[srgtkoons]

I have made several nano tanks but always got the glass precut, it was cheaper this way in the long run. Well I found some basic 1/8" glass laying around the house and I am trying to make a surface skimmer for my 30 gal. I tried cutting the glass with a common glass cuter. The one you score it with and snap it. Well It didnt snap to even and the one edge was rather rough. Is there any tricks or whatnot to get a nice smooth edge. Anything that i can use to sand down and polish up the edges a little bit?

[saltjunkie]

I would use acrylic?? Much easier to work with, a lil safer, and will be inexpensive to do a surface skimmer...
imo

[srgtkoons]

I actually disagree, glass is so much easier to glue togeather, My cuts are nice and straight. It is just that the side of the glass that is not the side i scored is a little wavy and not as smooth. Just need to polish it up a little bit.

[billzie]

How you gonna make a surface skimmer out of glass with no fingy things at the top? Bill.

[srgtkoons]

fingy things? If you mean the little grooves at the top of those plastic ones. Im not going to have those. Just have the front piece shorter then the back and sides. If im doing this wrong pls explain. I just have this nasty surface scum building up on my tank and no sump. My skimmer is driven by a magnum 350 canister filter so it has this little basket thing that hangs in and sucks the water up.

[icemark]

The best "trick" for making sure glass cuts are straight is:

Drum roll please...

Clean glass!!!!!!

make sure you wipe the glass down with a good ammonia based glass cleaner, the I like to use a little rubbing alcohol as well.

Any oil (even from finger prints) will make the scoring tool slide just a little rather than roll and score over the glass.

The other thing that helps if you know you have a good score is even pressure the whole length of the score when snapping. I use stiff metal straight edge or L beam too snap.

Clean work area helps too, clean up after each score.

I agree with everyone else though, Acrylic is much easier to work with and form into anything you could want.

[Ltspd]

I used to and still on occasion perform stained glass work. This involves cutting pc's of glass to various shapes. I use a quality glass score that is dipped in a light machine oil. Something like marvel mystery oil, that has always worked well for the glass I broke.

To acheive a smooth edge as you want it requires a diamond grinding wheel with a constant supply of water running across the wheel. Even with a small hobby grinder it is very difficult to produce a straight line. I used a long straight edge and gages to pull straight lines. I also use a special set of pliers to snap the score. Remeber most staind glass windows, etc are made up of curved peices. The straight stuff is covered by lead cane or copper foil and soldered to pull straight lines. Most of the stuff you see in HD or Lowes are commercial pc's made on machines, not by hand.

When glass is broke it leaves a burr at the score, unless it is machine cut and the edges are "ground". The local glass shops have "machines" to break and gind smooth the edge. If you have every ordered glass they usally ask if you want the edges ground smooth. This burr is very sharp and I have used it to plane wood before. This is a completly diffrent subject.

As you may or may not know glass is a liquid. What the score does it create a wave in the glass. This wave is the weak point and allows the glass to bew snapped on that line or curve.

My suggestions is to have the glass shop cut your glass to size. It cheaper in the long run

I also consider glass to be a much better material to produce sump partitions etc. It is much stronger, cleaner, and bonds better with silicone.

[srgtkoons]

Ok i guess maybe ill scrap this idea, I just thought i could have done it. The glass was laying around so was the glass cutter. Not like i wasted any money.