Do-it-yourself glass cutting at home

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 ready-made glass of the required size. Of course, you can turn to a specialist for help, but this 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 a blue or greenish tint to its ends.

Scratched sheets should not be used.
If all the rules are not followed during the process of rolling glass or cooling it, 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 size of the frame into which it is inserted. If its width and height are less than 600 mm, then you can get by with glass 2–2.5 mm thick. And if one of these parameters exceeds 600 mm, then the thickness of the glass sheet increases to 3.5–4 mm.
When doing glazing at home, you need to cut a piece of glass 3–5 mm smaller than the size of the frame, because the slightest distortion will not allow the glass to be inserted into the opening.

Compliance with safety regulations

To avoid injury, you should work with gloves. Pay attention to shoes that should be durable so that accidental glass does not cut your feet. It is necessary to dress in thick overalls made of thick fabric.

Sources

https://vopros-remont.ru/obshhie-voprosy/kak-rezat-steklo-pravilno-uchimsya-rezke-svoimi-rukami/
https://stroypomochnik.ru/kak-rezat-steklorezom-01/
https://domsdelat.ru/instrumenty/kak-pravilno-rezat-steklo-v-domashnix-usloviyax.html
https://HouseDiz.ru/kak-prosto-rezat-steklo-v-domashnix-usloviyax-svoimi-rukami-steklorezom/
https://FB.ru/article/264894/kak-otrezat-steklo-bez-stekloreza-poshagovaya-instruktsiya-sposobyi-i-rekomendatsii
https://setafi.com/lajfhaki/kak-bez-stekloreza-razrezat-steklo-v-domashnih-usloviyah/
https://2lzz.ru/ruchnoj-instrument/steklorez/7-sposobov-kak-bez-stekloreza-razrezat-steklo
https://izobreteniya.net/kak-razrezat-steklo-bez-stekloreza/

Glass preparation

Often many people simply forget about this important point. But high-quality glass cutting with your own hands is impossible without preliminary preparation. New glass should be wiped with a damp cloth. After it dries, wipe dry.

Some experts recommend using newspaper rather than a rag. It will not leave lint on the glass that could interfere with the movement of the glass cutter.

Glass that has already been used cuts much worse and requires more careful preparation. They are washed using special detergents, and after drying, degreased with turpentine or kerosene. During the drying process, it is necessary to prevent dust from entering the sheet.

Tools

There are many devices used to cut glass into shapes, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

The diamond glass cutter is a tool that has been used for a long time. It successfully copes with professional tasks and is suitable for domestic purposes. It is designed as follows: a small natural diamond is fixed in a special holder with a handle. This tool is suitable for material with a thickness of no more than 10 mm.
Oil - capable of cutting fabric up to 20 mm thick. Some of the models sold have movable heads, which are indispensable if curved cutting of glass is necessary.
A device with an artificial crystal differs from the first only in the cutter used. Well close to natural, much cheaper, but less effective. The thickest surface that lends itself to it is 5 mm.
Roller is also an effective and common device, consisting of a roller made of a very hard alloy. It is attached to the handle, models can have from 1 to 6 circles, designed for material no more than 4 mm.
A glass cutter is a compass, it is suitable for those cases when it is necessary to prepare round or oval shapes.
Quick cutter for glass - used for high-speed cutting. It has an oil head that lubricates the cutting lines with a special mixture. The tool has a special scale on which you can set the cutting width, thanks to which the work is carried out without problems.

Checking tools 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 mainly 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 sharpness of the glass cutter. To do this, you can try cutting 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 looks like a white scratch, then either the cutting element is dull or errors were 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 could 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 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 support for the cutting tool.

How to replace a glass cutter

Not only professional tools will help when cutting glass, but also not quite ordinary ones, for example, such as scissors or a grinder. They can easily cope with such work under certain conditions.

Scissors cannot cut glass in the air, but you can cut glass with scissors in water.
In a liquid, gravity is less and the scissors make not a cut, but a microcrack. This crack plays the role of a capillary into which water will enter. Capillary water has a wedging effect at weak points of crystallization and the glass breaks off in pieces. Interesting! If it is necessary to cut out shaped parts, the glass is placed in cold water and then boiled for several hours.
After cooling, the tension inside is relieved and the material becomes soft. There are several ways and options for cutting thick glass. The simplest one is to use an oil glass cutter if the thickness is no more than 20 mm. But as an option, you can use a grinder. The dimensions of the tool should be small and convenient. The diameter of the circle is the smallest, then it will be easier to work with.

How to use a glass cutter correctly

To cut glass with your own hands, you must follow the technology and sequence of actions.

The starting and ending points of the cut are marked on the sheet.
Place the glass cutter at the starting point and attach a ruler to it.

Note! The ruler should not be located along the cut line, but at a distance of several 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 start to finish in one movement and with one effort. And only once. If you run a glass cutter over one place several times, the glass will simply crack.
The cut piece is chipped. To do this, the cut line is aligned with the edge of the table. They cause a crack by lightly tapping the cut with a glass cutter, and then break it off in one motion.

If the chip is uneven, then excess glass can be removed with pliers or using special cutouts in the handle of the glass cutter. 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 grindstone.

Types and methods of cutting

Depending on the complexity of the work being performed, lines can be divided into the following categories.

Simple straight lines, with which you can get shapes such as a rectangle, square, trapezoid, rhombus with certain dimensions in length and width.
Curly - thanks to them you can get curved shapes, which can be rounded, wavy and with various internal cutouts. With such a canvas you can realize the most incredible design ideas in unexpected combinations.

Cutting mirrors and glass can be done in the following ways.

Manual - performed with a special circular knife (glass cutter). This technique is considered the cheapest compared to others, but the treated area can only be small. For example, glass furniture inserts, table tops and shelves.
Automatic - carried out on special equipment, which guarantees high accuracy and speed of execution. In this case, glass cutting and processing takes place efficiently, quickly and on a large scale.
Sandblasting is the most common. The work is carried out with abrasive particles, which are released under high pressure onto the contours of the product not protected by film. The technology helps to produce complex shapes with high cut quality and accuracy. In this way it is possible to decorate the glass itself and apply a variety of designs, images and patterns to it.
Waterjet is a proven and old technique that involves supplying water along with abrasive particles to the canvas. Using a fine jet, both simple and shaped cutting of glass is carried out with excellent edge quality and high precision. This method allows you to process a lot of material with a minimum amount of waste.
Laser is considered a modern technology with which you can obtain a high-quality product with a smooth cut that does not require additional processing. Using this method, filigree figures of varying complexity are made.

How else can you cut glass?

What to do if you don’t have a glass cutter at hand? There are ways in which glass is cut with non-standard tools. This operation can be carried out with a soldering iron, grinder, nichrome thread and even ordinary scissors! Let's find out how to properly cut glass with your own hands using each of these methods.

Using a soldering iron. First, cuts are made with a file at the beginning and end of the cutting line. Then you need to carefully run a well-heated soldering iron along the entire line. Due to the temperature difference on the sides of the surface, the glass will crack, after which all that remains is to carefully break it off.
Bulgarian. This tool is found in almost every home, so it is not surprising that it has also been 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 cutting line, along which later chipping occurs. But when cutting with a grinder, you need to make sure that the glass does not overheat, and be sure to use coolant. You need a good tool, otherwise the glass will simply shatter from its vibration. When working with an angle grinder on glass, it is imperative to protect your respiratory organs and eyes. 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 soaked in a flammable substance is laid along the cutting line and set on fire. Immediately after it goes out, the cutting line is cooled with water. A sudden temperature change will cause the glass to crack. Another option is to heat the glass with a nichrome thread through which an electric current passes. In this case, no water is required, the temperature difference between the two surfaces of the sheet is sufficient.
Scissors. Thin glass up to 3 mm can be 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.

Cutting with scissors

In addition to a glass cutter, scissors can also be used to cut glass. But this also needs to be done correctly. To work you will need:

the scissors themselves, it’s better to take sewing ones;
a tank with (preferably) hot water.

As in the previous case, apply markings to the glass in advance. During the work process, when cutting with scissors, a microcrack is created, and in the end everything ends with a capillary effect. This is all elementary physics.

The result obtained, of course, will not be ideal, but if there is a need to do something urgently, then this cutting method will do.

Tempered glass processing

The question often comes up on forums: how to cut tempered glass? The answer is simple: tempered glass cannot be cut or drilled. Whenever you try to do this, it loses all its properties and simply shatters into small pieces. Tempered glass was used in cars before triplex technology was invented. During the accident, glass fragments should not have injured passengers. So you shouldn’t even try to cut tempered glass with any tool.

To understand how to cut glass with your own hands, you just need to take it and try 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.

How to make a hole for a handle

There are several options - either drill using a drill with a pobedite nozzle, organizing a bath of plasticine with camphor and turpentine on the surface, or using the thermal method. To do this, apply fine wet river sand to the glass, and using a sharpened rod, make a funnel in it, into which molten solder or lead is dripped. After a couple of minutes, the sand and solder are removed.

Maybe someone will consider the list of methods incomplete - we have a lot of Kulibin methods, and there are many more options for solving the problem. But the advantage of the methods described, and in bold, is that they work.

Advantages of waterjet technique

There is no heat treatment of the material (the cutting area is heated to 60–90ºС). Thanks to this, the glass does not deform, burn or melt during the process. The heat that is released in the process is carried away along with the water.
Wide range of processed materials (granite, marble, stone, steel, plastic, wood, rubber and ceramics).
The thickness of glass that water can cut varies from 0.5 mm to 195 mm.
Cutting in a circle of any curvature. The method helps to cut the material along the required trajectory, including corners, holes, oblique lines and various radius curves.
Economical material consumption. The cutting width is no more than 0.5 mm.
You can do without further processing of the edge. It does not require further grinding or polishing.
Ecological cleanliness of the process. Thanks to the water jet, there is no dust, crumbs do not pollute the air. This also helps save on protective equipment that is required with other techniques.
Full automation of the process.

What is a glass cutter and what is it used for?

This type of tool, such as a glass cutter, is designed to reduce the size of flat glass, as well as adjust it to the appropriate dimensions.
The principle of operation of this device is that a scratch is applied to the surface of the glass, along the line of which a uniform fracture occurs. The tool has a simple design consisting of the following elements:

The handle is the supporting part of the tool. Made from steel, wood or plastic
The head is the working part, which looks like a hammer. The cutting element is attached to the head
The cutting part or cutter is the base through which a furrow or groove is created

The cutting part is a carbide material that is coated with diamond or is a diamond crystal. There are two types of tool heads - movable and fixed. The movable head allows you to cut curved lines according to the template. The cutting element is attached to the head using silver solder. The cutter can be of three types:

In the form of a four-sided regular pyramid - the angle of the cutting edge in relation to the holder should not be more than 30 degrees
Curved design - straight edge projection has a tolerance of 0.015 mm
The roller is the most popular type of cutting element, which is popular in the household.

Glass cutters are divided into types based on their operating principle. The simplest and cheapest are roller type tools. The most expensive are diamond models, on which a diamond cutter is installed. We will find out more about what types of glass cutters there are below.