Cutting Glass/Acrylic

Yes there is but you can't cut shower door glass because it's tempered.  Your best bet is to use plastic translucent ceiling panels that are rippled.  These cut very easily and a 2'x 4' panel is only a few bucks. 

Keep the glass rectangular but cut out a thin piece of foam in your desired shape and place it over the glass.

Hi Jim Wild Mary is right it's a lot easier to just use a plastic panel, you can get them at home depot, or I got mine from scenic express take a look at this photo. That's all I did was paint the panel the color I was looking for and then just poured Enviro tex

also from scenic express.

Thanks, Alex

Jim,

I had a somewhat similar situation. I bought a piece of Aquatex shower glass (not tempered*) for Lake Chiemsee, and the supplier cut it per my pattern. The original glass blank piece was rectangular, and I asked for the leftovers.

Later, I decided to add an extension to the lake, but the triangular shape pieces that were left over were too large. So I decided to try my luck at cutting it even though my previous experiences cutting regular glass and mirrors were not great.

Anyway, I cleaned the glass with alcohol, slightly oiled the glass cutter, and drew the cutter along a straight edge on the smoother of the two sides of the glass. I snapped it immediately, and had a perfect cut!

Next, I wanted to try about cutting the sides with some curves.  Using the same process but skipping the straight edge, I free-handed the glass cutter along the shape I wanted, and it snapped just as easily.

* When you order the Aquatex glass, you have the option of ordering tempered or not. Mine cost me around $9/Sq-Ft.

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

Lake Chiemsee (left) and the extension on the right. 

The extension by itself.

BTW, the main portion, which is about 42" x 46", slides out to double as an access hatch. The smaller portion, about 36" x 14", lifts up and out and becomes another hatch.

Good luck!

Alex

Ingeniero No1

That is the look I am going for.  I will check out Aquatex glass.   There is a glass shop just down the road I will check there tomorrow.

Jim

Hey "Wild Mary" (Nick / Charles)...I like the idea of the rippled ceiling panels....do you have pictures or can you tell me what the water area looks like compared to the aquatex?  The cost of the aquatex is going to be hundreds of dollars in my particular case.  I will have an approximate 3 foot by 8 foot water feature and then another 2 foot by 8 foot harbor scene....

Thanks,

Alan

just to let it me known before anybody gets hurt. if the glass is heat strengthened(HS) or tempered you can not cut it. tempered glass wont really hurt you if you were to break it, but the HS glass has a real good chance to really cut due to the break pattern it has. i work at a glass factory and see these things happen. just dont want to see it happen to any of you

Ditto previous post.  If you are going to use something besides standard window glass have it cut professionally.  Even with pro tools this material is difficult to work with and it can be dangerous.  

If you can get away with acrylic, by all means do so.  You can cut this with power tools (roto zip, power saws with correct speed control/blades) and it can handle really complex shapes.  Trying to cut an glass with a concave pattern in very difficult and usually involves glass routing instead of "cutting".

I agree that cutting tempered glass is best left to the professionals. [SEE ADDED COMMENT, BELOW] That is why I specified in my post above that I had ordered non-tempered Aquatex glass.

The vendor, St. Charles Glass, told me that tempering would not be need for my application, and that way I could save a few dollars.

The piece I ordered was 46” x 41” x 43” x 24”, roughly. The rectangular blank they used was larger, of course. I would have never attempted to cut such a large piece myself! They did not charge me for cutting it, but just for the size of the blank piece required to make my lake, per my pattern. 

One of the pieces that were left over was the one I cut, and I did not have to make very long cuts. I practiced first by cutting one of the smaller left over pieces in half, and that cut was about six inches long.

When drawing the glass cutter against the Aquatex glass surface, it made the same screeching noise as when cutting regular glass. I was a little concerned about snapping off the curved cuts, but they snapped off just as easily as the straight cuts.

Well, at least that was my experience cutting Aquatex glass just a few months ago, and you can see the results, above.

Alex

COMMENT (added after reading JohnS post, below)

As John correctly pointed out, tempered glass cannot be cut. When the Aquatex glass is used for shower enclosures, it is tempered (after cut to size!) so if it breaks it does so in small pieces that do not present the hazard as regular glass, which breaks into large pieces with razor sharp edges.

Aquatex glass.

Is there any brand of acrylic panels that have a similar look to the Aquatex glass?

There is but I do not have a brand name. Go to a glass shop as I am sure they should have it.

Alex

So why did you need to pour the Enviro Tex on the top of the lake?  I would think you would want to keep the texture of the acrylic, and the enviro tex would just smooth it out leaving no texture. 

Hi Jim there's a lot of ways to do it, It's hard to see in the picture but you can see the texture in person. If you want more texture just use varnish it's a lot thinner then the epoxy that I used. I poured about 4 layers you can also just use a single layer,  each layer is about 1/8 thick.

Alex

Alex,

Is there an interesting story/connection to the real Lake Chiemsee in Bavaria and Ludwig II's castle there?

  --Joe

The reason Aquatex works so well is that the glass when painted on the bottom acts  like a mirror. Also, the pattern perfectly reproduces the undulating reflections that you often see in moving water. Plastic just doesn't do that. I suspect that's why some pour something over the plastic.

Jim,

Also, and depending on the size of your lake, don't overlook Envirotex. I have built two smaller lakes and they look fine. This one, Lake Rowena under the Judy Jane Trestle, is 24" x 18". I wouldn't do much larger with Envirotex, though.

Dennis (above) forgot one of the pluses of Aquatex, which is one that he made sure to tell me when he made me aware of Aquatex in the first place: the glass is much easier to clean than other surfaces.

Joe,
There must be. Ludwig built one of his many castles, the Herrenchiemsee Castle, on the largest island on Lake Chiemsee, Bavaria. Munich/Bavaria, is from where my ancestors hail, but I definitely have no relation to Ludwig.

Alex

I followed the plan Denis B outlined in his book (recommend getting the book to any one) for my harbor, and I am happy with the results.  The Aquatex glass looks great!

A very helpful tool to have when cutting glass, especially when cutting curves, is a pair of Running Pliers. These pliers have a soft top jaw with raised nipple at each outer edge. The bottom jaw is soft with only one nipple directly in the middle. Place the bottom nipple directly under the score line and squeeze gently. The cut will run right along the score line. Sometimes it is helpful to break a little from one end of the score line and then complete the cut by moving to the other end of the score line.

I ended up ordering acrylic Aquatex, called DP32.  It is .125 thick and can be cut with a jig saw.  I will post pictures of my progress when it comes in.

Jdevleerjr,

I did not read this entire post, I have just skimmed over it, but in reading your last comment I would suggest using a very fine blade. You want to almost melt your way through the plastic, not cut through it. If you are too aggressive with the cut it can and most probably will crack. I use to occasionally change landing light covers in my former aviation career and that is where I learned that, we would take the dullest drill bit we could find to drill the screw holes through the cover, otherwise it would crack for sure.

TimDude

Thanks for the advice.  The guy at the glass shop said I should use a teflon blade on a slow setting on my jig saw.  

Anyone use a router attachment for their dremel?  Looking on the internet the best way to cut acrylic seems to be a router.

Hi Jim I have in the passed used a router attachment on my dremel it works well, I like that you can also control the speed.

Alex

Jim....where did you find the acrylic aquatex and does it have the same pattern as the glass counterpart?

Alan

I found it at the local glass supplier.  It is called DP32, and it has the same pattern as the glass, but not as clear.  It has a little bit of a cloudy look too it, slightly more then the glass.

They had to special order it, and it was not cheap.  1 48in x 48in sheet cost over $100.  I will also have to have a seam in my lake, but it will be in an area that is only a few inches wide and I will hide it with a boat or something.

Make sure to wear a mask,if you breath in glass dust your going to have a bad day.

Thanks Jim!!

Alan