Need Help Cutting Glass!!!

[brokenlaser]

I'd do more than 240w, that small of a laser will be working pretty hard all the time to cut glass. If it is a sealed unit it will eat up the gas inside running hard all the time. Depending on the room you have and if you have true 3 phase service, a used industrial machine may be cheaper in the long run.

[eorourke]

My experience tells me that you can use a H2O jet mounted on an X,Y CNC table. There are a wide variety of H2O jets available. This is excellent for cutting glass using garnet as your media. The haze that would develop from the cutting action would be eliminated by passing the glass over a flame. You would also get the benefit of a narrow kerf and you could cut very tight inside radii.
You could also use a CNC router but your limitations would be in your kerf width and inside radii. There are also nesting programs available to maximize your material usage.

[Matt29c]

I dont know much about lasers. I got a Laser Cutting Utility from Synrad that has a automatic conversion sheet, Put in the material cutting,wattage,thickness of material and then it calculates the inches/minute And with 240w of power will cut mild steel 1/10" at 40.10 In/min (says the applet) I dont know maybe 240w is small, but I dont have much experience.

[chan luci]

Water jet cutting is best to cut glass and we can do it for you
Regards

[ckm]

One of the episodes of How It's Made showed a CNC glass cutter. It was basically a CNC router table with a scoring tool instead of a bit (and no router).

They were cutting automotive windshields, it was Season 6, Episode 10 - Windshields - English Saddles - Butter - Post Clocks. You can find downloads of it around.

The only interesting thing was that the bit swiveled to match the direction of the cut.

Pretty neat.


Chris.

[probinson]

If you have money to burn or if cutting glass will produce income then an abrasive jet or laser might be a good option. For those of us with little to no budget, however, a diamond scribe is the best option. This will need to be mounted in a spring-loaded holder ( I use a CNC tap holder ). You score the glass then run a propane torch along the score lines to fracture the glass.

It will take some experimentation with spring pressure, flame size, flame speed, and lots of practice to get good at it but glass is a lot cheaper than lasers or water jets.

[eorourke]

You are correct as a H2O jet is espensive to run but if you have production requirements then it is the fastest and most cost effective way to cut glass.

[markospatricio]

Dear friends

If the question is cutt an complicate dising on glass with an cnc machine.
the work is easy, with an simple router machine plus some diamond drills can be, need work with pure water toguether. the laser porcess is expensive and if you thing in water jet sistem is more expensive.in my experience is bether if work with powercraft handpiece 300,000 0r 400,000rpm http://www.sculptingstudio.com/index.php and diamond tools http://www.ukam.com/

good look