cutting float glass-what am I doing wrong?

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Bert Weiss
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Post by Bert Weiss »

Hugo Gavarini wrote:It's our local Pilkington float glass manufacturer called VASA, their float glass is all over the world because they export a lot. Since they work under Pilkington specifications I believe their glass follows international quality standards.

Once, I had a curious episode with a sheet of such float glass.

I can't assure it was a bad annealed glass. It was interesting to work with. Very easy cuts. In fact, once scored I only had to lift the piece a bit and the score runned all the way almost by itself. But the same "easy" sheet of glass ran twice an odd trajectory, different from the path I had scored. Then I blamed the residual stresses.
There are sometimes imperfections in sheet glass. I heard a story once about a jumbo sheet with a stone in it that exploded inside a case and came flying out of the case in to the factory. Jumbo's are 120" x 220"

The man who taught me leaded glass is a German craftsman and he used a diamond cutter to cut soft curved and straight pieces of antique glass. I don't know where to get one.
Bert

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Nelson Tan
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Post by Nelson Tan »

Hugo,

Yes it is a natural diamond tip glass cutter. Brand we use is Far East triple A model or Diamond brand. There are many brands available.

According to our cutter different manufacturer of float glass have different cuttability. Chinese float glass is very brittle. It is prone to " edge marks" after cutting. Pilikington and Asahi glass is good.

Nelson
Nelson Tan
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Post by Nelson Tan »

Hugo,


Correction:

Far East 1A not triple A, Sorry.

I believe CRL carries diamond tip glas cutter. Don't know the brand though.


Nelson
scooter riegelsperger
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another non oiler

Post by scooter riegelsperger »

Just wanted to put my two cents in. I own a custom glass & optics manufacturing company. I cut ALOT of glass, everything from float glass,pyrex,quartz,all kinds of colored filter glasses, & over the last few years stained glass(bullseye). I cut !/8" float glass into .250" squares and edge to .175" diameter 20,000 at a time and NEVER use any oil with great success. I find oil messy & hazardous when trying to break. The best tip is like already stated. Make your cuts & then try to break in even proportions. If you're trying to cut 1 thin strip from a large sheet you will have occasional failures. I'm not saying anybody is wrong, just telling what works best for me. Scooter
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