Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Cylinder cutting idea

I have a cylinder that I need cut and can not find anybody local to do it.
So it started me thinking and I have come up with an idea to build a jig to hold the cylinder on casters or rollers and support it at the same height as the base of a water cooled tile saw. This way I can rotate the cylinder and raise the blade to cut a little at a time. This way the cylinder is supported on each side of the cut and I should not have any heat issues with the water cooling and going slow.
I attached a crude drawing to show what I am thinking and was hoping for a little feedback as to if you think it will work.

Please tell me if you think I'm crazy also!

Thanks, Jerry

I think thats a great idea. Then again ,looking back over my life ,I've had some really close calls. lol I like coming up with ideas like you did. Only thing I'm wondering-can you cut glass with a circular blade like that? Seems like it would vibrate a lot. Might work good, but even though they cut through tile, glass is so brittle, it might chip-or worse,crack and run. Maybe test it on an old glass water cooler jug or something first? If it does seem to crude, maybe you could use your jig idea with a glass cutter to score it then snap it free? Risky stuff-lol. Good luck. Be sure to keep us posted on the results. I think the fence might be a possible accident waiting to happen--if a chunk comes free, and gets cocked between the spinning blade and the fence... goodbye workpiece.

Jerry - I have a cylinder that has about 12" left that you can use for a cutting test. Use a lot of shielding just in case it shatters.
Spencer

Jim's right, remove the fence by the blade, been there, done that. I think I would cut some semicircle pieces of 3/4 plywood the same/slightly larger then the od of the cylinder. This would really cradle that cylinder so it cant move sideways. If need be you could laminate the surface that comes in contact with the glass with plastic, maybe with strips of formica, to cut down on friction. Screw/glue those to your extension table and bolt the extension to the saw. Maybe test with a piece of window glass before you build the jig, then maybe a jar? If Swabby chimes in, he may know how its done as he has someone in his area that cuts/sells cylinders. Good luck, Steve

Go to TJ Max or Home Goods and get a cylindrical flower vase. A cheap one....and do a trial run on that maybe.

Here is a link that shows a diamond tile saw cutting wine bottles and cutting some pretty narrow rings. I think that this holds a lot of promise

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-use-a-wet-tile-saw-to-cut-glass-bottles/

First off, I have never tried this.....just saying...LOL

I remember years ago I read in a old book about how to cut a bottle with string. So you guessed it, I Googled it and found it on You Tube. Just Google "how to cut a bottle with a string" It worked in her demo and I didn't see her get singed. Also wonder about the accuracy. If anybody is brave enough to try this let us know.

Tom.

Thanks for the input and idea's

I plan on picking up a small table type tile saw in the near future and also picking up some cylinder floral vases in the 4" to 6" range to just see what happens when I try and cut them.

I will let you know

You may have a problem with the cylinders being out of round. Just something to keep in mind for your jig.