The Framers Forum

Okay... so you've just taken care cutting your glass when you realise its 5mm too wide....

1)
is there anyway of rectifying this ?

I did try cutting to glass again but obviously braking the scored line isn't as easy for 5 mm and the glass cracks veeeery easy when trying.

Is there a technique or am I just being lazy by not wanting to get a fresh sheet and start again?

2)
okay, you finally get your sheet of glass cut and it fits snugly in the frame -- well nearly does.. you realise a slip of the hand during scoring has meant a cm of the cut is slightly grooved -- this little bit means it glass won't fit .

Start again? Or can this be recovered without cracking the glass?

You can slice even down to a mm off the edge with a bit of practice. You need your cutter well lubed and in good shape. If you are lucky the excess will snap off in one piece. If not you can usually get most of it off and use glass nibbling pliers to get the rest off. The trick with pliers is to grip on the waste just behind the scoreline and pull - don't twist. A diamond coated pad is good for smoothing out any jagged bits.

btw. Glass shouldn't fit snuggly in a frame. A bit of slack is desirable.

ARGHHHHH


PULL, DONT BEND!!!!!!!


I should have asked you fo advice BEFORE cracking two sheets and wasting several quid!!! I've just successfully done it

Thanks so much!!

Hopefully one day my questions will be less basic

What kind of glass cutter are you using?..........If its not oil filled(if its hand held) then i'd say it shoud be HTH

I purchased this:

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$%28KGrHqF,!hcE ... ~~0_12.JPG

Looks tacky, but works an absolute treat for slicing sheets and keeping a straight line!

What does HTH mean?

HTH Hope That Helps

All you need to cut normal size sheets of glass 4'x3'(which is actually half a sheet) is a good L square and an oil filled glass cutter, oh and a suitably sized desk.
I'm happy to cut full sheets 8'x6' using the above tools

Yep - and all you need to cut and join good mitres is a tenon saw, mitre box, a hammer, some nails and a vice.

Buy a wall mounted cutter, save some space and some time - lots of both actually. You'll still have the problem in the initial post from time to time though, so it's good to be handy with a hand-held glass cutter. My particular maxi-slasher is no good at slivers anyway, so, say I wanted 300mm from a 303mm offcut it would either be choose a larger offcut (or, if I didn't have one, a full sheet) or use my Shaw - which is superb - wish I could fit it to my maxi-slasher actually!

Buy a wall mounted cutter, save some space and some time - lots of both actually

Got to disagree with both points............firstly how much room does an L square take up ?.............secondly i could cut a sheet of glass in the time it takes to put it in a wall mounted cutter............and yes i have used various wall cutters, not all and maybe not the one/ones you have but i'd say that cutting glass by hand is the best and most accurate way............thirdly (yes i know i disagreed with 2 points, but this is probably the most important) a decent L square is a MUST for any framing workshop as IMO a good quality hand held glass cutter, which (getting to the main point) is FAR cheaper than any wall mounted set up, possibly a fraction of the cost, almost zero maintainence and quicker and more accurate and must be best cos i do it that way

Seriously though its each to their own and you need to remember that not everyone(especially some of the people asking basic questions) can afford to spend a fortune on elaborate machinery, where a set of good hand held tools will serve them for years

Much respect Robo guy

It's not just the space the machine takes versus an 'L' square (I don't own one of those so they can't be any good )

Take my workbench right now for example - it's 12x6 ft - in one corner there's a X stitch being laced, in the opposite corner where the underpinner is there's a 36x24-ish frame being assembled and on one side there is the glass, backing and mounted artwork waiting for it, on the other there's two smaller things with their mounts and undermounts cut waiting to be mounted.

If someone wanted to cut a full 8x6' sheet of glass right now I'd have to move the lot - or most of it for a 4x3' sheet, but with the maxi-slasher .............. well it's another workbench basically, but it's vertical .... which takes less space!

As for accuracy, manual tools are only as good as their owners - well a maxi slasher is also manual of course but it has stops so all the frame's contents are cut to the exact same size - of course they are faster, more accurate and space-saving, that's what they were made for.

Fancy a race? thirty 20x16 pieces of glass, 60 pieces of mount board (mount plus undermount) and 30 pieces of artback - in fact make the glass just 15 pieces, the other 15 need acrylic.

On your marks ............

OK - all done - sorry it took so long - had to take a couple of orders!

Here's the mount, under mount and backing being cut in one hit - zoooooooooooooooom!!

Wall cutter for me too every time. As Robo' says its a vertical workbench and likewise I would have to clear the decks to cut sheets of glass.

I reckon I can cut around a 2mm sliver off a piece of glass with the wall cutter if I am careful.

You dont have to spend circa £1500 on a new one as 2nd hand ones come up from time to time. I have two Sytem 4000's both of which were bought 2nd hand at good prices. The first one I bought I had to dismantle by torchlight on a cold February night and transport home in the car.

And where do you put the piece of glass you've just cut vertically to clean it?

Well, it's now a more handle-able size but anyway - I'd put it under the two things waiting to be mounted (if they were still there, doubt it) while I cut the boards which would join it, then I'd make the frame and by then the glass cleaning/assembly area would be freed up.

If it was a large job I'd not start it until the table was less busy.

The very fact you need to justify having your machine for board cutting, when this was a discussion about Glass Cutting tells me everything i need to know ............if it could be done i would gladly race you ..........and i'd do it left handed to give you a chance

Oh and i know i couldnt compete with a wall mounted board cutter

Space, ease, accuracy, speed - whatever it's cutting.

I now refer the honourable member to my avatar

Hi Roboframer...

Is the name of the machine you use called "maxi-slasher" ? Its in one of your posts but a Google search didn't yield any results....

The name of the machine is a Keencut Excalibur. Maxi-slasher is just an affectionate name for any panel cutter.

Fletcher Terry also make sheet material cutters (maxi-slashers), see:

http://www.fletcherviscom.com/framing/3 ... Main.shtml

I saw a brand new 'maxi slasher' at Wessex today - a 'Giele' - not sure if I spelled that correctly but the guy pronounced it 'Jelly' not only is it a multi-board/glass cutter, it's also a mount cutter - well can be - available with our without that feature - £1200 without; £1400 with (something like that anyway) - so IOW £200 extra for (from the demo I saw) a pro mount mount cutter - a 60" one too!

The term 'Maxi Slasher' is one of Pete Bingham's - probably from one of his 'agony' columns - never seen or heard it used since, bar by myself because I love it!