Cutting glass isn’t hard and if you’re budget minded won’t cost much. Some of
the benefits of learning to cut your own glass are:
- Custom sized plates. If you make your own plates or film sandwiches you
can make more anytime you need at a lower cost than going to the local
glazier. - Hologram framing. Framing your own holograms can save you quite a lot of
money. One part of this is cutting your own glass either for standard frames
or custom sizes. - On-demand glass. If you keep a few large sheets on hand you can cut your
glass when you need it rather than buying it when the stores are open.
Note that the instructions which follow assume a right-handed user. If you’re
a lefty you’ll need to adjust accordingly.
To start off you’ll need the following materials:
- Glass cutter. Any will do really, from single-wheel on up to fancy oil reservoir and
multi-wheel cutters. Just don’t get a plexiglass cutter as that won’t do at
all. - Glass sheet. Just about any hardware store carries single-strength glass
that has to be cut down. - Newspaper.
- T-square. If you want to save a few bucks I’ll tell you how to make your
own glass T-square, otherwise purchase one while you’re at the store. - Light oil. Any light machine oil will do. You’ll lubricate the cutting
wheel with this.
If you’re going to make your own T-square you’ll also need the following:
- Blank white paper.
- Epoxy.
- Pencil.
- Two long metal rulers. These should be 1" wide, at least a foot longer
than the largest sheet of glass you’re likely to cut and 1/8" thick or so.
To make your custom T-square do the following, otherwise skip to the next
section.
(pictures of this process will be added soon)
- Take a few sheets of white paper and put them down as a stack on a firm
surface and put one of your rulers on top of that. - Run a pencil down one edge of the ruler as close to the ruler as you can
get. Use a newly sharpened or mechanical pencil. - Take your glass cutter and run the wheel along the same edge of the ruler.
Press down fairly hard to get a good score line and make sure the cutter is
not tilted from side-to-side. You are trying to make a crease in the paper
where you would normally be making a score in glass. - Now remove the ruler and measure the distance from the pencil line to the
score you just made. That is how far to the left from the 10" line you should
move the right edge of your ruler so that make your final scores without any
fudging. - Epoxy the two rulers together at that point with the vertical bar on top
and use a square to make sure the two rulers are at a perfect 90 degree angle.
Clamp the rulers together and leave it alone until the epoxy fully cures.
The reason for placing the ruler at 10" rather than at 1" is so that the
vertical bar is more easily kept square with the edge of the glass with the "T"
on both sides.
Now that the preparation is out of the way take some newspaper and lay that
on your work surface. Put the glass down on that and then put your new cutting
square down on the glass with the horizontal ruler flush with the top edge of
the glass.
Using the top ruler align the right edge of the glass with the tic for the
size pane you’re cutting. Drop the leading zero though. For example, if you’re
cutting a 7" sheet, align the right edge of the glass with 17.
Apply a drop of oil to the cutting wheel. Some people don’t do this and some
even lick the roller wheel. I don’t recommend the latter but you’ll have
to find your own way here.
While pressing down on the ruler to hold it in place, run the cutter down the
ledge of the ruler to make your score. This is where practice makes perfect.
When scoring the glass you don’t need much pressure and the cutter should not be
tilted from side to side. Using a moderate amount of pressure you should hear a
hissing noise as the cutter wheel moves across the glass. Also remember never to
score the glass twice. You’ll weaken both the glass and your cutter that way.
Before cutting a sheet you need, practice on scrap glass.
Once you’ve made you score, place a small object such as your cutter
underneath the glass at the score line
Now gently press down on each end of the glass and if the score is good the
glass will snap apart. If you have to press hard, the score wasn’t even or made
with quite enough pressure.
Now take a medium (100) grit sanding pad and go over the edge enough to dull
the two blades you’ve just created. If you skip this step you will
eventually cut yourself on your new glass.
If you’re cutting a series of plates, don’t stack them without first brushing
off the glass and sand particles you just got all over the faces of the plate.
All those pieces of grit will eventually scratch your glass.
Now either carefully take the top sheet of newspaper and throw it away with
the glass shards you’ve created or brush them off into a dustbin and start
cutting the next plate.