Cup Mosaic Tile Art - Mosaic Glass Cutters
Producing wonderful glass mosaic tile art is easy! Allow me show you how.
Wheeled glass cutters are essential for creating glass mosaics. I utilize it to slice and shape vitreous cup and stained glass. This may also 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. Instead of scoring and breaking, the wheels apply even pressure to the top and bottom sides of the glass, creating it to fracture along the line of the wheels.
The wheels are replaceable and eventually go dull, but not before several thousand cuts. Each tyre is held in place by a setscrew (usually an Allen screw). Since your cuts become significantly less that is 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 transforming the location of where each wheel touches the glass, you have, in effect, replaced the blades. It'll take a long time and many cuts to use the whole circumference of the wheels, especially when they may carbide.
When the wheels finally do become boring, I would recommend buying a entire new tool. The wheels make up the bulk of the tool's cost, which means you won't save much by just buying replacement wheels. Using a brand new tool, not only are the wheels sharp, however the rubber handle grips are new and clean (the rubber wears down and becomes dirty) and the spring is secured in-place. Every now and then, the spring breaks free from my cutters. The tool still works with a loose spring, but there's nothing to keep the handles from spreading too far aside. When that happens, the spring falls off. Is actually quite annoying to drop the spring, watch it bounce out of attain, 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 buy a new tool, the spring constantly falls off. Another reason to buy a new tool instead of just replacement tires is, if you fall the tool, it's possible to knock the rims out of alignment. So , after several projects when you think the rims need replacing, I suggest buying a whole new tool.
Whenever your new tool arrives, how to use Allen wrench to tighten the screws as tight as possible. Then, use an engraver, paint, felt-tip marker (or whatever you have that makes a permanent mark) to make a tiny tick mark quietly of each wheel where it variations the glass when cutting (the two tick scars should be aligned reverse each other). I personally use an engraving tool for making the tick marks so I avoid have to worry about paint or ink eventually rubbing off. After a few hundred cuts, ease the screws, turn each wheel slightly, and then re tighten the screws. After several of these adjustments, the tick marks have become full circle showing that it's time to replace the tool (or just the wheels, if you prefer).
Don't be surprised if the tires rotate on their own. No make a difference how hard I crank down on those screws, it apparently isn't restricted enough because the rims slowly rotate by on their own from stress exerted during the cutting action. After several days and many cuts, I notice the beat marks are no lengthier aligned directly opposite each other, signifies the tires have rotated slightly. Might be I'm a weakling, but I just can't get the screws tight enough to keep them static. Yet , that's okay with me because, if they turn by themselves, i then don't have to by hand do it.
