Can an angle grinder cut glass?. How to cut a mirror without a glass cutter

Cutting glass with a diamond wheel angle grinder. How to cut with an angle grinder

Tempered glass is considered one of the most common materials. Hardening technology is used to increase its strength. After such a procedure, the degree of machinability of the material is significantly reduced. When considering whether you can cut tempered glass, let us note that only when using special techniques can you avoid the appearance of the defect. Nowadays you can cut tempered glass at home and use different tools to do it.

Before you start, prepare the glass: wash it with water, degrease it with gasoline. If it will be mounted in a frame, you will have to adjust the product to the right size. It is necessary to cut an additional 2 mm of the material on each side. This only applies to wooden frames, because they can shrink and expand when exposed to weather conditions.

Before you cut the glass, you must prepare the space. You will need a table or some kind of support to operate it. This will make it easier to cut and help break the piece more evenly. If this is the first time the craftsman has to cut the material, he should practice on small pieces to understand the basic principles. Only then can you move on to cutting large sheets of glass.

How to choose the right glass

Masters glassmakers advise to pay attention to the following points when choosing glass:

• You should not use scratched sheets.
• If all the rules are not followed in the process of rolling or cooling the glass, such sheets may have defects in the form of stripes. These strips will significantly distort the image, so to replace the glass in the window such sheets are better not to use.
• The thickness of the glass depends on the size of the frame into which it is being inserted. If its width and height is less than 600 mm, you can do with 2-2.5 mm thick glass. And if one of these parameters exceeds 600 mm, the thickness of the sheet glass increases to 3,5-4 mm.
• Performing glazing at home, you need to cut a piece of glass 3-5 mm smaller than the size of the frame, because the slightest skew will not allow the insertion of glass in the opening.

The second way

difficult, but much more effective way to reduce the amount of dust when cutting the plexiglass with angle grinder is to use a construction or household vacuum cleaner.

In this case it is necessary to have either a special device, which when cutting plexiglas by suction of produced particles makes it safe to work with the material, or, again, use improvised means.

The easiest way is to take a polyethylene pipe and use duct tape to build a suction pipe with a vacuum cleaner. In this case, you can use sanitary PVC pipes and accessories that are sold to them.

Tools

Before the cutting, it is worth choosing the tool that will be used to cut the glass. Ideally, a glass cutter is used to cut the sheets. It will do an excellent job, provided that the amount of work is small. But if you do not have a cutter. you can always find him an alternative.

Many people replace the glass cutter with an angle grinder. Replace at least because the angle grinder has in the arsenal of almost every owner. It is important to remember that you can use an angle grinder when you need to make a small length cut.

Basic safety rules

Before you cut wood with an angle grinder you need to know the safety rules. The basic of these rules are as follows:

• It is obligatory to use personal protective equipment (protective plastic glasses, fabric gloves), to work in overalls.
• Do not use discs with defects under any circumstances.
• It is recommended to hold the angle grinder firmly with 2 hands.
• Always make sure the power cord is not near the rotating disc.
• Do not turn the angle grinder until the cutting element has come to a complete stop.
• Do not remove the blade guard.
• Do not work while intoxicated.

You should not use tooling that is not designed for angle grinder work. Circular saw cutting attachments should not be used for the following objective reasons

• An angle grinder has a higher rotational speed than a circular saw. The disc is designed for lower speed, so it may break at high speed. Flying splinters can be harmful to health.
• The wood has a more ductile texture and knotty inclusions that make the tines enter the material unevenly. If the disc jams, the tool can be ripped out of your hands, which can lead to dangerous injuries.
• Due to the unevenness of the loads, overheating of the equipment occurs and failure is possible.

Diamond cutting disc. cuts stone cleanly.

Let’s continue to deal with the tool and its accessories, and today I will tell you what you need a diamond cutting disc, what kinds are there, and let’s run through the and manufactures, so you know what kind of discs to buy. I hope that each of you has an angle grinder. an indispensable tool for most jobs, where you need to cut or grind something. In this article, let’s take apart the discs for the angle grinder, because stone can only be cut at home with an angle grinder.

Many people mistakenly think that once a diamond disk, they can saw everything, and nothing can be done to it. This opinion is fundamentally wrong, first of all such a disk is designed for cutting stone. brick (silicate and red), concrete, marble, granite, slate, paving stone, tile and porcelain tile. Of course there are expensive professional discs for concrete, which cut concrete with armature inside like butter, but they are very expensive, and in my next articles I will tell you about them.

So, an ordinary diamond cutting disc for angle grinder. only for stone. For the size I think we don’t need to say, of course you know that cutting-off wheels are 115 mm, 125 mm, 150 mm, 180 mm, 200 mm and 230 mm. The average size is also rare, most people have an angle grinder to 115-125 mm. a small angle grinder and 230 mm. a large angle grinder. So, what types of diamond cutting discs are there, let’s deal with them, because many people, when they want to buy a diamond disc, don’t even know what kind they need and what they can cut at all. For daily use in everyday life the segmented diamond wheel is perfect (for dry cutting). You can see how it looks in the photo below.

Segmented diamond disc. for dry cutting

The disk is made in the form of segments around the circumference, it is necessary for the cooling of the disk. Remember once and for all. the diamond disc should be cooled down, only then it will serve you long and faithfully. But many people buy a dry cutting disc and saw a continuous trimmer line in the concrete for 10 minutes without stopping. This is a major violation of the rules of using a diamond disc, if they saw for at least 3 minutes the diamonds will be inoperative in no time. So try not to saw more than 2 minutes continuously, or better yet not more than 1 minute. You sawed for 30 seconds. took out the disk from a kerf, waited when it will stop, then saw again.

on a side note: A thousand ways to use aligners

Diss for dry cutting can saw any bricks (white, red, fireclay), slate, paving stone, asphalt, marble, granite (I immediately noticed that the natural stone needs to saw special circles, but as an option you can cut and such, if not always). Also, with a certain amount of skill segmented diamond disc can cut tiles, although for tiles there are special diamond cutting discs. solid for wet cutting. Segmented discs are not very good for cutting tiles, they bounce around because of their segments. You need a solid disc for tile.

The second most popular disc. combined, “Turbo”. as you can see in the photo below, it is solid, but the cooling is due to the wave design. It is possible to cut any stone with it, such blade is more universal, but it is more expensive than the segmented one. This disc can cut tiles without any chips even dry. It is also convenient for sawing bricks and any other stone.

Since we are considering diamond cutting discs for home use I will not tell you about expensive, super mega quality professional discs, we are going to review inexpensive discs for home use. After all, many people buy them just for once, and then it lies idle on a shelf in the garage. Why pay a lot of money if you only need to cut a couple of times? So we will save our money.

Of the best-selling and most popular household diamond wheels, we generally switched to them, because they are fully in the price-quality category, moderately expensive and the quality is very decent. Also not bad wheels and “Matrix”. well-known household brands, inexpensive, for the home is the best.

I am often asked if it is possible to cut iron with a diamond wheel?

I answer, yes, you can, I was sawing myself, but only when the diamond disk was not mine but my employer’s.) If I bought the disk for myself I would not cut iron because diamond cutting disk gets clogged with iron dust much faster than stone dust. And in fact, in the instructions of some models it is written in black and white. do not cut metal! Of course, if you have to cut fixtures and you don’t have a cutting wheel for metal at hand, you can make a couple of cuts with a diamond wheel, but no more.

Also as a side note: GOI paste. everything you didn’t know

But is it worth buying a diamond cutting wheel when you can buy an ordinary stone cutting wheel??

There are also such questions. The answer is. It all depends on what you are going to cut and in what quantity. Disks-dry cutters for stone (Luga. green), are a penny. 35, but they’re just great to cut lime brick (white) and marble. They cut right through like butter. So my opinion. for cutting white brick is not worth buying a diamond disc. On the other hand, if you plan to cut a lot, then you’d better buy a diamond cutter. It saves money because it is indestructible and a simple dry cutter gets worn out (in case you didn’t know)). If you have to saw red brick. it is very tough, simple stone circles burn on it instantly, as well as on concrete, so there is only one choice. to buy a diamond disc, preferably a segment one.

115 mm. 170 125 mm. 200 230 mm. 650

If you treat a diamond cutting disc with care, it will last a very long time, especially when used at home.

How to use the cutter properly

To qualitatively cut the glass with your own hands, you need to observe the technology and sequence of actions.

Pay attention! The ruler should not be positioned along the cut line, but a few millimeters away from it. This value corresponds to the distance between the tip of the glass cutter and the side of the glass pane.

• The cut is made smoothly from beginning to end with one motion and one gesture. And only once. If you go over the same area several times with the glass cutter, the glass will simply crack.
• Make a chipping of the cut piece. To do this, align the notch trimmer line with the edge of the table. Causing the crack by lightly tapping the cut with the glass cutter, and then breaking it in one motion.
• If the cut is not even, you can remove the excess glass with pliers, or use the notches in the handle of the glass cutter. To avoid cracking the cut the trimmer line should be lightly moistened with turpentine or kerosene.
• In the final stage, the line for the trimmer cut is treated with sandpaper, a velvet file or a sharpening stone.

Preparing the glass for cutting

The degree of difficulty of the preparatory work depends on the condition of the material. Thus, if it is necessary to obtain finished products from glass that has just been purchased, no special efforts will have to be made. In this case, simply wipe the surface. No need to use special detergents. Use newspaper to remove stains and dust. This method makes it possible to prepare the glass surfaces quickly. Do not use a cloth, t. к. there is a risk of getting lint on the glass surface. Only microfiber is an exception.

Used glass is prepared more thoroughly:

• It must be cleaned using a special glass cleaner;
• wipe the surface dry;
• the last step is to degrease the glass, for this purpose use a rag soaked in kerosene.

leave the sheet to dry in a closed room before starting work. You can additionally cover the material with foil so you don’t have to repeat the cleaning procedure. The preparatory stage also includes cutting the material. If you want to make a circle of glass or other shaped elements, it is desirable to apply the contours as close as possible to each other. Then the consumption of material will be small. Long elements should be placed along the larger side of the sheet of glass.

Tools for work

Before you start cutting glass, you should decide what tool to use. Most often cut glass sheets with a special tool. a glass cutter. It is ideal for small-scale work tasks. But there are many other tools with which you can at home to fit the glass.

For example, many home craftsmen can successfully cut glass with an angle grinder. Such a tool is available in the arsenal of almost every homeowner. But please note that you should only use an angle grinder for cutting glass when you want to make a short cut. It is extremely difficult to use a ruler in this case.

To cut a piece of glass with an angle grinder, a thin diamond disc must be installed on it. Cut at low speed. In this way it is possible to reduce the risk of premature splitting of the glass sheet and obtaining glass dust in large quantities.

• A disk of the appropriate thickness is installed on the tool.
• Area of the cut is slightly moistened. it is better just to sprinkle the glass with water.
• Use the disk to make a fine groove in the glass.
• Then a cut is made along this groove.

So, the answer to the question whether you can cut glass with an angle grinder can be positive. But it is necessary to keep an eye out for various trifles during the work. In particular, do not allow the glass to overheat. you can stock up on cooling fluid for this.

Only quality tools should be chosen for cutting glass. Otherwise the vibrations would shatter the glass. Protect your eyes and respiratory organs well before use to prevent glass powder from getting into them.