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I have a Rigid 7 inch wet tile saw with an MK blade. The motor and blade are above the rolling table. I know this brand/size of saw isn't what is preferred by most of you but it has become my best friend over the past several months.

#1 - water pump - I don't think my water pump is delivering enough water. I'm going to purchase a different pump but I'm not sure how many gallons per hour would be best. I should probably measure my current gph since there is no info on the pump that came with my saw. I'm also going to get some Loc-Line so I can fine-tune exactly where the water is delivered. But in the meantime I'm hoping someone can help me with recommended gph.

#2 - saw table - the channels in the table (where the saw blade passes) are far to wide to support the glass especially towards the end of the cut. I think this is causing my chipping/chunking problems no matter how slow I go at the end of each pass. I would like to make a top for the table that has a smaller gap for the blade. I was thinking about using something similar to the white plastic cutting boards. Or maybe I could make the top using glass? I would like this top to sit directly on the current table and be removable.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jeanice

You've solved the first one--get loclines, preferably one on each side of the blade. Basically, the amount of water you need is going to depend on the fineness of the cut and blade thickness, the thickness of the glass, etc., so it's kinda hard to say. I have a standard tile-cutting blade (10" saw) that needs about half the water of my thin Result blade. You just up the amount of water until you're no longer getting chipouts, the saw doesn't change sounds when cutting, and you're not getting funny smells/sparks, etc.

I never had much luck with the water pump that came with my saw, or the one I bought to replace it. The little clear flexible hoses didn't deliver enough water to the right place, it didn't help that all it was doing was recycling used water already full of swarf. Bringing in fresh water with the loclines made a huge difference.

For the second, tile saws are meant to cut tile, so their openings are too wide for glass cuts. Dee Janssen taught me this one: Go to your local plastics store and have them cut a tabletop to fit your saw out of 1/8th inch acrylic, one on each side. Put the thickest blade you have on the saw and mount the new plastic to it, just slightly clearing the saw. Most saw platforms have screwholes--just match them up to the plastic.

I worked for many years in the glass fabrication business as both a factory trained technician and as the owner of a glass company. Glass cutting using a tile saw is actually glass grinding as opposed to glass cutting. Two factors make all the difference in successful glass "cutting" using a saw. One is blade surface speed and the other is controlling the temperature at the point of contact. The optimum speed for grinding glass with diamonds is about 4500 ft/min. so a motor turning about 2500 rpm would be optimum for a 7" blade. The thinner the blade or the more coarse the diamond blade itself can change the required speed but not really that much. Adding a cutting fluid additive is also important as the temperature at the point of contact is very high regardless the volume of water as it is being both boiled off and thrown away by the rotation of the blade itself. I think Glastar sells a coolant that works for this and does not come in 55 gallon barrels. You can also look for glass shops that advertise glass cutting and grinding services and buy a little from them. Letting the blade do the work as opposed to trying to force the cut is also helpful. Keeping the water clean is important too.

i went to an aquarium store and got a submersible pump. it was far cheaper (less than 1/2) than buying a replacement pump from either HD (pond pump section) or tile saw replacement.

Thank you all for taking the time to post a reply.

As for the table top, acrylic was the word I was looking for. Maybe I will just put an old 7" wood blade on my tile saw and cut through the pre-mounted acrylic top. That would be a slightly thicker blade and also make sure the opening will be perfectly true to the blade. Probably don't want to use my wider ceramic blade to cut through acrylic. Now if I can only figure out how to make the backstop truly perpendicular to the blade. Maybe cut some kiln shelf? Hmmm...

I've received my Loclines but have to wait for hubby to get home from NM. I can't get the darn things popped together.

Water pump... I'm definitely going to purchase one made for aquariums but need to decide which gph. They are available from 60 to 1000 gph. Plus, I want to run the pump from a "clean water" bucket that's on the floor, rather than put the pump in the tray of the saw where the water is dirty. This means that the water will need to be pushed farther uphill so will require a higher gph.

Couple weeks ago I plumbed an extra 1/4" hose with separate valve that I can open/close. When I'm finished cutting for the day I'm able to use this to rinse everything off so it's clean and ready to use next time. Turned out to be a great idea.

Jeanice

Jeanice wrote: Water pump... I'm definitely going to purchase one made for aquariums but need to decide which gph. They are available from 60 to 1000 gph. Plus, I want to run the pump from a "clean water" bucket that's on the floor, rather than put the pump in the tray of the saw where the water is dirty. This means that the water will need to be pushed farther uphill so will require a higher gph.

Couple weeks ago I plumbed an extra 1/4" hose with separate valve that I can open/close. When I'm finished cutting for the day I'm able to use this to rinse everything off so it's clean and ready to use next time. Turned out to be a great idea.

Jeanice

I didn't want to use the pump in a bucket routine with my tile saw, so I measured the hoses and went to the hardware store to do a hack. I was able to get fittings so I can attach a refrigerator waterline to my saw. Now, I just roll the saw outside my studio, attach the waterline, remove the drain plug and go at it.

You can cut the acrylic with your current blade...just added this to my HF 10"..makes a huge difference.

I wonder if UHMW polyethylene would be a good choice -- it's used in woodworking.

Use my glass blade on acrylic? Won't that gum up the blade?

What is UHMW polyethylene? Can it be purchased in a home improvement store?

It won't gum up the blade- use as much water as you'd use for glass.
We're overthinking the material- any plastic will do, Sintra works too, so does wood (except for absorbing moisture and warping).

cutting metal will gum up a diamond saw.

uhmw (ultra high molecular weight) plastic is pretty much the same as a plastic cutting board, a soft-ish type material.