cutting glass with the Beetle Bits

[bothofushk]

Hi all,,does anyone know how to cut these stars segments with the Beetle Bits cutter? Like what are the angles or degrees? Thanks

bothofushk

[Morganica]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN7Hp-Yk8OQ

[bothofushk]

thanks,, Cynthia,,but I have watched this video ..and she is cutting diamond shapes,,BUT she is also showing a 6 point star,,this one I am wanting to cut is a 5 point star...Thanks

bothofushk

[Morganica]

Not that hard to figure out. 360 degrees in a circle. 6-pointed stars are cut at a 60-degree angle, so 5-pointed stars are cut at a.... (360/5).

Failing that, you could use a protractor.

[bothofushk]

Thanks,,,not a math person....but husband is an electrical engineer,,,so will ask him to use the protractor...if it works out will be alot neater to cut will cutter than by hand alot less grinding..

bothofushk

[David Jenkins]

I watched the video - looked to me like cutting true 72 points might be kind of difficult with that protractor. Also, the outer points have been cut somewhat less than 72 deg., have they not?

Making the stars you drew looks to me like one of those efforts that looks a lot easier than it really turns out to be.

[bothofushk]

Well you are so right Dave,,,Not happening.....even hubby is having a frustraing moment with these,,,IF anyone can tell me how to cut these with a cutting system,,it looks like I will just have to cut them by hand and grind...Thanks so much for all your help..but this one is not an easy task.

bothofushk

[Mike Jordan]

Depending on how many you need and what you plan to do with them, you may find it easier to buy or create a mold and use frit to fuse them in the size and shape you want. Keep in mind that frit shrinks by about 25%, so you would want to size accordingly. This shape would work very well creating with Freeze N Fuse as well. If you need a lot of them, you could check on the price of having them water jet cut out of sheets of glass. If you only need a few, then a ring saw would be a good way to cut them out if you have one or have access to one.

Mike

[bothofushk]

thanks Mike,,I DO have a taurus ring saw,,but havent used it enought to be good at it..lol..just find it easier to cut by hand,,and faster,,,but making a mold or freeze and fuse, ( I have made my own molds and have done the freeze and fuse also) may be the way..about the waterjet ,,dont know where and how much would be...but thanks for the suggestions

bothofushk

[David Jenkins]

If you or your husband are handy with a drawing program, maybe you could draw a star the way you want and then find someone with a water jet who could cut out a bunch of them for you?

[AndyT]

Well you are so right Dave,,,Not happening.....even hubby is having a frustraing moment with these,,,IF anyone can tell me how to cut these with a cutting system,,it looks like I will just have to cut them by hand and grind...Thanks so much for all your help..but this one is not an easy task.

bothofushk

Even with the Beetle Bit you may still have to do some grinding to get any flares off. I'd just cut a template, trace around it and cut them by hand. I find the set up of the Beetle Bits to take some time. Put glass in, score pull glass out and break and repeat and repeat and repeat. I'm sure i could cut them by hand faster.

[bothofushk]

thanks all for responding,,,and Yes AndyT,,I can cut them faster by hand..and thats what I have been doing...but also going to use freeze and fuse method...again Thanks all

bothofushk

[haleybach]

Look for quilting tutorials, the five point star is tricky and every way I know of has lots of waste.

This tutorial shows one layout
http://www.simplicity.com/t-free-quilt- ... -star.aspx

I've used another one (with fabric) and have a fuzzy recollection of cutting a strip the width of the diamond, then you make diagonal cuts to get the points and end up with lots of triangle 'waste' pieces. So the diamonds run along the strip point to point. I think every other one is long side towards the top so you have shorter side touching tip of a shorter side. Clear as mud?

I would cut a bunch out of paper and just move them around to figure it out.

You can also just use two triangles for each diamond. Much easier to cut.

I've never used a Beetle Bits system or even seen one but it looks to be an adaptation of a quilt cutting tool, quilting patterns will give you methods for cutting multiples go the same shape.

[David Jenkins]

I spent some time today trying to figure out a way to cut the points as a single pieces (essentially a quadrilateral) consisting of two isosceles triangles with a common base). Unsuccessful - lots of waste material. Plus, I have an absolutely useless protractor as it pertains to cutting glass.

If you can suffer the seams showing, two separate triangles per point would be infinitely easier to construct, with far less waste.

[bothofushk]

I will try the two triangles...this is very frustrating,,but it always comes back to hand cutting...thanks for all the suggestions

bothofushk

[JestersBaubles]

Shoulda bought a Morton .

I found this (easily) by just going to the Morton System web site. This page has a quick write-up with the angles, and an indication of how the pentagram star is created:

http://mortonglass.com/pages/Prod/PG01B ... ideos.html

(I know the URL reads "videos", but there are a couple of text-based tip sheets, too).

Dana W.

[David Jenkins]

The procedure shown on the Morton Glass site looks really easy - wish I'd thought of that myself. Not too much waste, either. Very good tip about blunting the points, too.