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Cutting Ovals Out of Glass...

Hand Lettering topics: Sign Making, Design, Fabrication, Letterheads, Sign Books.

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Larry White
Posts: 1213
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 4:18 am

Cutting Ovals Out of Glass...

Post by Larry White »

I needed a couple of ovals cut out of glass (14" x 22") for an upcoming project, so I turned to my partner and master glass cutter, Doug Philips, for assistance. Doug tells me he's been cutting glass since 1975, and the ovals he cut out for me make him "The Man".

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1. I cut the desired oval out of vinyl on my vinyl cutter and we applied it to the glass leaving a 2"+ margin all the way around.

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2. Doug then spread some 3in1 oil all around the edge where the glass was to be scored.

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3. Then, following the template, he scored the glass all the way around in one continuous motion until he heard the click of his cutter dropping into the score where he had started.
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4. After the glass was scored, he turned it over,and with the glass on our carpeted table, firmly pressed the glass, with both his thumbs, directly over the score and furthest from the edge of the glass. He firmly pressed until the glass started to run at the score mark. He then followed the run all the way around the glass pressing over the run but staying back about an inch from it's end. He followed this around until it met up with where he began. The oval was now cut out but captured by the surrounding glass which would have to be carefully removed.
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5. Doug then scored the outer margin of glass starting 1/4" away from the oval cut (and perpendicular to the cut) off the edge of the glass. He did this out over the edge of the table and supported the glass with his hand. He then, using some running pliers, carefully and slowly ran the score from the edge of the glass up to the oval cut.
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6. He made 4 of these cuts around the glass which released the inner oval from the surrounding margin of glass. Now it's ready for me to drill and do an edge scallop on it!

Doug says, always make sure you do one continuous cut all around the shape, ending where you started, do not over score the glass, and use a minimum of 4 exit cuts to remove margin. ...oh yeah, and a little practice helps. :D
Larry White
That's enough for now... it's gettin' late
Town Of Machine
http://www.walljewelry.com
Chris Welker
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2004 10:35 pm
Location: Indiana, PA

Post by Chris Welker »

Thank you Larry. I will definately be printing this out for easier reference.
Chris Welker
Indiana, PA
Sarah King
Posts: 167
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2004 8:43 pm
Location: Oak Park IL
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Post by Sarah King »

Larry -

Clear and beautiful. Don't you love those crime stories where the hero (or thief) breaks into the house by scoring a circle in the window glass? That oval is going nowhere while its held in by the margin even if the break is perfect and complete. Maybe you should post this on a mystery writers website.
Sarah King
AngelGilding.com
John Lennig
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Joined: Thu May 13, 2004 10:53 am
Location: Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
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Post by John Lennig »

Oh! Great pictures of concentration! Aren't the hands wonderful tools?

Can't we get a computer to do this? just kidding!!! Very nice, then the scallops.... oh, what will the finished project look like??

John Lennig / SignRider
"You spelled it wrong!"
Larry White
Posts: 1213
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 4:18 am

Some more wall jewelry....

Post by Larry White »

Image
It looks something like this....
Larry White
That's enough for now... it's gettin' late
Town Of Machine
http://www.walljewelry.com
Sarah King
Posts: 167
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2004 8:43 pm
Location: Oak Park IL
Contact:

Post by Sarah King »

Larry -

It's wonderful. Will you be posting any instructions for how to do this? I sure would like to see that!

Sarah
Sarah King
AngelGilding.com
Mike Jackson
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Post by Mike Jackson »

Sarah,
Due to the extreme dangers of using acid, I had hoped to keep specific instructions to these types of processes off this forum or site. Larry has his own web site and I'd feel much better/safer if he posted the specifics there. We can create a link from here to there, but for liability purposes, I think those kinds of steps are best hosted somewhere else (assuming Larry wants to do the steps and take on the liability).

I am with you, it is a wonderful piece. Congratulations to Larry White for taking a process from instruction stage to a finished piece.

Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

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Sarah King
Posts: 167
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2004 8:43 pm
Location: Oak Park IL
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Post by Sarah King »

Oops, sorry. I sure don't want to get anyone in trouble and the acid is a real problem. I'll ask my brother the lawyer if there is a good way to do this - some sort of agreement one could set up privately.

Sarah
Sarah King
AngelGilding.com
Larry White
Posts: 1213
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 4:18 am

Post by Larry White »

...if you'd like to know an overview of how it's done, feel free to give me a call. -LW
Last edited by Larry White on Wed Jun 10, 2009 1:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Larry White
Posts: 1213
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 4:18 am

Re: Cutting Ovals Out of Glass...

Post by Larry White »

HAd an inquiry about cutting an oval out of glass, so I bumped this up to the top.

-Aho!
Roderick Treece
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Re: Cutting Ovals Out of Glass...

Post by Roderick Treece »

Would you trust a guy like that to cut your oval , sure . Here another photo of him.
I miss that guy long hair or short.
Attachments
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deadman2.jpg (202.64 KiB) Viewed 8531 times
erik winkler
Posts: 1097
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 5:48 pm
Location: Amsterdam Netherlands
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Re: Cutting Ovals Out of Glass...

Post by erik winkler »

Well since Darth Father already had his introduction with the hazards of acid.
I am very interested in the step by steps.
Here in Nederland we do not have the lawsuit-claims like in America "Mc Donalds having to pay a person 4 million dollars, because they did not write on their cups that the tea could be hot and you might burn yourself".
Thank god for that. So if i can help out here and publish the info somehow I will glad to help out.

Erik
Realizing we are in the 2nd renaissance of the arts.
Learn, copy and trying to improve...
Still in the learning phase ;-)
Amsterdam Netherlands
www.ferrywinkler.nl
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Aaron Taylor
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Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2008 1:09 pm
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Re: Cutting Ovals Out of Glass...

Post by Aaron Taylor »

Thanks Larry! Now ya got a play by play on scalloping edges? I guess I would need to buy one of those nice tools from Danny.
Aaron
Brix Design
Sarah King
Posts: 167
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2004 8:43 pm
Location: Oak Park IL
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Re: Cutting Ovals Out of Glass...

Post by Sarah King »

If you don't want to cut a pattern out of vinyl, you can always use one of my very favorite tools - a Fletcher Oval and Circle Glass Cutter.

You attach the center of the jig to the glass with a suction cup, set the x and y axis to size and then move the cutter - attached to a rotating bar - around in an oval or circle to score the glass. It can cut any oval from 4 1/2" in one axis up to 24" in the other. Or set it to cut circles. We don't have it on our website yet but I can get it for you from my wholesale supplier for less than most folks I've found on the web. Let me know if you're interested. I just love this tool!

PS. Maybe my thumb isn't as strong as it should be but I have found that it helps when you are running the score on 1/4" glass to push the glass with a soft sort of tool like a wooden egg instead of my thumb. (I can see that this is one technique where a video would come in handy!! )
Sarah King
AngelGilding.com
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