Re: Direction follower ? Water jet

By brother-in-law owns a glass shop/factory in Manila.

He says laser is the way to go for cutting glass. Cuts clear through
at production speeds, low maintenance, high start-up costs. Slowly he
is replacing the Ultrasonic units which are low maintenance, lower
start-up costs but, can be slow and very messy.

High power co2 lasers are not that difficult to build. The higher
efficiency units use expensive germanium mirrors and lots of them to
fold the laser into a managable space. Used units can be had for a
dime on the dollar. Check out some of the Laser Lists. CO2 is in the
deep infared so glass is very opaque. Heat dissapation with laser
cutters is not a big problem. The CNC table needs to handle only the
weight of the laser lens and final mirror, so it can be relativly
light duty.

One thing I learned when hand cutting glass with a wheel, always lube
before each score and break as soon as possible. I'm guessing Glass
must have a certain amount of self healing. An old score never breaks
as nice. Try it.

The lighter fluid trick and hot wire trick is great on large dia.
tubing.

Tom M.