A glass Mosaic Tile Art - Mosaic Glass Cutters

Producing wonderful glass mosaic tile art is easy! Permit me show you how.

Wheeled glass cutters are essential for creating glass mosaics. I make use of it to cut and condition vitreous a glass and stained glass. That can even be used to cut smalti. The wheeled blades make cleaner cuts than tile nippers. The two carbide wheels (or metal, if you buy cheap cutters) are fixed in position. Rather than scoring and breaking, the wheels apply even pressure to the top and bottom edges of the glass, causing it to fracture alongside the line of the wheels.

The wheels are replaceable and eventually go dull, although not before several thousand cuts. Each wheel is held in place by a setscrew (usually an Allen screw). Because your cuts become noticeably less clean than when the cutters were new, use an Allen wrench tool to loosen the anchoring screws, rotate each wheel about 1/8-inch, and then re-tighten the screws. By altering the location of where each wheel touches the glass, you have, in effect, replaced the rotor blades. It'll require a long time and many cuts to use the whole circumference of the wheels, particularly when could possibly be carbide.

When the tires finally do become boring, I suggest buying a entire new tool. The rims make up the almost all the tool's cost, which means you won't save much by simply buying replacement wheels. Using a brand new tool, not only are the tires sharp, however the rubber manage grips are that is new and clean (the rubber wears down and becomes dirty) and the spring is secured in-place. Every now and then, the early spring breaks free from my cutters. The tool still works with a free spring, but irritating to keep the handles from spreading too far separate. When that happens, the spring falls off. It's quite annoying to drop the spring, watch it bounce out of reach, and then have to get out of my chair to retrieve it. I tried soldering it permanently in place, but it didn't work because I couldn't get the metal hot enough. Therefore, until I purchase a new tool, the spring constantly falls off. Another reason to get a new tool rather than just replacement wheels is, if you fall the tool, it's possible to knock the rims out of alignment. Therefore , after several projects when you think the tires need replacing, I suggest buying a whole new tool.

When your new tool arrives, use an Allen wrench to tighten the anchoring screws as tight as possible. Then, use an engraver, paint, felt-tip marker (or whatever you have that makes a long lasting mark) to make a tiny mark mark privately of each wheel where it variations the glass when cutting (the two tick signifies should be aligned opposite each other). I use an engraving tool to make the tick marks therefore i avoid have to worry about paint or ink eventually rubbing off. After a few hundred cuts, loosen the screws, turn each wheel slightly, and then re tighten the screws. After several of these adjustments, the tick marks have gone full circle showing that it's time to replace the tool (or just the wheels, if you prefer).

Don't be surprised if the rims rotate on their own. No issue how hard I crank down on those screws, it apparently isn't tight enough because the rims slowly rotate by by themselves from the pressure exerted during the cutting action. After several days and many cuts, I spot the mark marks are no longer aligned directly opposite each other, signifies the tires have rotated slightly. Probably I'm a weakling, but I just can't get the screws tight enough to keep them stationary. However , that's okay with me because, if they turn by themselves, i then don't have to personally do it.