Lord Zogat
Fish Crazy
FYI on Rough Canadian Prices for Tank making.
In Canada, most hardware stores do not charge for custom cutting. In Canada almost every small town has a hardware store that will cut glass and plexi glass as a standard service.
Glass (cut to size)
1/8 inch plexi glass is about $3.50/square foot
1/4 inch plexi glass is about $6+/square foot
PLEXI GLASS - will color yellow and become brittle over time
1/8 inch plexi glass is about $4.50/square foot
1/4 inch plexi glass is about $5.70/square foot
LEXAN - does not color or become brittle
1/8 inch Lexan is about $6 - 7/square foot
Shatter proof, will not fracture if bent or hit, simply bends and creases but does not crack. One would have to work the bent crease for a while to force the plastic to fail.
These are rough numbers, its been a few years since I worked at the hardware store and may also vary slightly from region to region. I know the 1/4 plexi glass is correct as I just bought some.
SELF CUTTING
You could order a large sheet of glass and cut it yourself, why you would ever do this is beyond me. You would only do this if your cutting a custom shape which there are limitations with glass. It may take several tries to cut glass into odd rounded shapes. I have done some ovals and circles in glass when I worked for the hardware store, not recommended for first time glass cutters. You may go through many attempts and edges are never nice.
If trying to break a large peice of glass along a score line, here are some tips for breaking the glass. Try to have one side supported along the score line. A sharp jab should break the glass, if this is not working, droping the glass from a few inches will help. So if you have a long score line, rest the glass on a table that supports the full peice, then move the glass so that the score line is just off the edge of the table. lift on edge off a few inches (the other side is still resting on the table. Letting it drop with a bit of force should make the glass fracture along the score line as the one side is not supported by the table, make sure you catch it!!!! Your hands should never be more than an inch away when you drop it anyways. If the peice of glass is too big to handle, then just take it to someone to have it done right.
If its thicker glass and in a smaller peice, bring the score line down on your knee with a bit of force, firmly holding both sides when it breaks. If the peice of 1/4 glass is too big to handle, then just take it to someone to have it done right.
Hand held glass cutter with wheel - $3CND
You would be better to go with plexi glass for custom shapes. Leave the protective cover on and draw out your shape, cut with a scroll saw (faster the blade moves the better), or a jig saw. Depending on the thickness of the plexi glass and the speed of the saw, always keep the plexi glass where your cutting supported as much as possible, prevents it from cracking, also if using a course blade that is moving slow, you must decrease the speed your pushing the blade with into the the plexi glass, give it time to make a nice smooth cut.
Plexi glass cut without the protective layer, will often re-fuse to itself after the blade has passed from the heat of the friction. IF you do not have a protective layer, cover the area in masking tape, draw out your shape and cut it out, then remove the tape. The tape helps prevent excessive heating. Acrylic tubing, just run masking tape around the tube before you cut through it.
Glass, rough and sharp edges need to be sanded with a wetstone if being left exposed, however heating will cause glass to fracture if too much friction and heat builds up. Sanding glass if not done right will cause breaks very easily.
Plexi glass, just sand with sand paper, a grade of your choise.
TEMPERED GLASS
How do you know if you have tempered glass?
Generally when trying to score the glass surface, the score mark may not appear at all or be very faint. This is often the case with tempered glass. Trying to rescore may make the line more evident but will not help. As soon as you try to break along the joint, the entire peice shatters into many 1/4 inch peices. Lots of fun if you like 52,000 pick up.
I stated generally, because when cutting glass at the hardware store we did come across the odd tempered peice that did score like normal, and did not know it was tempered until we tried to break along the line.
Often tempered glass that was hard to tell came from a customer who already owned the glass and wanted it smaller. Tempered often only comes in 1/4 inch material.
All of the above references are for 1/8" or 1/4 inch material which is what most common hardware stores stock. Anything larger will probably be custom order only, which you might as well have cut to the right size at the time.
In Canada, most hardware stores do not charge for custom cutting. In Canada almost every small town has a hardware store that will cut glass and plexi glass as a standard service.
Glass (cut to size)
1/8 inch plexi glass is about $3.50/square foot
1/4 inch plexi glass is about $6+/square foot
PLEXI GLASS - will color yellow and become brittle over time
1/8 inch plexi glass is about $4.50/square foot
1/4 inch plexi glass is about $5.70/square foot
LEXAN - does not color or become brittle
1/8 inch Lexan is about $6 - 7/square foot
Shatter proof, will not fracture if bent or hit, simply bends and creases but does not crack. One would have to work the bent crease for a while to force the plastic to fail.
These are rough numbers, its been a few years since I worked at the hardware store and may also vary slightly from region to region. I know the 1/4 plexi glass is correct as I just bought some.
SELF CUTTING
You could order a large sheet of glass and cut it yourself, why you would ever do this is beyond me. You would only do this if your cutting a custom shape which there are limitations with glass. It may take several tries to cut glass into odd rounded shapes. I have done some ovals and circles in glass when I worked for the hardware store, not recommended for first time glass cutters. You may go through many attempts and edges are never nice.
If trying to break a large peice of glass along a score line, here are some tips for breaking the glass. Try to have one side supported along the score line. A sharp jab should break the glass, if this is not working, droping the glass from a few inches will help. So if you have a long score line, rest the glass on a table that supports the full peice, then move the glass so that the score line is just off the edge of the table. lift on edge off a few inches (the other side is still resting on the table. Letting it drop with a bit of force should make the glass fracture along the score line as the one side is not supported by the table, make sure you catch it!!!! Your hands should never be more than an inch away when you drop it anyways. If the peice of glass is too big to handle, then just take it to someone to have it done right.
If its thicker glass and in a smaller peice, bring the score line down on your knee with a bit of force, firmly holding both sides when it breaks. If the peice of 1/4 glass is too big to handle, then just take it to someone to have it done right.
Hand held glass cutter with wheel - $3CND
You would be better to go with plexi glass for custom shapes. Leave the protective cover on and draw out your shape, cut with a scroll saw (faster the blade moves the better), or a jig saw. Depending on the thickness of the plexi glass and the speed of the saw, always keep the plexi glass where your cutting supported as much as possible, prevents it from cracking, also if using a course blade that is moving slow, you must decrease the speed your pushing the blade with into the the plexi glass, give it time to make a nice smooth cut.
Plexi glass cut without the protective layer, will often re-fuse to itself after the blade has passed from the heat of the friction. IF you do not have a protective layer, cover the area in masking tape, draw out your shape and cut it out, then remove the tape. The tape helps prevent excessive heating. Acrylic tubing, just run masking tape around the tube before you cut through it.
Glass, rough and sharp edges need to be sanded with a wetstone if being left exposed, however heating will cause glass to fracture if too much friction and heat builds up. Sanding glass if not done right will cause breaks very easily.
Plexi glass, just sand with sand paper, a grade of your choise.
TEMPERED GLASS
How do you know if you have tempered glass?
Generally when trying to score the glass surface, the score mark may not appear at all or be very faint. This is often the case with tempered glass. Trying to rescore may make the line more evident but will not help. As soon as you try to break along the joint, the entire peice shatters into many 1/4 inch peices. Lots of fun if you like 52,000 pick up.
I stated generally, because when cutting glass at the hardware store we did come across the odd tempered peice that did score like normal, and did not know it was tempered until we tried to break along the line.
Often tempered glass that was hard to tell came from a customer who already owned the glass and wanted it smaller. Tempered often only comes in 1/4 inch material.
All of the above references are for 1/8" or 1/4 inch material which is what most common hardware stores stock. Anything larger will probably be custom order only, which you might as well have cut to the right size at the time.
