Cutting glass with a dremel diamond disk

[wynpotter]

I've got some CBS dichroic thin glass1"x6" glass that I'm looking to find an efficient method of cutting with a saw. Several years ago I had a table top glass bandsaw but had many issues with the guides and the blade. I have recently gotten a dremel diamond wheel that seems to work well at scoring the glass. I thought however of making a table saw using the dremel secured horizontally to a guide and have a water drip for cooling.
Has anyone used a dremel for this sort of cutting, If so any thought?
I don't often get clean breaks when scoring and snapping so trying to find a better way to cut down on waste, I thought to made a micro table glass saw.
My other thought is to use a diamond hole bit on my small drill press to cut out rounds for earrings, if others have tried this, does this effect the coating on the glass?
I'm hoping to get back into glass after the first of the year after putting it aside several years ago. Rather rusty and need to relearn some of which I thought i knew.
Thanks for any help
Wyndham

[rosanna gusler]

you might be better served to find someone skilled at scoring/breaking to give you some hands on lessons. if you are anywhere near marty kremer i would ask him. r.

[Joe Wokovich]

I got all kinds of experience and it only cost me a box of doughnuts for as much scrap window glass as I could ever need.
The mistakes don't cost anywhere near as much as mistakes with dicro. Check out your local framing shop or window
repair and tell them you would like to have some scraps. I now purchase most of my float glass from them.

Joe

[Don Burt]

A jeweler's fret saw with a diamond sintered blade cuts glass accurately. You can get the saws and blades at Rio Grande. You have to devise a way to clamp the dichro and spray it with water occasionally while you work. You can cut out fabulously intricate shapes.
http://www.riogrande.com/Product/Diamon ... 326?Pos=10
http://www.riogrande.com/Product/German ... 0042?Pos=7

Bad news is that it removes a kerf of about 1/8", and is painfully slow. But with patience you can realistically cut out an 'S' curve the size of a quarter. Might take an hour and some planning for the final little release cuts, but it can be done.

[Don Burt]

Oh, you asked for 'efficient'.....nevermind.

[wynpotter]

Yea, just have to get after it, would prefer self scoring and snapped glass , but it wasn't under the tree this year

Wyndham

[Tom Fuhrman]

Find a friend who has a good water jet cutter. makes difficult shapes easy and impossible shapes possible.

[Morganica]

Small circles can be difficult to cut consistently using standard circle-cutting tools, at least until you've had some practice. And if the circles are really small, i.e., 1-2 inches in diameter, they can be a ruddy pain even when you're good at scoring and breaking.

If you plan on doing a lot of small circles, you rent/buy a lens cutter, like this:

http://www.morganica.com/glass/fusing/t ... -exercise/
They make small circle-cutting a lot faster and easier, and they work best (for me, anyway), on thin dichroic glass, dichroic-side up.

Once the holes get smaller than an inch, though, even a lens cutter can be a bit hard to use. I've used diamond hole saws for this--they work best with a drill press, get the hole saw bits that have holes in the top of the bit to let you push the disc of glass out easily, lubricate the inside of the bit before you start drilling, and use plenty of water. (and remember that you're buying for the inside diameter of the saw bit, not the outside.

Waterjet is a great choice for this, too, as long as you're doing production-level work. If you're just making one or two things, the set-up costs raise the price too much.