is a liquid, not a solid. weird huh!


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## 12yan (Apr 4, 2007)

I really don't know why everyone keeps suggesting water when drilling (This is highly NOT recommended even by the drill manufacturers), try cooking oil, it will make your life oh so much easier, it helps prevent binding and works to extend life much better then water.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

> You can put a piece of cardboard or thin carpeting to cover your work surface. It provides a little give.


Eric, I don't see why this would be desirable. Could you explain a bit more? 

---



> glass is a liquid, not a solid. weird huh!


There is no accepted phase for glass: 



> Glass is a uniform material of arguable phase (where the word "phase" is used to describe either a gas, liquid, or solid), usually produced when the viscous molten material cools very rapidly to below its glass transition temperature, without sufficient time for a regular crystal lattice to form.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass#Glass_as_a_liquid and the references. Very interesting topic in its own right.


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## MonopolyBag (Jun 3, 2007)

If you look at old kitchen glasses, they look as if they have "melted" a little bit.


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

> Quote:
> You can put a piece of cardboard or thin carpeting to cover your work surface. It provides a little give.
> Eric, I don't see why this would be desirable. Could you explain a bit more?


Mike, I don't know the exact reasons but stained glass suppliers sell a resillent cutting mat and all glass shops I've been to use carpet. It may also be to capture any small pieces of cut glass and keep them away from fresh pieces? IME, I like to use a cardboard or carpet mat because my work surface is not perfectly flat, and the mat kinda works like a gasket. It allows the force I put on the glass sheet when I score it, to spread out more. It keeps it from rocking on the small nits of the work surface.

Anyway, that's my SWAG at why I've seen it used and use it myself.

EricG.NH


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

MonopolyBag said:


> If you look at old kitchen glasses, they look as if they have "melted" a little bit.


This is an old wives tale. As far as I know there is no scientific evidence for glass flowing at standard temp. I’ve talked to a HP engineer who worked with mirrors for very high end telescopes (as in observatory scopes) Any flow would distort the reflected image and this does not happen. Old windows are often used as evidence of glass flow. You have to realize that old window glass was manufactured to be thicker at the bottom. Every once in a while you can find a pane that was installed upside down. In that case the top end of the pane is still thicker no matter how old the window.

My experience with cutting glass was that it didn’t work as well as I would have thought it would. I ended up with cuts that traveled at more or less than a right angle through the glass, wobbly cuts, and little shards of glass all over the place. A friendly local Glass Cutter suggested that I needed to purchase a better tool.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

Thanks Eric. I was thinking a gasket effect was part of the reason, but catching small pieces of glass would be helpful too. I'm going to try this out the next time I've got some pieces to cut.


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## dracotaz (May 15, 2007)

12yan said:


> I really don't know why everyone keeps suggesting water when drilling (This is highly NOT recommended even by the drill manufacturers)


This is very true, however, the main goal is to cool your cutting surface and bit. most cutting oils do this pretty well, some people use automotive anti-freeze. As long as you keep it cool and clear of grindings, your cutters and bits will last a very long time.

Also, one thing most people with bad experiences with cutting glass usually stems from not using enough pressure to score the glass with the cutting tool... or making multiple passes like we do with plexi. One pass with constant pressure is all that is needed for a nice straight break. You want the glass to break along one line.


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## rdooley79 (Apr 24, 2007)

Grassypeak said:


> MonopolyBag said:
> 
> 
> > If you look at old kitchen glasses, they look as if they have "melted" a little bit.
> ...



Interesting.... I saw this and was told this when I went and toured Thomas Jefferson's house. the panes of glass were thicker at the bottom. the tour guide even pointed it out. I could also have sworn that my science teacher in high school told me this also when he was running through the different states of matter, solid, liquid, gas and plasma..........did I get all of them? its been a while. This is one of those things that people say, including myself, and dont really research. not trying to sidetrack the thread here, but something that i though deserved comment.


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## drbp (Apr 22, 2007)

> This is one of those things that people say, including myself, and dont really research. not trying to sidetrack the thread here, but something that i though deserved comment.


You might want to take a look at this http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/Glass/glass.html

PS-enjoying the sentiment of bringing glass cutting to the masses


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

How about a little more information on a "good" glass cutter. What do we need to look for? What can we expect to pay? Where do you need to go to find one? Pic???

Thanks.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

This is what I use. It has six carbide wheels so that when one dulls or dies the head can be rotated and a new one used:










I bought it at Lowe's and paid right around five bucks. I would like to switch to a self lubricating diamond cutter, but haven't bothered to buy one.

The primary thing you're interested in when you buy a glass cutter is the thing that's going to make the etch. You need something that is carbide or diamond. I've see some that are high carbon steel and have not had great success with them, but that could have been because of operator error.


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## pilo0024 (Aug 22, 2006)

are you able to make circles with it too like for drainage holes and suchness? or does it only do straight lines


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

You can not make a circle. You can cut curves but you have to snap the two pieces apart. With a circle there is no way to flex the glass and snap it. For circles you have to use a special drill bit, or better yet, a hole saw. With hole saws your best bet is to purchase a good one. The cheap ones don’t last, and once you get good at making holes you will always find a need for another one. I just made a 5 gallon temporary tank, and I found the need to put six holes in the thing! I also just made a temporary 10 gallon with seven holes in it. The 55 that I’m working on right now will eventually have something like 12 holes. I think I'm approaching my 100th hole drilled. :shock:


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## Haroldo (Mar 14, 2006)

Grassypeak said:


> You can not make a circle. You can cut curves but you have to snap the two pieces apart. With a circle there is no way to flex the glass and snap it. For circles you have to use a special drill bit, or better yet, a hole saw. With hole saws your best bet is to purchase a good one. The cheap ones don’t last, and once you get good at making holes you will always find a need for another one. quote]
> 
> Actually, that's not quite true. You can cut circles out of glass without grinding the hole out, it's just not as straight-forward as cutting lines or curves...
> 
> Also, I may have lucked out, but I bought a 5 pack of 1" [cheap] saws for about $30. I've gotten almost 30 holes out of one so far and reason to believe I can safely "pull" another 10 out of it before moving onto the next one...


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Haroldo said:


> Actually, that's not quite true. You can cut circles out of glass without grinding the hole out, it's just not as straight-forward as cutting lines or curves...
> 
> Also, I may have lucked out, but I bought a 5 pack of 1" [cheap] saws for about $30. I've gotten almost 30 holes out of one so far and reason to believe I can safely "pull" another 10 out of it before moving onto the next one...


O.K. how do you cut a hole out of a piece of glass with a cutting blade? I’ve never seen anyone attempt this. I can see a really big hole but not a 1.125” hole in 1/8” inch glass. 

Also, if you are getting 30 holes out of a $6 hole saw you are far better at drilling than I am. What are you using as a lubricant?


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## Haroldo (Mar 14, 2006)

Grassypeak said:


> Haroldo said:
> 
> 
> > Actually, that's not quite true. You can cut circles out of glass without grinding the hole out, it's just not as straight-forward as cutting lines or curves...
> ...


1) Didn't realize we were talking about a hole that small. The only reason I see that being impossible is the small surface area for blunt force to break out the hole. 
2) There are plenty of appartatus that allow for this to be done and they allow you to cut holes that small out.

I will either shoot a short vid or a photolog of my attempt in demonstrating so. With doing it freehand, success rates aren't incredibly high, but with aforementioned tools, it becomes less difficult. Point is, it can be done without grinding. If I don't post in 2 weeks, please shoot me a reminder PM and I'll get on it...

As far as the hole saw goes, I have milling liquid here, but I just use regular ole H20. A spray bottle is all I need and my wife has "clocked" me drilling (grinding) a hole out of 3mm glass in under 1 min 30 secs. (hey we were bored out...) I have 30+ 10g tanks and 20 or so custom tanks with bulkhead holes drilled out, to demonstrate my point...


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Incredible, I’ve made a lot of holes but I’ve also done in a few $50+ hole saws. In the beginning the holes only take a few minutes but down the road they take a long time. I spent well over an hour drilling one of the holes in the back of my 55 with a dull $50 saw. You don’t have the name of the hole saws that you use, do you.


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## jejton (Sep 3, 2006)

Can someone post here or on a nother thread how to make a hole in glass, such as for a bulkhead or a fan?


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Here is a start http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=25884&highlight=drilling+glass

If you do a search on drilling glass you will find a bunch more. :wink:


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## Haroldo (Mar 14, 2006)

Grassypeak said:


> Incredible, I’ve made a lot of holes but I’ve also done in a few $50+ hole saws. In the beginning the holes only take a few minutes but down the road they take a long time. I spent well over an hour drilling one of the holes in the back of my 55 with a dull $50 saw. You don’t have the name of the hole saws that you use, do you.


Nope, they're a "no-name" saw. Tell you what, I'm getting ready to order another couple for future use, want me to send you one to try out against your more expensive one?


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Sure, but what size bulkhead fits in a 1” hole? I drill l.125” holes for half inch bulkheads.


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## Haroldo (Mar 14, 2006)

Grassypeak said:


> Sure, but what size bulkhead fits in a 1” hole? I drill l.125” holes for half inch bulkheads.


Oh, I use spigots from the brewing industry. Allows me a bit of control on how quickly water exits the system following a misting. They only require 1" holes and are 1/2-1/3 the cost...


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## jejton (Sep 3, 2006)

Where do you get the spigots?


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

O.K. I’m sure I can give a spigot a try.


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## pilo0024 (Aug 22, 2006)

man this all just went way over my head. it's good info though. i've been trying to learn how to make a sump system for the tank i wanna set up and it is a bit daunting with all this hole drilling business. is it as complicated as it sounds?


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

Not really if you have the right tools. Like many skills, it's not difficult, it just takes practice.


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