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Glass Cut by my Tile Saw

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 10:39 am
by Judd
So, I took your advice, went to Harbor Freight, found a sweet little tile saw for $30, made a loaf of glass, and began cutting last night. This morning when I looked at the cut glass, I noticed that is was all... I don't know... looked way devitrified. Way, way matte finished. So, when I use these glass elements in my work, do I polish them first, or will they fire smooth and glossy?

Thanks in advance,
Judd

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 10:44 am
by charlie
most likely they'll fire scummy. the small pits will prompt devit. you could polish on a wbs, then firepolish or fuse to get them shiny, or use an overglaze like borax or spray-a.

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 10:59 am
by Barbara Muth
Or use diamond hand pads to take the grittiness down to a finer tooth. That will help eliminate scum.

I recently learned that sandblasting the ground edges works very well. (Thank you Steve Klein!)

Barbara

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 11:33 am
by Judy Schnabel
Judd,

If you have any concerns regarding lead, I would use Super Spray. It's 99% lead free.

Judy

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 2:43 pm
by Suzan
Or try firing one slice as a test. My pattern bar slices often come out uneven from the tile saw, but when full fused again, either as part of a larger design, or alone as a pendant, they've come up nice and glossy. Just be sure to clean them very well.

Cheers,
Suzan

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 9:30 pm
by Dolores
If it's a cleaner cut you're looking for (less chunk, waste, and grit), try getting a lapidary blade. I too got a cheap-o tile saw from Harbor Freight and was dismayed to have my pattern/frit bars all chewed up on my first use. The original blade even had the gall to rust after sitting there just a few hours! :x Got a 4" ultra-thin "Pro Slicer" from eloxite.net and, boy, what a fine smooth cut! Saves some of that fixing up work at least and doesn't waste all my precious glass.

DOLORES

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 7:36 am
by rosanna gusler
also put your freshly cut still wet pieces directly in a tub of soapy water. once that dust has a chance to dry on there it is a bear to get clean. rosanna

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 9:43 am
by dee
Dolores wrote:If it's a cleaner cut you're looking for (less chunk, waste, and grit), try getting a lapidary blade. I too got a cheap-o tile saw from Harbor Freight and was dismayed to have my pattern/frit bars all chewed up on my first use. The original blade even had the gall to rust after sitting there just a few hours! :x Got a 4" ultra-thin "Pro Slicer" from eloxite.net and, boy, what a fine smooth cut! Saves some of that fixing up work at least and doesn't waste all my precious glass.

DOLORES
dolores - how smooth are the edges and how fast does it cut? i've been using an mk 303 professional blade [lapidary flavor] alot this past month as i make inventory for tucson and use the mk 215gl blade when i need xtra smooth no chipping on the edge cuts but that blade is quite slow compared to the 303 blade and am wanting something smoother than the 303 but faster than the 215gl ;P
D

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 11:02 am
by Judd
Thank you so much for your answers.

Yes, Suzan, I plan to test a few of the cut pieces just to see what happens. Maybe that will be my "technique." Ha.

Dolores, the Pro Slicer states that one should use an oil lubricant. What type do you use? The type sold by the Eloxite company? My tile saw has a water basin - to be exact, it looks almost exactly like this one seen here:

http://www.creditcardcastle.com/cgi-bin/template.cgi

The eighth picture down looks just like my saw. I just don't know if I should put oil in it or not since the instructions said to use water. And just how messy would oil be? Oh my goodness! No one ever said the floor of my garage would be soaked in water after cutting a few pieces of glass!

Thank you all again,
Judd

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 2:25 pm
by Dolores
You add the lubricant to the water. I just use my Inland grinder diamond coolant, two capfuls to the tray. The blade itself is an ultrathin sheet of metal coated on the out edge with diamond grit. It was orginally designed for use on expensive, semi-precious stone that one cannot afford to waste. It is faster than my Taurus II ring saw (which problably isn't saying much), but not intended of very thick slabs. I have no experience with the speed of any other units, but compared to the laborious art of porcelain painting (try 15 firings to complete a piece), it sure seems fast to me! I usually am cutting three to four layers of fused thin BE or frit full fused between two layers of thin BE. First time I tried my el cheap-o/Harbor Freight saw I received an ample dousing of H2O! Keep that blade guard down real low and it helps prevent the deluge somewhat. The cost of the Pro-slicer blade seemed reasonable enough for me to experiment a little. If my saw explodes, I'll let you know....

DOLORES

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 2:39 pm
by charlie
if the coolant is meant for grinders, which have about a cup of water, wouldn't you need a LOT more for a tile saw? my tile saw takes about 10 gallons of water. using grinder coolant would be cost prohibitive i would think, at that ratio. you'd need a lot more than a couple of capfuls. have you tried ever cutting without it to see if there's a difference?

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 5:34 pm
by Dolores
Actually yes, charlie. Once I forgot to add it altogether and it didn't seem to make any big difference. Fortunately, I only had five quick cuts to make so it didn't have a chance to stress the blade. The lubricant is suggested but they don't say it's manditory. Like most things, it cuts down on friction and thus extends the life of the blade. You're probably right about the amount to use, however. My little tile saw is very small and doesn't really hold that much water anyway, but I think I'll be wise and increase the lubricant to water ratio.

DOLORES