In any apartment, you may be faced with the need to replace glass in a window, door or closet. It is very rare to find a finished glass of the right size. Of course, you can seek help from a specialist, but it will take time and money. All the necessary work can be done with your own hands at home, if you know how to cut glass correctly.
How to choose the right glass
Glassmakers advise when choosing glass to pay attention to the following points:
- One of the signs of high-quality glass is the blue or greenish tint of its ends.
- Scratched sheets should not be used.
- If all the rules are not observed during the rolling of the glass or its cooling, then such sheets may have defects in the form of stripes. These stripes will significantly distort the image, so it is better not to use such sheets to replace glass in a window.
- The thickness of the glass depends on the dimensions of the frame into which it is inserted. If its width and height are less than 600 mm, then glass 2–2.5 mm thick can be dispensed with. And if one of these parameters exceeds 600 mm, then the thickness of the glass sheet increases to 3.5–4 mm.
- When performing glazing at home, you need to cut a piece of glass 3-5 mm smaller than the frame size, because the slightest distortion of it will not allow you to insert the glass into the opening.
Glass preparation
Often, many simply forget about this important point. But high-quality cutting of glass with your own hands is impossible without its preliminary preparation. New glass should be wiped with a damp cloth. After it dries, wipe dry.
Some experts recommend using newspaper instead of a rag. It will not leave lint on the glass that could interfere with the movement of the glass cutter.
Glasses that have already been in use are cut much worse and require more careful preparation. They are washed using special detergents, and after drying, they are degreased with turpentine or kerosene. In the process of drying, it is necessary to exclude dust from entering the sheet.
Checking the tool and arranging the workplace
Before discussing how to properly cut glass, you need to decide on the tool that will be used for this specific job. In order to cut a glass sheet with your own hands, a glass cutter is most often used. There are three types of glass cutters:
- roller;
- diamond;
- oil.
The last two are used mostly by professionals. The cheapest and most common option is a glass cutter with replaceable rollers.
Regardless of the model used, before cutting glass, it is better to check the sharpening of the glass cutter. To do this, you can try to cut some unnecessary piece of glass. Ideally, the glass cutter should move with a slight rustle, leaving a thin, continuous line. If it moves with a creak, the cut line is interrupted or has the appearance of a white scratch, then either the cutting element has become dull, or errors have been made in the cutting technique.
It is also necessary to prepare a flat surface, the dimensions of which must exceed the dimensions of the sheet being cut. At home, this can be a table covered with a soft cloth. If the table is not large enough, you can put a sheet of plywood or chipboard on top of it. You will also need a marker and a tape measure for marking. If the glass will be cut with a glass cutter, then you need to prepare a thick metal ruler. Its thickness should be 8–10 mm - this is the only way you will create the necessary stop for the cutting tool.
How to use a glass cutter
In order to cut glass with your own hands with high quality, it is necessary to follow the technology and sequence of actions.
- Mark the start and end points of the cut on the sheet.
- The glass cutter is placed at the starting point and a ruler is attached to it.
Note! The ruler should not be located along the cut line, but at a distance of a few millimeters from it. This value corresponds to the distance between the tip of the glass cutter and its side surface.
- The cut is carried out smoothly, from beginning to end in one movement and with one effort. And only once. If you run a glass cutter several times in one place, then the glass will simply crack.
- Produce a chip cut piece. To do this, the notch line is combined with the edge of the table. Cause a crack by lightly tapping on the notch with a glass cutter, and then break off in one motion.
- If the chip is uneven, then excess glass can be removed with pliers or use special cutouts in the glass cutter handle. To avoid cracking, the cut line should be lightly moistened with turpentine or kerosene.
- At the final stage, the cut line is processed with sandpaper, a velvet file or a whetstone.
How else can you cut glass
What to do if there is no glass cutter at hand? There are ways in which glass is cut with a non-standard tool. This operation can be carried out with a soldering iron, grinder, nichrome thread and even ordinary scissors! Let's find out how to cut glass with your own hands in each of these ways.
- With a soldering iron. First, cuts are made with a file at the beginning and at the end of the cut line. Then, along the entire line, you must carefully draw a well-heated soldering iron. Due to the temperature difference on the sides of the surface, the glass will crack, after which it remains only to carefully break it off.
- Bulgarian. This tool is available in almost every home, so it is not surprising that it was also adapted for working with glass. In order to cut glass with a grinder, you will need a thin diamond disc. With its help, a thin groove is made along the entire cut line, along which a chip occurs in the future. But when cutting with a grinder, you need to make sure that the glass does not overheat, and be sure to use coolant. A good tool is required, otherwise the glass will simply shatter from its vibration. Be sure to protect the respiratory organs and eyes when working with a grinder on glass. Getting the smallest glass dust into them will not lead to anything good. Therefore, if you cut a sheet of glass with a grinder, you need to stock up on glasses and a respirator.
- Using heating and cooling. A thread impregnated with a combustible substance is laid along the cut line and set on fire. Immediately after it goes out, the cut line is cooled with water. The sudden change in temperature will crack the glass. Another option is to heat the glass with a nichrome thread through which an electric current passes. In this case, water is not required, the temperature difference between the two surfaces of the sheet is sufficient.
- Scissors. Thin glass up to 3 mm is cut with ordinary tailor's scissors, if this operation is performed by immersing the scissors and glass in a container of hot water. The process feels like cutting thick cardboard.
tempered glass processing
Often on the forums there is a question: how to cut tempered glass? The answer is simple: tempered glass cannot be cut or drilled. With any attempt to do this, it loses all its properties and simply shatters into small pieces. Tempered glass was used in cars before the invention of triplex technology. In the event of an accident, glass fragments were not supposed to injure passengers. So do not even try to cut tempered glass with any tool whatsoever.
To understand how to cut glass with your own hands, you just need to take and try to do it. The choice of method depends on individual skills and the availability of the necessary tools. But all these options are quite feasible at home.
