Shopsmith Forums

Heath,
Nicely done.

To add more fuel to the chicken or the egg debate...I think you should buy the glass first. It is the one component that you have no control over. In my experience most glass cutters seem to feel that +- 1/4" and somewhat squarish is good enough. It is far simpler to adapt your design to fit the glass than it is to try to get someone who could care less to cut glass to your specifications.

Use small pieces of cork to keep the glass from rattling around in the door frame.

Troy

horologist wrote:Heath,
Nicely done.
. . .
Use small pieces of cork to keep the glass from rattling around in the door frame.

Troy

Space Bark!

JPG40504 wrote:Space Bark!

Theme continued...

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horologist wrote:Theme continued...

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I pass! See how much fun you can have by sliding off topic! Heath, this your thread, you slid first with that 'trio'. rip space mutt!

horologist wrote:Heath,
...I think you should buy the glass first. It is the one component that you have no control over. In my experience most glass cutters seem to feel that +- 1/4" and somewhat squarish is good enough. It is far simpler to adapt your design to fit the glass than it is to try to get someone who could care less to cut glass to your specifications...

Troy

Holy Cow, Troy! You've run into some BAD glass cutters!!! My experience is they cut to 1/16". I take a door or frame, clock or other piece to the glass company. I give them measurements and let them make measurements if they doubt mine and have had no glass I've ever had to reject.

It is a lot easier to reject a pane of glass than to try to fit a 6 light frame around mis-cut glass.
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My guy cut my 3-9/16" glass right on the button. 3 strips, 72" long. Never thought to ask him how close he would get it. I just 'assumed' he'd hit it pretty darn close and he did.

Another beauty of a piece chuck!!! Don't be bashful now to post more of your masterpieces here: https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=5550&highlight=woodworking

When I built our kitchen cabinets I made all the door frames, finished them, mounted them and then took them down and took the whole pile - about a dozen - to the glass shop. When I picked them up the next day they had glass in them and I remounted them. Interestingly they didn't measure at all. They laid the frame on the glass and traced from the piece then cut the trace line. They are +/- 1/16 small all the way around and they don't rattle because the glass shop installed them with clear silicon adhesive. They said I could add some retainers if I wanted but I'd be wasting my time. I didn't bother and five years later they're still there.

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Not a great picture of the glass doors but its the only one I had handy.

Paul M

My sincere apologies to all that find it easier to have glass prior to the frame. It can be done either way!:) However to get glass last is truly a lot easier!!!!!!

Last evening after posting my last (insistence to get glass last), I found three mirrors hanging on our walls. Two of them were frames around tapered edge mirrors that came from father-in-law's home. The frames were built long after having the glass!

Not caring too much for the plain glass, I constructed some wood frames to surround the mirrors. It can be done successfully, however I do remember the pains in getting the mitered frames to fit and stay around the mirrors while allowing the glass tapered edges to show. My method was to make the wood longer than needed then mitering the corners slowly, nibbling away very small miters until all four corners fit. Good thing there are splines through the miters. The inside of the miters on one frame have separated while the splines are holding the frame together. This wood movement happened after moving from South TX to CA.

These mirrors weigh about 50 lbs each! Good thing the frames are only decorative! The glass is actually hung from a 1/4" fiber backing that has right angle mirror clips.

charlese wrote:My sincere apologies to all that find it easier to have glass prior to the frame. It can be done either way! However to get glass last is truly a lot easier!!!!!! ......

I'm with you Chuck. You convinced me and I saw first hand why you wait to get the glass. Had my plans had an error or had I cut all my wood vs. making just my single prototype, I'd be sitting on $50 worth glass with no lumber to put it in. Your right when you say glass can be cut either way but of the two, cutting it after gives you the assurance of a correct fit. The simpler the design, the less the risk. When there are several cuts that go into the final dimension, the risk increases.

Well darn. I thought I had a plan and now I don't. I was going to build a cabinet to use all that glass I got in the shed but it has already been cut to size and the edges have been finished.

Now I don't know what to do.