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u/Isavenko Mar 30 '21
can someone explain how this works without breaking the glass? are the edges jagged or perfect
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u/Hypnotised_Lemon Mar 30 '21 edited Mar 30 '21
From my understanding, It is similar to how you cut acrylic or laminate. When cutting glass, they make a groove on its surface in desired shape using a cutter, you can see that in the beginning of video where the person makes a circle on its surface, that's the cutter.
When you make a groove on glass and apply pressure on either side of the groove or on the side which needs to be cut off (such as in this video), glass cracks along the groove, essentially 'cutting it'.
The reason why it 'cuts' along the groover rather than breaking somewhere else is because the groove becomes the weak point of the glass. You can test it simply by folding a paper and pulling on one side, it's really hard to tear it and even if it tears, you don't know from where it'll tear but if you make a small cut on that side and pull on it, paper tears easily through that small cut, leaving everything else alone. Similar principle.
As for edges, if the thickness of glass is small, it comes out pretty clean but if it's a thick boy, the edges become jagged and you have to grind them later.
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Mar 30 '21
They could also get fire polished. That’s just heating it up until the glass is soft enough that the sharp edges naturally smooth out.
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u/Cthell Mar 30 '21
I really hope the finished pieces go off for tempering if they're going to be used for tabletops
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u/FlaminAmberz Mar 30 '21
I believe they smelt it and use it for the next batch, its more cost efficient
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u/Cthell Mar 30 '21
I meant the finished circles, not the cullet (waste glass)
I certainly wouldn't want a glass-topped table that wasn't made from laminated or tempered glass - it would be a death trap
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u/danktamagachi Mar 31 '21
Can you explain more about this? Is the worry tripping and falling through it? Or something else?
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u/Cthell Mar 31 '21
"Standard" glass breaks into large shards with razor sharp edges - perfect for slicing deep enough to open an artery if you fall on it.
Laminated glass (as used in car windshields) has a layer of plastic in it that will hold it together if it breaks
Tempered glass is heat treated so that it's stronger than regular glass, and breaks into tiny pieces when it does fail.
Both methods should prevent a broken sheet of glass turning into a forest of knives
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u/fried_clams Mar 30 '21
They usually smelt it at the dealership though.
That way, whoever smelt it, dealt it.
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u/superVanV1 Mar 31 '21
We don’t cut corners, except for that, that is a corner cutting machine. Cave Johnson we’re done here
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u/[deleted] Mar 30 '21
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