How To Cut Glass In A Circle

Video How to cut glass in a circleHave you ever watched an old movie starring the giant cat thief who walked up to the glass window and scored a perfect circle? Then he pulled out a suction cup and popped it out with ease and there he was. Only in Hollywood. When the glass is broken, it will usually have a slight flare, which makes it nearly impossible for a circle to fall out without releasing the glass around it. But there is a way to cut a perfect circle! Let’s start with the circular cutter. I like that circle cutters have a suction cup on the pivot point. This will help keep the cutter in place while you’re drawing the circle. Set your cutter for the diameter of the circle you want to cut. Remember, we’re dealing with the diameter of the circle, so if you want a 4″ circle, set your wheel at 2″. If your circular cutter ruler is metric, you can place a regular ruler in the center of the suction cup and slide the cutter head over the top of the ruler to get the size you need.Check the size of the glass circle on paper Read more: Knotted turban pattern One trick I use to check my measurements before cutting actual glasses is to take a piece of paper or cardboard and practice Cut your circle. You can see the size that you will achieve without actually cutting the glass. When you place the cutter on the glass, make sure you leave about 1/2″ from the edges of the glass. This will allow you to break your circles cleanly. If it’s too close to the edge, you’ll have a sharp nub that needs sharpening. You just waste a few glasses, later will save time grinding. Your score is the most important part of this process. Do a dry run, without actually scoring a circle, to make sure you’ll be able to score well with fluency. It never fails, you are in the middle of the point and the circle clipping bar hits something near the glass and interrupts your point. Once you feel that you are ready to take off, it’s time to start your score. Make a full rotation with the cutter, being careful not to go over where you started. You can often feel the cutter fall into the score you started with. Stop there. It’s important to have the right amount of pressure, not too hard, not too light. You can use clear window glass to practice scoring your circles so it can take some pressure off. Practice makes perfect.Morten safety breaking system and glass circular cutter Read more: how to make oak barrels Now here’s the real secret to the perfect circle break that gets you a perfect score. Use the Morton Safe Break System to run your points around the circle. Glass is like a balloon filled with air, full of energy. When you score on the surface, you want to try to release that energy that will work best for you. The Safe Break system allows you to break the score along the circle in a controlled manner. It actually has two breaking systems. Blocks and Push Buttons work similar to your pliers only stronger. The button will apply upward pressure on the bottom of the glass, while you use the Push Block to apply pressure down towards the top of the track. It allows you to gently manipulate your breaks around the circle. Running Tool is more flexible and doesn’t need a button to break the score. You can simply hold your glasses while applying pressure to the score with the Running Tool. Either tool will do the job and you can decide what you’re comfortable with. I usually make point lines at an angle to the circle, so I don’t accidentally run my cutter into the circle, which could start a new lap. Split these lines and unleash your perfect circle. If all the stars are aligned and the technique is done well, you won’t need to sharpen. Plus, check out how to cut 3 circles in less than a minute! Read more: How to design a cross stitch sampler