Cutting bottles.

[John Lindo]

Thought I might share this little project I got involved with.
I was asked if i could cut the ends of some EMPTY bottles to eventually they get put in a frame as a picture.
I knew about ebay bottle cutters,G3 and I did not want to pay for a one time use.
I have incorporated tooling I've made in the past,soft jaws,swinging tool holder,spring loaded center,hand crank and a tile cutter from a slider type
machine.
As the bottles were not concentric,I ran the machine backwards using my hand crank,it lifted up and down the swinging toolholder
but with a gentle hand pressure I got a score line all the way round.
After that,dunk the bottle in a pan of boiling water,and then immediately into a bowl of water and ice.They crack off straight away.
I have 50 bottles, all empty to do,and as I live in a Spanish village,money does not really talk,we barter,so 2 x six packs of local wine (full) will be OK.
Hope it's of interest.I do not drink to much beer.but local red wine without chemicals is the best health wise.
Also,as I have an AXA toolholder (glad I did) so I made up support arms for more rigidity and added a compound slide lock at the same time.
https://plus.google.com/photos/112848589944601328801/albums/5914610212346097633
Hope the bottle project is of interest,it's a bit different from the use of cans of WD 40 I read about in other groups.Yawn.
hope the photo's work,please let me know.
Regards
John
Spain.

[ParCan]

Can I suggest an easier method of cutting the bottles.

You need an old Turn Table (record player type thing). Put the bottles on and hit em with a Heat source (Blow lamp with a small hot flame)
Then touch the bottle where it's hot with a bit of wet wire.

I have done this and got a near perfic cut every time.

[awemawson]

When I was a kid, we used to put oil in the bottle up to the level we wanted it cut off, then plunge a red hot poker in the oil.

I assume that the very hot oil rises to the surface and causes a heat stress to form the crack

[DavidA]

I have used the hot/cold water method.

But by far the easiest way is to use a 1mm slitting disc in the 4" grinderette and taking very light cuts, just cut off the bottom.

Works every time for me.

Dave. 

[tom osselton]

Do you remember the commercials back in tne 70's they had a cone that was placed in the top of the bottle amd a arm came down to hold the cutter while you scribed around the bottle they would then glue them together to make a cup / goblet.

[mattinker]

Do you remember the commercials back in tne 70's they had a cone that was placed in the top of the bottle amd a arm came down to hold the cutter while you scribed around the bottle they would then glue them together to make a cup / goblet.

I used to use this method, now, I chuck up the bottle lightly, wrapped in rag, use a live centre and with a hand held glass cutter (resting on the tool post), score all round. Once scored all round, I use a steel ball from a large bearing welded to a rod to tap the glass from the inside to finish the "cut". The sharp edges can be rounded off with any kind of abrasive paper or coarse sharpening stone. I've made lots of glasses this way! Unfortunately, they are all broken, I need to make some more!

Regards, Matthew