Scoring Glass With The MC Etcher

Has anyone used the MC Etcher to score thin glass? The glass would be 1/8” or less for picture frames in various shapes.

Folks have wondered about this — the concern has been damage to the diamond tip when going off an edge — further, it’s not designed for this purpose, and may not score deeply enough.

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I’d have to ask my wife, since she grabbed it to use as a note taking board for work, but I’m pretty sure the glass I did recently was a picture frame glass was about that thickness. No issues. I put down a sheet of mdf so I didn’t have unsupported spots from the hybrid table.

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Cooling is important with scoring glass.
Kerosene or soapy water.

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All very good points, Thank-you. If I were to try this, would the 90º or 120º be the better choice?

The real question is why do you want to use the MC Etcher instead of a glass cutter?

I do this for a living and have thought about using the cnc for scoring the glass.

List of Pro’s & Con’s off the top of my head.

Pro’s
Accuracy and repeatability, only good if your doing lots of cutting.
Consistent pressure on the score line.
Might be good for cutting shapes, I.E. Rounds or irregular.
Con’s
Going off the edge is making chips
Tiny glass chips are going to get onto the machine
It’s going to take much more time to set up than using a glass cutter
Unknown if it will score the glass so it can be snap cut

Certain glass doesn’t score & snap well and you need a better tool to score the line.
Personally I rotate between fine carbide tip & diamond tips depending on the thickness of glass.
Diamond works better for snap cutting glass that is real thin, .020" thick.

A little trick, don’t try to “bend” the thin glass, PULL it apart.
Unless it’s real large then turn it over and lightly push on the back side to start the score coming apart. I use a wooden dowel with a flat over the score.

In the end, I do LOTS of glass and I can score & snap faster than the machine and hold tolerances of +/- .030" which is darn good.

Have fun :smiley:

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I agree with DrPete. In addition to CNC work with lots of drag stuff, I do stained glass. I tendered the idea of scoring on the CNC but abandoned it for reasons he mentions in addition to the fact that scoring with a decent glass cutter is just too quick and easy. And straight lines are easier than that!

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