How to choose a glass cutter

For many home craftsmen, such a type of work as glass cutting is a rather urgent issue. This may arise in connection with the pranks of children, when a ball or a toy flies into glass and breaks it, and if necessary, put a home-made window in a barn or garage, because it makes no sense to order small and non-standard windows. To perform such work in the arsenal of a home master, there must be a special tool - a glass cutter.

In modern hardware stores there is a fairly large selection of glass cutters and we will try to reflect in the article the main points that you should pay attention to when buying this tool. You can also read about what types of glass cutters and how they differ in the article: Glass cutter.

So, let's move on to the main topic of the article. To begin with, we briefly note the main types of glass cutters, since you can only choose a glass cutter if you know what they are. There are diamond and roller glass cutters. In a diamond glass cutter, the cutting element is a piece of diamond or corundum, which is much harder than glass and scratches it quite easily.

Having scratched the line, we simply break the glass along it and it disintegrates exactly along it. In the second case, glass cutting is carried out using a built-in tungsten carbide roller, which rotates on a special axis. This roller also has increased hardness and cuts glass well. The necessary part of the glass is broken off in the same way as when working with a diamond glass cutter.

If we consider the issue of the quality of the tool, then the diamond glass cutter cuts glass better, besides, its sharpness remains much longer than that of its roller counterpart. A design with several rollers (usually 3 pieces) can somewhat equalize this disadvantage, but it is less convenient to use. At the same time, roller glass cutters are more common and cheaper compared to diamond glass cutters.

It is also worth noting that in order to cut a hole in the glass, you will need a special device such as a compass, on which the glass cutter is fixed. Curved lines can be cut without this tool, but some good practice and cutting skills are required.

Separately, it is worth noting the planned intensity of the load on the tool. If you use it often, then choose a more expensive and high-quality tool, and if you need it in your home kit “just in case”, one of the cheapest models will do. We also note that a diamond glass cutter is designed for cutting glass with a thickness of no more than 5 mm, and roller ones, especially with special oil lubrication, are also suitable for glass with a thickness of 10 mm.

Well, at the end of the article, let's say that with such a type of work as cutting glass, it is not the tool itself that plays the greatest influence, but the skills of work. With good practice, even with a not very good tool, the master will be able to cut the glass evenly and beautifully. However, choose your glass cutter wisely.