How to cut glass with an angle grinder
In any home, glass replacement is sometimes required. Regardless of whether you’re going to fit it into a window, door, or closet, you first need to make the letter fit. It is extremely rare to find a ready-made version of a suitable size.
In such cases, you can turn to professional craftsmen for help and pay for their services. But this approach is far from always convenient, since it is quite costly, not only financially, but also in terms of the amount of time spent. Any owner can independently study this issue and cut glass in accordance with their requests.
Choosing quality cutting material
One of the hallmarks of quality glass is the green or blue tint of the ends. In the manufacture of glass, technological inaccuracies are sometimes allowed. The result is sheets with stripes on them. It is not worth using such sheets to insert into the window. They distort images noticeably. DO NOT take glass plates from scratches.
As for the thickness of the glass to be cut, it should depend on the size of the frame. With a height and width less than 600 mm, letters with a thickness of 2.5 mm will suffice. If the height or width exceeds this value, the glass sheet should be approximately 4 mm thick.
When glazing at home, a piece of glass should be cut so that it is 3-5 mm smaller than the size of the frame intended for its insertion. With the slightest misalignment, insert the glass into the frame It will not work.
Before starting cutting, the glass must be properly prepared. If it is new, wipe the plate with a damp cloth, then dry newspaper. Wipe with dry cloth is not recommended. It can leave lint particles on the surface, which can interfere with the movement of the tool when cutting.
Tools for work
Before you start cutting glass, you should decide which tool to do it. Most often, glass sheets are cut using a special tool. Glass cutter. It is ideal for small workloads. But there are many other tools with which you can adjust the glass to size at home.
For example, many DIYers can successfully cut glass with an angle grinder. Such a tool is available in the arsenal of almost every home owner. But it must be borne in mind that an angle grinder can be used to cut glass only when it is required to make a cut of a small length. Using the ruler is extremely difficult.
In the future, work is carried out as follows:
- Fit a disc of suitable thickness to the tool.
- The cutting area is slightly damp. Better to just pour water on the glass.
- Using a disc, a thin furrow is drawn along the glass.
- Then a chipping is performed along this furrow.
So, when asked if an angle grinder can cut glass, the answer can be positive. But at the same time it is necessary to monitor various little things during work. In particular, the glass must not be allowed to overheat. To do this, you can stock up on liquid for cooling.
For cutting glass, you need to choose only high-quality tools. Otherwise, the glass may shatter from vibration during operation. Before work, try to protect the organs of vision and respiration well, so that glass powder does not get into them.
Working with ceramic tiles
Ceramic angle grinder is cut with the introduction of a steel disc with fine-grained diamond coating. This is the so-called dry cutting method.
Dry cutting discs are of two types: segmented and solid. They can cut ceramic floor tiles without coolant for 1-1.5 minutes. After that, the disk is cooled by idle rotation. The segmented disc cuts well Not only porcelain stoneware, but also natural stone: marble, granite, shungite, malachite and other types. Its slots serve to cool the disc during operation, but they also contribute to the formation of chips.
With a solid dry cutting disc, you can cut off paving ceramic tiles with practically no chips, and also process the edge part of the cut with a side working face.
Basic rules for cutting metal products
When cutting metal, the following rules should be observed:
- The durability of cutting discs and the angle grinder itself largely depends on the duration of continuous operation. Therefore, work should be paused after 5-7 minutes of cutting. This is especially true for household tools, which are NOT intended for intensive work.
- All workpieces Must be securely fixed with a vise or clamps.
- Cooling is recommended when cutting thick metal. To do this, doused the cutting area with cold water.
- When cutting viscous aluminum, kerosene can be added to the cut to reduce friction and better cooling of the blade, do not forget in fire safety.
- When cutting metal, the primary focus should be on the cut-off wheel. You need to make sure that it is NOT pinched by the edges of the metal workpiece. Therefore, we must strive to ensure that the cut piece hangs freely in the air. This primarily applies to long profiles: pipes, corners, cobblestones, fittings and other lengths.
- Cutting metal profiles: corners, stamps, rails, channels must be done not in one go, but separately cut each shelf.
- In massive workpieces with a large thickness, all cuts are made straight. If you want to cut a curved contour, then first, segment straight through cuts are made, with the removal of unnecessary sectors.
- You do not need to press on the angle grinder when cutting. Its own weight is sufficient for its effective work. Excessive force can cause the cutting disc to break or jam. Such loads will cause the angle grinder to overheat. If the cutting is not fast enough, it is necessary to replace the worn out disc with a new one.
- The cutting disc should not be used to cut the cut edge. For THESE purposes, other types of discs are used.
- Before starting work with metal blanks, you must definitely think about the protection of plastic, glass, wood products. Sparks consisting of molten metal mixed with abrasive dust can stick to them, it will be difficult to get rid of defects later.
Features of cutting different types of metal
Different types of metal. High-alloy stainless steel, cast iron, non-ferrous metals are cut with special wheels, made separately for each type of material.
All information is given in the marking, which is located on the side of the abrasive disc. It is strongly not recommended to cut stainless steel with ordinary discs, since they contain substances that can destroy the protective film. Over time, the place of such a cut will begin to corrode.
There are types of cutting discs for hard steel and cast iron, for soft aluminum, copper, brass and other non-ferrous metals. Their main difference between themselves. As part of fillers. Some discs have been added with a super strong material that can overcome the resistance of alloy steels. Others. Soft bond that does NOT grease. This is an important quality you need when cutting tough materials. Aluminum and other non-ferrous metals.
The same goes for steel sheets. They are cut with special discs designed for different thickness of rolled products. Thin sheets (profiled sheet, sheet metal, etc.) are cut with very thin steel discs with a fine tooth, and thick metal (reinforcement, angle, channel) is cut with thicker abrasive discs.
How to chisel an angle grinder
With a compact angle grinder and a diamond disc, it is easy to make a cut in the hard plaster for the water supply for electrical wiring.
The markup is done in advance. Material is removed from the cut water pipe using a perforator or chisel. The use of an angle grinder greatly speeds up the process of wiring to sockets, switches and lights. over, the strobe turns out to be even, of the required width, with smooth walls. The only drawback. Lots of dust and dirt. Neither a gauze bandage nor a respirator can save them. True, craftsmen make a device in the form of a sealed casing for sucking off dust from the cutting zone. The design turns out to be quite cumbersome and interferes with productive work a little.
Cutting angle grinder of large holes: round, rectangular
The angle grinder is able to cut round holes in tiles.
To make a hole, proceed as follows:
- First, the center of the future hole is marked on the ceramic tile.
- Drill with a tungsten carbide drill Small diameter through hole (3-5 mm).
- A circle of the required diameter is drawn on both sides of the ceramic.
- Solid disc angle grinder cuts around the circumference on both sides to a depth of 1-2 mm.
- Inside the contour, an angle grinder is made through long cuts and pieces of ceramic are broken off with pliers.
- The inner surface of the cut hole is cleaned manually with sandpaper or a file.
If with a drill near the mowing line of the contour of the drill, holes with a diameter of 5-8 mm at some distance from each other, and then an angle grinder between them along the mowing line of the contour, make through cuts and segment the inner part with them. You can make holes of rectangular and other random shapes.
Metal work
Metal. This is the material that this instrument was originally created to work with. With its help, rebar, cobblestone, pipes and all profiles of long products are easily cut. For this work, special cutting discs are used. Any work with metal is prohibited without removing the protective cover, canvas gloves and goggles. When cutting metal, many sparks, abrasive disc pieces and metal dust are generated which pose a serious threat to the operator and the environment. Cutting metal requires accuracy, thoughtfulness, and slowness. For cleaning welding seams, cleaning the surface from rust, scale, grinding and polishing, special discs are produced from hard wire, abrasive, foam rubber and other materials.
Wood cutting
The special disc for wood has side teeth that increase the size of the cut. In any case, the wood must be dusty. The thickness of the boards should not exceed 4 cm.
Wood cutting angle grinder. This is a very unsafe activity during which you can easily get hurt. At the same time, it is strictly forbidden to use circles from a circular saw, because they are designed to work at a speed that does NOT exceed 3000 rpm. If jamming occurs, such circles can collapse. This is due to the fact that they are made from hard, but relatively brittle steel. Also, do not use bits with large teeth, because the likelihood of the teeth catching and jamming the circle increases. In this case, the likelihood of pulling out the power tool from the hands increases many times.
If, despite the increased danger, it is decided to saw the boards with an angle grinder, then you must adhere to the following recommendations.
- If it is possible to adjust the number of revolutions of the disk, it is recommended to set the minimum Possible number.
- During sawing, the tool must be kept in one (working) plane, because distortions can easily cause traumatic consequences.
- The locking button should not be clamped after turning on the power tool, since it is more difficult to disconnect it if necessary.
- The wood to be sawn must be dry, not Dried (wet) sawn timber should not be cut.
- With relatively long boards, it is better to work with a partner.
- Required to comply with safety regulations.
- The best option is to work with boards that have the same thickness.
- The material to be sawn must NOT contain any foreign substances, for example, nails, screws, bolts, wire.
In order to ensure the best safety of the working process, the angle grinder should be used as a circular saw, fixed in a stationary (motionless) position. In this case, the tool is fixed on a bed with guides. During sawing, the working material is fed in the same way as on the Circulars.
Fetching a quarter in a board
Using an angle grinder, you can select a quarter in the board, but this operation requires experience with this type of work and good tool skills. The best option would be to fix the angle grinder in a stationary, stationary position. Then the work will be performed as on a circular machine.
When manually sampling a quarter using an angle grinder, you should securely fix the wooden workpiece so that there is no movement. This method is mainly suitable only when working with a thick board, because it is quite problematic to control the cutting depth. At the same time, you can easily cut through wood in thin places.
A quarter is chosen on the board as follows:
- Mark the lumber with a pencil or marker;
- Spray from the edge (end) of the board, Take your time, carefully leading the tool along the marked mowing line;
- Cut the lumber at a different mark.
The angle grinder can also be cut into quarters with a special cutter. It is better NOT to use homemade attachments for personal safety. The method using a cutter allows you to make grooves in parts of a relatively small size.
Both options considered with a significant amount of work are not suitable, since the process of sampling a quarter with an angle grinder is relatively slow.
Features of cutting glass and plexiglass angle grinder
Glass is a transparent, durable, but fragile material. It has good temperature resistance. To process it, you need to use special tools. At home, glass can be cut using a conventional angle grinder, while the work is progressing quite quickly.
To cut glass with an angle grinder, wheels on concrete or granite are used as working attachments. During sawing, it is required to constantly water the material in the place of the cut with cold water. This is due to the fact that this zone is very hot. A high temperature value leads to faster wear of the disc. Cooling prevents this and also improves the sawing quality.
Various types of glass can be cut in this way:
- Bottled;
- Normal;
- Borosilicate;
- Crystal.
Organic glass (plexiglass) differs from ordinary glass in its properties. It is a durable yet lightweight material that comes in many colors. It has received a variety of practical applications. In this case, it is often necessary to cut fragments of the desired size from the whole sheet. The use of an angle grinder to cut organic glass is one of the options suitable at home.
Plexiglas cutting is also accompanied by significant heating of the cut zone. As a result, smoke may appear and the edges of the material may melt. In this case, the molten particles will scatter to the sides. Getting on the skin, in some cases, they lead to burns. To avoid these phenomena, it is necessary to timely cool the area of contact of the circle with plexiglass.
Cutting wood, plywood, laminate with an angle grinder
To cut wood, plywood or laminate with an angle grinder, use the Corresponding discs. They are specially designed for high speed operation. But the best fit circles on sale are quite rare.
Brick sawing discs
Cutting discs for cutting brick blocks must be selected correctly. Suitable discs fall into two categories:
- Abrasive;
- Diamond.
The main advantage of the first group of circles is their low price. But abrasive nozzles often have to be replaced due to their failure.
Diamond wheels are considered the best option for cutting brick blocks. They are made from strong grades of steel. Such attachments have a long service life. They are safer than abrasive counterparts. There are several types of diamond discs:
- Wheels with a solid diamond edge;
- Segment nozzles;
- Wheels with a serrated cutting edge.
Products of the first group are characterized by a low price. But when used, they wear out faster and get hotter than other analogues. The segmented discs are distinguished by the best removal of brick particles from the cut. They also slowly heat up. This variety. This is a good option when dry cutting.
The serrated edge group has the best strength characteristics among other varieties. They are used both for wet cutting and dry cutting. They have a long service life.
Recommendations for sawing paving slabs and curbs
Paving slabs. This is a popular material that allows you to beautifully and tastefully arrange paths in the yard or garden. In addition to its attractive appearance, the material is distinguished by its strength, durability, and a wide range. On the sides of the paths, in most cases, the curbstone will be laid, which in their characteristics are similar to the material of the sidewalk.
Often, when laying paths, tiles and borders have to be cut to the desired size. For THESE purposes, various tools are used, one of which is an angle grinder. For efficient sawing, it is recommended to use this power tool with a circle with a diameter of more than 230 mm and a power value equal to or greater than 2 kW. All work is done with a diamond disc.
The cutting of paving slabs and curbs with an angle grinder itself is performed in the same way as when sawing a brick.
- First, markings are applied to the surface of the materials to be sawn using a marker or chalk.
- Check the accuracy of the marking lines applied by applying the tile or curb to the installation site.
- When the size and shape coincide, the construction material is cut without strong pressure on the used power tool.
If the cuts contain defects after cutting, then they are eliminated using suitable tools (for example, a hacksaw for metal, chisel, file). The circle of the working tool should rotate so that the dust flew in the opposite direction from the working tool. At the same time, he must hold the working power tool with both hands, being behind or to the side of it.
Tiles cut into fragments of the required size should be set aside separately so that dust does not fall on it. For the convenience of subsequent laying, you can Numerova pieces. The still uncut material should be covered with dust, because then removing it from the tile surface is quite problematic.