Scoring Glass with the CNC Machines
 Scoring glass with the CNC machines can be
straightforward.It is important for the cutter to swivel as it scores the glass. A simple cutter that can freewheel, like a caster, was made from hardware store glass cutters. They were cut and ground so they could be soldered inside a 1/4 inch OD pipe. These were installed in a router in place of the bit; the un-powered router permitted the swiveling movement. Image below. |
 The
cutter on the far left had to be bent so the cutting wheel was behind
the
center of rotation, as in a caster. This cutter was made of softer
metal and did not work as
well as the type of cutter shown in the bottom image.The router can be a bit stiff as a swivel. To remedy this, a pair of 3/8 inch ID bearings were pressed into simple bearing blocks and a 3/8 inch pipe was inserted into the bearings. The pipe had to be lightly sanded to fit. |
 The blocks were screwed onto hardboard which was notched and drilled to use the existing router support hardware. A glass cutter like the one shown below the swivel was ground to fit inside the pipe and bearings. The glass circle was scored with the CNC machine, and manually removed from the pane. The glass stock rested on felt as the scoring was done. This helped to keep the correct scoring pressure. It was easiest to hand-set the Z depth so the tension could be felt. Jogging to the proper tension resulted in broken glass. Sure beats freehand work. |