Anyone with a Laser engraving machine

[vrinner]

So I do stained glass and thought about the possibility of using a laser engraving machine to score the glass and then see if I can break it.

Traditionally you use a glass cutter, score the glass which basically puts a super fine crack in the glass, then you "break" the glass along the score mark. I'm thinking that maybe an engraver could do the same thing...score the glass then I would break the glass along the laser score.

Anyone have thoughts on this or tried it?

 

[rlitman]

I doubt it would work. A rolling glass cutter scribes a groove that creates a stress riser in the sharp bottom of the notch. Laser's just aren't that focused.

 

[engineer2]

Learned something new today. It's done for industrial products. Not sure about less expensive DIY stuff.
A google search:

https://all3dp.com/2/how-to-use-a-laser-to-cut-glass/

A ring saw might be cheaper, but I don't know.

 

[vrinner]

Thanks engineer2...I did see that after I posted here. I have a ring saw and I can cut complicated and tricky shapes without any issue. I was thinking that considering I create my drawings on the computer and can then create a dxf file from that, that maybe the laser etching may score the glass better to get some exact fits in things and I could just drop a piece of glass in the laser machine and walk away while it does all the scoring, then I just run the glass to break by hand later. When cutting by hand there is always that little bit of wiggle room that ends up getting filled with a bit more or less lead. I guess I'm just being a lazy perfectionist. LOL.

 

[TobeyA]

I do stained glass also. I looked into a home water jet cutter a while back. Near $10k. I passed.

 

[engineer2]

I'll have read up on how a laser exactly cuts glass. Images show very clean cuts. Heating glass induces stresses that might cause cracking. SiO2 in glass tends to evaporate but only at high temperatures.

My wife is interested in learning stained glass. I'll tell her to keep an eye out for a used ring saw and soldering equipment.

 

[bsaint]

We tried cutting glass once on an industrial co2. We didn't have more than a day to play with it but we found the temperature gradient during cooling always cracked it.

 

[vrinner]

I do stained glass also. I looked into a home water jet cutter a while back. Near $10k. I passed.

Yeah...I looked at the Wazer when they were first coming out. Totally not worth the cost.

I'll have read up on how a laser exactly cuts glass. Images show very clean cuts. Heating glass induces stresses that might cause cracking. SiO2 in glass tends to evaporate but only at high temperatures.

My wife is interested in learning stained glass. I'll tell her to keep an eye out for a used ring saw and soldering equipment.

I have a ring saw and hardly ever use it but when I need it it's great to have. Of the hundreds of projects I've done, I think I have only used it on maybe 3 or 4 of them. So if she is interested in learning stained glass she really doesn't need one for most things. I bought mine when I first started doing stained glass thinking it would be better than scoring and breaking...it's not for most thing, just takes a lot more time. The one below is an example of absolutely needing a ring saw. It could also have been done with a grinder but that would be a lot of grinding.

 

[no704]

Might be able to adapt a CNc router with a spring loaded diamond wheel for relatively cheap??

 

[slodat]

I have a 150w CO2 laser..

 

[vrinner]

I have a 150w CO2 laser..

My guess is a machine of that size is pretty expensive. I think my questions have been answered though previously. Not really an effective way to cut/score glass, and especially for the cost of a machine big enough to actually cut entirely through glass.

 

[loganb]

For industrial/mfg purposes its generally water jet, no experience with lasering but makes me wonder with my baby 40w unit. I work in windows/doors and whenever we have glass shapes with inside corners/angles it's generally water jet as the inside corners if cut conventionally will generally have significant stress built up leading to breakage.