[ATM] Cutting glass squares into circles

["Russell Jocoy" <russjocoy@hotmail.com>]

   To all,

        As my previous listing of manually "carving" a disk from a "stop 
sign" shaped chunk of glass
tends to be a long and pain in the glass process. As I said before , if you 
are doing one or two
disk's , you must go this route...  If you want to go further.. you will 
dive into glass hell...ask
a man who used to list and had a website for plate glass disk's for sale.. 
By his own words,
he spent more time cutting disk's than figureing them., and had not seen the 
stars for season's.
      I am now deep into cutting blanks, and it is getting old for my 
interest. No, I am not "stop
signing" with a circular saw.... I have my own machine built by my own 
hands. This machine will
cut a 1-5/8" thick disk (out of a stop sign) in 30 to 45 minutes. 
Preparation time is another 15
to 20 minutes. Because I am a nice gut I also edge the disks when finished ( 
the edge chips
from my cutting process don't look good).....
    If you are cutting one disk or maybe two, I would suggest you go to 
Richard's website
http://www.megspace.com/science/sfe/i-fa.html.            Richard has some 
good info and photos
to help you through your process. Words alone cannot describe all that I do. 
I used Richards site
many years ago to cut my first blank..
     The machine that I have made is basically a heavy duty record player..  
My turntable turns at
about 25 to 30 RPM's.. I have a "tone arm" that is an angle grinder with a 
7.5" diamond blade
to cut the "groove" into the glass. My machine is manual , in that I have to 
"screw" down the "tone
arm" to cut the circle.. Don"t get me wrong, this beats pushing a saw on a 
fixed piece of glass.
  With my machine you must attend all processes. All you do is watch and 
lower the blade into the spinning disk and watch the glass fly.. James Lerch 
did the same process but servo-controlled and
computer literate. His machine could be regulated on rpm's and depth 
control, and no doubt told
to cut off power when the glass was completely cut through the other side...
   I do not have the funds to even attempt this.  My machine does the trick 
and I am happy with it.
I am still cutting, and my purpose is to make disk's that will someday 
become telescopes, well not
just telescope's, but works of art made by  ATM's that they could be proud 
of for their lifetime and
maybe their children's lifetime.      Russ Jocoy         (Dan, hope you are 
looking at the stars tonight)
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