Cutting French Panes

Tint Eastwood · February 10, 2014

Snowing like hell today so I'm in the shop pre-cutting a BUNCH of french panes for an upcoming job. Had to break out my old trusty cut table, and it got me wondering how others cut their french panes. I made this a few years ago when working for a dealer who's method for pre-cutting was have 1/8" glass cut to approximate size of panes and use as a template on top of an old window sash. As you can imagine that was a pain in the ass.

So what do you guys use? Just a standard paper cutter or have some of you made any cutting rigs also? This one is getting a little beat up so I am gonna build another one for me and one for my competition as well so it would be cool to get any possible ideas as how it could be improved by seeing what everyone else works with..... :thumb

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February 10, 2014

_{I could see doing this if its loose scraps that you are trying to save, which I do the same way you do. BUT. I have 4 cutter heads on my film handler, and that works perfect and faster than any plotter.}

vquestfilms.com · February 10, 2014

I've always done old school hand cut each pane for a custom fit. :twocents The nice thing is that we sell 12" and 24" rolls at discount for FP jobs and the like so it makes cutting a little bit easier.

Tint Eastwood · February 10, 2014

_{I could see doing this if its loose scraps that you are trying to save, which I do the same way you do. BUT. I have 4 cutter heads on my film handler, and that works perfect and faster than any plotter.}

What if they are say 11 3/4" x 8 1/2", and you have 60" or 72" rolls, would you reset cutters and repull? Tried it on film handler but even with 4 cutters I found it required to much resetting if given the right variation of measurements.... :dunno

vquestfilms.com · February 10, 2014

_{I could see doing this if its loose scraps that you are trying to save, which I do the same way you do. BUT. I have 4 cutter heads on my film handler, and that works perfect and faster than any plotter.}

What if they are say 11 3/4" x 8 1/2", and you have 60" or 72" rolls, would you reset cutters and repull? Tried it on film handler but even with 4 cutters I found it required to much resetting if given the right variation of measurements....

Maybe pull 8.5" cuts off the FH and then table cut 12" section off each piece...?

Tint Eastwood · February 10, 2014

Yeah that's what I do. Just wondering how snappy would do it on just the FH.

WearTheFoxHat · February 10, 2014

FH @ 4 up not necessarily cut "exact" but tight with at least 2 sometimes 3 perfect edges.

Rough frames dictate how tight you can really go.

If the 3M vid I posted a link to in LOTP 319 is used as a guideline and 1/8" gaps are "OK" hells yea 4 good edges :lol :lol

Tint Eastwood · February 10, 2014

If the 3M vid I posted a link to in LOTP 319 is used as a guideline and 1/8" gaps are "OK" hells yea 4 good edges :lol

:lol

Yeah, FH along with cut table makes it so I have 4 "square" edges. I typically overcut by 1/4" to 3/8" and use top and side as "factory" sides and just trim remaining side a bottom. Almost never cut exact width unless on site but even then it hardly ever works out.

TintDude · February 10, 2014

Nice idea, beats my 4 olfas stuck in the box. :lol

WearTheFoxHat · February 10, 2014

My favorite frenchies ever were about 12" x 16" and had +/- 1 1/2' square corner pieces and the other 5 were all beveled but flat on one side all held in by lead strips like you would find on stained glass.

Each corner was rose Frosted crystal ,the top bottom + sides were mint Frosted crystal and the large center was Dusted.

made a custom tiny hard card and still had to have an assistant on the other side hold glass so it would not flex.

Too bad was before digital cameras and 1% homeowner would not allow photos anyway.