Drilling glass at home. How to drill a hole in glass and what you need for this Hole in a glass lid

The need to drill glass does not appear so often. Therefore, not all home craftsmen know drilling techniques. Drilling glass is a complex process, it has many nuances, accuracy and patience are required. special tools and little tricks.

Preparation for work

How to drill glass correctly so that the hole is neat, without chips, and the sheet does not crack? First of all, preparation for drilling is required. The sequence of actions is as follows:

remove grease with an organic solvent (alcohol, white spirit, turpentine) and wipe dry with a clean cloth;
lay the sheet on a flat base so that it rests on the base with the entire area and does not slip;
mark the drilling site with a marker or glued masking tape;
drill a test hole on a piece of glass, checking the quality of the tool and your skills;

Drilling glass is a careful and slow operation, it will be necessary to provide for a margin of time.

Drill glass with a regular drill

Special drill according to glass is the best tool. It happens that it is not at hand. The method of how to drill a neat hole in glass with a conventional drill is known to many experts and requires some additional training.

This will require:

drill for metal;
low speed drill;
a piece of plasticine;
a tablespoon of turpentine;
a small amount of alcohol.

Step-by-step instruction:

Lay the sheet on a flat base so that it rests on it with the entire area and does not slip. The edges should not hang down.
Degrease the drilling area and the surrounding area with a radius of 10 cm with alcohol.
Lay out a plasticine edge 5-10 mm high and 20-30 mm in diameter around the drilling site. Pour turpentine in there.
Fix the drill in the chuck. Make sure there is no beat. Set the gearbox to minimum speed.
Drill without exceeding 1000 rpm.

When the speed starts to fall, this means that the hole in the glass has almost been drilled. You should reduce the pressure on the handle of the drill and hold it tighter so that it does not deviate from the vertical and a chip does not form on the other side.

How to drill glass with sand

Several unusual way how to drill sheet glass without a drill. This will require:

a handful of clean river sand;
a piece of tin or lead, you can use solder;
solvent for degreasing;
pointed rod, equal in diameter to the future hole;
a large spoon or a small metal vessel that plays the role of a crucible;
portable gas burner.

The glass surface should be degreased within a radius of 10 cm from the place to be drilled.

The sand is moistened and a pyramid 30-50 mm high is formed from it. It is tedious to compact the sand well, the accuracy of the operation depends on it. With a stick, a hole is formed at the top of the pyramid, with its bottom resting against the place that needs to be drilled. The recess must be made strictly vertical, with dense edges.

The preparation is over, now you need to melt the metal with a burner and carefully, in a thin stream, pour it into the recess. The melt will make a hole in the glass, sealing the edges. You will need to sweep away the sand and carefully pull out a piece of metal sticking out of the melted hole.

How to drill with a homemade drill

How to make a hole in the glass, if at hand there is only a glass cutter, originally intended for cuts in a straight line? It is necessary to carefully remove the cutting roller with sprayed artificial diamonds from it, without losing the small axis on which it was attached. Next, you need to take a metal tube or rod with a diameter slightly smaller than the roller. At the end of the tube, a cut is made with a width equal to the thickness of the roller, and a length slightly greater than its diameter. In the slot of the tube, the roller is fixed on the axis, tightly compressing it. Now you can insert the rod into the drill chuck and drill a hole with a diameter equal to the size of the roller. Quality inner surface will be almost perfect.

Some do-it-yourself home craftsmen make a hardened drill from an ordinary metal drill that can cope with a glass sheet. To do this, the end of the drill is subjected to heat treatment - hardening. gas burner or blowtorch you should heat the end of the tool (1-2 cm) to redness, and then sharply place it in a sealing wax stick. With a sharp cooling, the structure of the material will change, and such a tool will be able to drill through the glass.

Not to split the leaf homemade tool, you need to follow a few rules:

so that the sheet does not crack and chip, the drilling site is smeared with honey and turpentine;
you need to press the drill with minimal effort;
turnover should be minimal;
you need to drill in steps of 10-15 seconds, in between, cool the drill by dipping it in a jar of water;
the drill must be held strictly perpendicular to the plane of the sheet;
do not mark a hole in the glass closer than 15 mm from any edge of the sheet.

Before drilling a hole in the glass with a homemade drill at home, lay the sheet on a flat surface so that it is evenly

Working with a glass cutter

If you need to make a hole in the glass of a large diameter, again a glass cutter can come to the rescue.

For this, a special glass-cutting compass is used. It is a central support attached to the surface in the center of the future hole on the suction cup. A bar rotates around this support, on which the handle of the glass cutter is attached in a sliding clamp. The glass cutter describes a circle around the suction cup, cutting through the glass. The tool must be driven smoothly, with constant pressure. After the incision line is closed, it must be tapped with a handle. the cut circle is then lifted up on a suction cup.

It is better to process the cut surface with an abrasive bar or file to dull sharp edges and exclude the possibility of a cut during further work.

Unconventional ways to drill glass

How else can you drill glass at home? To exotic, but nevertheless, very effective ways drill glass, include:

Drilling holes in glass with copper wire of the appropriate diameter. To speed up the process, a mixture of one-third camphor and two-thirds turpentine is used. An abrasive powder is added to the solution.
You can also drill with a metal tube with a smoothly sawn end, clamped in a drill chuck. A turpentine-camphor solution with the addition of an abrasive powder is also used.
Metal tube with teeth cut at the end. The height of the teeth must be exactly the same, otherwise the glass will break.

What if you need to drill through tempered glass? At home, unfortunately, this will not work. It is better to contact a company that has equipment for waterjet cutting. The rest of the methods offered by these or those craftsmen do not give any guarantee of a successful outcome.

Special crowns and drills

A professional tool for drilling holes in glass is divided into two large groups:

drills with a sharp tip, used for small diameters;
drilling bits for medium and large sizes holes.

A glass drill with a sharp tip is a pointed plate of hard-alloy heat-resistant tool steel soldered into a shank made of ordinary metal. The best glass drills are diamond. Their diameter usually does not exceed 8-12 mm. This tool can also drill glazed ceramics. When working, it is very important to keep the drill strictly perpendicular to the surface. Shank runout in the chuck is also unacceptable.

Drill bits for glass are a tube or bowl made of tool alloys coated with diamond dust. A tubular diamond drill is used for small hole diameters, it provides greater productivity and less risk of chipping than pointed lamellar ones.

Cover the end of the bowl with a coating of small artificial diamonds. It is one of the few materials that is harder than glass. There are also crowns coated with other abrasive materials on the market. They can also drill a glass sheet, but the risk of chips and cracks is higher.

A bowl-shaped crown can drill a hole with a diameter of up to 150 mm. For large sizes, use a compass with a glass cutter.

When working with a crown, it is necessary to monitor the temperature of the tool. It is better to use a special coolant

Drilling rules

Experienced master glaziers have formulated several rules for working with a glass sheet:

maintain the minimum possible speed of a screwdriver or drill;
the pressure on the handle should be minimal, increased pressure will not speed up the process, but most likely to a crack;
do not allow the drill to deviate from the direction perpendicular to the surface;
every 10-15 seconds take a break to cool the tool and the working area;
moisten the drilling site and the drill with water or a special cooling emulsion.

Intermittent work avoids overheating of the tool and material. It is overheating that most often causes cracking of the sheet.

When the drilling is almost finished, the most crucial moment comes, since the risk of chips around the exit hole becomes maximum. This moment is also felt by the increase in resistance felt on the handle of the drill. Experienced glaziers advise in this case to turn the sheet over and carefully start drilling from the opposite side. Then both the inlet and outlet holes will turn out to be neat, without chips and irregularities.

If irregularities still occur, they should be polished with sandpaper or an abrasive block.

Do not forget about proper preparation to work. The sheet must be laid on a flat surface. It should evenly rest on the lining over the entire area and not slip on it. The edges of the sheet should not extend beyond the base. It is best to use a plywood sheet upholstered with a thick woolen cloth.

Before laying, carefully sweep or vacuum the base to remove any debris or small glass fragments.

For drilling tempered glass It is better to use equipment for waterjet cutting. Homegrown methods are more likely to lead to cracks.

Round holes of large diameter are cut with a glass cutter and a compass.

It is likely that almost everyone has to work with glass. home master. Cutting a sheet of capricious material into pieces is not a particular problem, but the need to drill glass causes difficulties for many. To perform this manipulation, it is possible to contact a specialist whose services are quite expensive, or you can try to do this work yourself. In fact, there is nothing noticeably complicated here, you just need to be careful, because with the slightest deviation from the following recommendations, the surface will become covered with cracks.

It is possible to drill any holes in the glass

Types and features of glass as a material

Glass manufacturing technology is quite complex. A mixture of several components melted at very high temperatures is subjected to rapid cooling, while the crystallization of the material is not completely completed, and it remains amorphous. The type of glass is determined by its main chemical ingredients. There are the following types glasses:

oxide;
sulfide;
fluoride.

Silicate or oxide material is widely used for the manufacture of a variety of glass containers, including bottles. When melting quartzite, quartz glasses are obtained, sometimes called rock crystal. It is formed when lightning strikes quartz deposits. Glasses can also be classified according to their purpose. So, different kinds glasses can be used to reduce radiation levels, manufacture fiberglass, protect the screens of laptops, tablets and smartphones, as well as in the manufacture of incandescent lamps, kinescopes and x-ray equipment.

Samples different types glass

Depending on the application and performance characteristics glass different composition can be optical, chemical, medical, protective, window, utensils and so on. Industrial varieties that are also used in everyday life are divided into several subspecies:

characterized by low melting point and light color potassium-sodium glass;
hard and refractory calcium-potassium material;
expensive and fragile lead glass;
resistant to aggressive chemical environments and temperature differences borosilicate products.

Proper preparation is the key to success

It is quite possible to make an even and neat hole in the glass with your own hands, you just need to properly prepare its surface before performing the manipulation. This is the key to a successful job. The following actions will be required:

grease is removed from the glass, and it is located on a non-slip surface;
the marked location is sealed with a plaster to prevent the cutter from slipping;
the drill when drilling is located strictly vertically;
it is unacceptable to exert strong pressure on the material;
work must be carried out with breaks for cooling.

There are drills for holes of various diameters.

Standard option - use of a drill

Often the task arises to drill a small round hole in an aquarium for an aeration tube. To drill at home standard is to use a conventional metal drill. To do the job, you will need a drill with the ability to adjust the speed or a screwdriver.

It is also necessary to prepare a small piece of plasticine and turpentine. A funnel is formed from plasticine, into which turpentine is poured as a cooling working element. The plasticine rim is located around the center of the planned hole.

Careful work guarantees success

Having placed the drill strictly vertically and setting its speed controller to a minimum, they begin to act. When the process is almost finished, but the hole has not yet been completely formed, the glass sheet should be turned over to the other side and continue working from the opposite side to prevent cracking of the material. The final processing of the edges of the resulting through channel is carried out with fine sandpaper rolled into a tube.

Do-it-yourself glass drill

Devices for drilling glass can be made independently. To do this, you must perform the hardening procedure for an ordinary drill. It is clamped with pliers and the cutting end is placed in the flame gas burner. When the metal heats up white color, it is cooled in a wax bath. The metal hardened in this way can handle almost any glass material.

This is what homemade glass drills look like

A regular glass cutter can also help. To do this, the cutting element in the form of a diamond roller is fixed on a metal rod in such a way that it is motionless with respect to it. The resulting device can be called a modification of the factory tools with diamond coating.

Making a hole with sand

Before the advent of drills and screwdrivers, holes in capricious material were made with sand. To do this, it was poured in a wet state to the required place and a funnel was formed in the sand, the lower diameter of which exactly corresponded to the cross section of the required through channel.

An ancient way to make a hole in glass

Then molten lead or tin was poured into the funnel. After some time, the sand, together with the solidified glass mass, is removed. The hole is perfectly aligned. Its edges do not require further machining. Lead is easily melted by placing it in a mug and directing the flame of a gas burner at it, or simply by placing a metal vessel on a gas stove.

Large hole cut with a glass cutter

A circle of large diameter can be cut in glass with a glass cutter. To do this, use the circular design of this tool. It consists of a suction cup located in the center of the diameter, an adjustable tripod and the glass cutter itself. The movement of the glass cutter should be smooth and uniform, and excessive pressure should not be exerted on the handle.

Drilling a large hole in glass

The cut is made once, after which the separation line is tapped from the inside with the handle of the glass cutter. With the correct execution of all manipulations, the cut fragment is easily separated and falls out into the substituted bucket.

All sorts of different ways to make a hole

It is possible to make a through channel in a glass surface in other ways. For example, you can use ordinary copper wire. First you need to dilute one part of camphor powder in two parts of turpentine, add fine-grained emery and mix the resulting mixture thoroughly. Then apply the composition to the place of work, insert the copper wire into the drill chuck and begin the drilling process.

big hole can be done with a homemade drill

You can also do the work using a duralumin, aluminum or copper tube. At the working end of the improvised tool, cutting teeth are cut with a needle file. A wooden cork is driven into the other end, into which a screw with a cut head is screwed to strengthen it in the drill chuck.

At the right place, cardboard washers are glued to the material being processed on both sides. The working end of the tube with cutting teeth, moistened with turpentine, is inserted into the washer and glass is produced by one third of the thickness of the material. Then the sheet of glass is turned over, and work continues on the other side until a through hole is obtained.

A hole in the glass will help make a soldering iron

Some craftsmen use a soldering iron to make through holes in a glass sheet. Previously, a marking risk in the form of a ring is applied to the surface of the material. Then the tip of the soldering iron warms up well, and the accurate melting of glass along the segments of the circle begins. Frankly, when using this method, it is rarely possible to obtain sufficiently even edges of the hole.

Before starting any manipulation, it is necessary to thoroughly degrease the surface to be treated. This is done with a rag soaked in gasoline or turpentine. The glass is then thoroughly dried.

It is better to feel the work of the cutter in advance by drilling a few holes in unnecessary pieces of glass. It is important not to create excessive pressure on the working part, even if it feels like the drill is spinning idle, without making the surface of the glass. This is not so: drilling is slowly but surely happening.

In the process of work, it is necessary to perform cooling of the glass surface and the cutting part. Small-sized products can be drilled in water by lowering them into a container of a suitable volume. In this case, you can not be afraid of overheating.
Cooling the glass during drilling ensures good result

The working point must first be glued masking tape and mark over it. This simple action will prevent slipping at the very beginning of the workflow. The drill must be placed vertically, maintaining a strict right angle during the entire time of the manipulation.

Turning the sheet over will help to get rid of the appearance of even small cracks in the material. reverse side when choosing a thicker glass surface.

In addition, this procedure will help reduce the taper of the resulting hole. Accidental cuts on its sharp edges are prevented by grinding the protrusions with fine-grained sandpaper.

Be sure to wear goggles to protect your eyes from the smallest glass fragments in the form of dust. It is necessary to drill thin glass, stepping back from its edge by at least thirteen millimeters. It is necessary to retreat from the edge of thick glass by about twenty-five millimeters, otherwise the material will certainly crack.

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The following video is carefully selected and will certainly help the perception of the foregoing.

Creating holes in glass may seem like a simple operation, but in practice it is a rather complicated and responsible procedure. The glass structure is malleable but very fragile. Therefore, the peculiarity of the operation lies not so much in the choice of force of influence, but in the approach to its organization. The main task of the master is not to lead to the formation of cracks, chips and breaks in the main surface. How to make a hole in the glass without violating this condition? You can accomplish this task with the help of special technologies and tricks that are available to almost any master. The most popular and effective methods will be discussed next.

Preparing glass for processing

Before any operation for creating holes or simply cutting, appropriate preparation should be made. The working surface of the glass must be clean and, if possible, have no defective areas - during drilling, they can give a side chip, which will ruin the workpiece. It is recommended to mark the lines of the future hole so that the physical flaws of the surface are inside the circle, but do not go beyond. As additional measure glass can be processed chemicals, which, in particular, will save him from oil traces. If the question is how to make a hole in a small glass, then you will have to prepare a fixing tool. The method of fixing the workpiece will depend on the technology for creating the hole, but in most cases such elements are mounted on a vise of a suitable configuration - damping soft material is placed directly into the contact areas.

The nuances of making holes by drilling

It is impossible to process glass with the usual drilling method. When it comes to preparing the same small sizes, then you can use standard set drills and drills, but before that, the working equipment should be prepared in a special way. First of all, a drill of a suitable size is heated to a white tint. Next, it must be immersed in sealing wax and held until the latter melts. After that, the tip is wetted in turpentine and you can start the workflow. There is another option that allows you to make a round hole in the glass by drilling - it step-by-step instruction presented below:

Camphor and particles of coarse-grained sandpaper are crushed.
The prepared elements are poured into a small container and diluted with turpentine.
A small piece is being prepared for the drill copper wire, which must be clamped in the chuck.
The previously prepared paste is placed on the cleaned glass surface.
To position the copper equipment, a plywood guide is prepared.
You can start drilling.

Creating large holes

Drilling methods are not always theoretically acceptable for making holes in glass, and not only for reasons high risk the formation of the same chips. In the case of holes with a diameter of more than 10 cm, no household equipment can cope with this task. But even in this case there is a way out, in which the drill is also involved. It is necessary to make a small through point in the prepared surface in the very center of the planned hole. To do this, you can use any small-format glass with a diameter of less than 1 cm. You should not be afraid of third-party chips, because they will fall on the area that will be removed anyway. Now another question: how to make a hole in the glass, having a small through hole in the center? A piece of wire is pushed into the created small hole and fixed. The other end is fastened with a glass cutter. Further, after checking the reliability of fixing the elements and the smoothness of the tool in a circle, you can start cutting in a circle.

Hole smelting

In this case, you will need to initially prepare equipment for the preparation of liquid tin or lead. The glass surface is also prepared accordingly. It should be treated with gasoline, acetone or alcohol. Next, wetted sand is poured onto the marked zone of hole formation. There should be enough of it so that you can create a funnel, the bottom of which will fit the edges of the hole in size. After that, metal is poured into the created funnel. It will cool down in 1-2 minutes, after which it will be possible to remove the sand equipment along with the poured mold. This the best option if there is a question about how to make a hole in glass without a drill and with smooth edges. But the problem may arise in another aspect. No matter how precise the sand funnel is, it will be impossible to control the diameter that will be formed when the glass is melted with metal.

Cutting with a soldering iron

This option, in terms of the quality of the result, can be called the opposite of the previous one. In this case, the master will be able to relatively accurately maintain the boundaries of the marked hole diameter, but the edges may be uneven. The process begins with creating risks using a needle file. The task of this operation is to carefully mark for the future melt with a soldering iron in depth. Now you can proceed to the next step - how to make a hole in the glass without drilling with a soldering iron? After warming up the sting of the device, you can start cutting. Moreover, you should not rush into this process. It is advisable to perform melting in small segments, if necessary, cooling the glass - otherwise there is a risk of deformation and areas not intended for processing.

How to make a hole in heat resistant glass?

A very time-consuming operation, and in such situations, limitations in methods due to fragility no longer matter ordinary glass. In some way, such cutting is similar to processing metal surfaces. If we are talking about thin glass, then you can try drilling using diamond and solid nozzles. In any case, they cope with metal. But how to make a hole in the glass of large diameter? To do this, you can use a powerful puncher with a crown equipped with the same diamond elements. How Alternative option you can try cutting with an abrasive wheel, but it will provide a very rough result, which is not always suitable.

High-tech processing methods

This category of methods for creating holes is more likely to be industrial, although private craftsmen acquire appropriate equipment for their needs. We are talking about lathes and units that provide sandblast abrasive cutting. It is waterjet that gives the highest quality result - how can you make a hole in the glass using such equipment? First, the installation is fixed in machine clamps - there are practically no restrictions on dimensions, including thickness. Next refuel Consumables. They are sand and water. The hole is created as a result of circular cutting with a water-sand jet along a predetermined line. Automation itself will position the direction of the cut, providing an almost perfectly even cutting.

Conclusion

The fragility of the material significantly limits home craftsmen who need to make a hole in it. However, almost every traditional way the formation of round cutouts, subject to improvement, turns out to be effective in solving this problem. It is quite possible to make a hole in the glass at home using a drill, glass cutter or soldering iron. Another thing is that the quality will not always meet expectations. Nevertheless, manual processing always involves the risks of deviation from the direction of the cut. If the diameter does not really matter, then you can also turn to the smelting method - at least it allows you to count on the smoothness of the edge. If a high-quality hole is required, moreover, it will not be possible to do without special equipment.

If you need to drill glass, then the easiest way is to entrust this matter to a specialist. But firstly, such services are not cheap, and secondly, there are people who like to make their own. Let's try to figure out how to make a hole in the glass without damaging it. Consider what tools you can use in this case, how quickly and accurately you can do the work ahead.

Preparatory work

Before drilling glass at home, you must carefully prepare it:

Using ethyl alcohol or turpentine, wipe the surface. This is necessary in order to degrease it.
When working, it is unacceptable for the sheet to slide off, so this moment must also be foreseen.
Choose a base so that the sheet is located on it completely.
Before starting work, mark the place where you will drill. Use construction tape or a marker for this.
If drilling glass with your own hands - new job for you, then practice on small pieces first to avoid damage to the main sheet.
The drilling process is quite slow. No need to press on the glass to get the job done faster.
Position the drill at a right angle to the plane. Don't try to make a hole right away. Let the glass cool down periodically.
After the perforation is almost done, turn the sheet over and finish on the other side. This will allow you to get the perforation of the correct shape, and at the same time avoid chips and cracks.
If small roughness or irregularities have formed on the surface, processing the glass with fine sandpaper will help get rid of them.

How to drill glass at home with a conventional drill?

To successfully complete this task, you will need:

A set of drills used for metal or ceramics.
Screwdriver or low speed drill.
Plasticine.
Turpentine.
Alcohol.

Operating procedure:

Place the glass sheet on a flat surface.

Important! Pay attention to the fact that the edges do not hang.

Set the screwdriver or drill to the lowest speed.

Important! Drilling speed ranges between 250 and 1000 rpm.

Clamp the desired drill in the chuck.
Using an alcohol solution, degrease the surface, and then make a plasticine recess in place of the future hole.
Pour some turpentine into it and start working with a drill.
Do not apply too much pressure to the tool as cracks may form.

Sand use

This is enough old way. It was used when there were no screwdrivers and drills. To drill glass with your own hands using this unusual method, you will need:

Petrol.
Sand.
Tin (it can be replaced with lead).
Gas-burner.
Metal mug.
Sealing wax.

The algorithm of actions is as follows:

Degrease the surface with gasoline.
In the place where the hole is to be made, pour some moistened sand.
Using a sharp object, make a hole in the sand, the diameter of which is equal to the size of the future perforation in the glass sheet.
Melt tin or lead in a metal mug using a gas burner.

Important! If there is no burner, then you can heat the metal in a mug and on a gas stove.

Pour the molten lead into the prepared hole.
When the metal hardens, remove the sand and take out frozen glass. The resulting hole will perfect shape and it doesn't need to be processed.

How to drill a hole in glass at home with a homemade drill?

To make a homemade drill, you will need a diamond roller from a glass cutter and a metal rod:

Saw a groove in the rod to insert the roller into it. You need to fix it so that it is motionless in relation to the metal rod.
Fix the drill made in this way in a screwdriver or drill and start drilling. This is equivalent to the fact that you are perforating with a diamond-coated drill.

Important! If for some reason you cannot buy a factory-made drill, then you can make it yourself.

There is another way self-study drill bits to work to drill glass at home:

Clamp conventional drill in pliers and hold for several minutes over the flame of a gas burner.
After the tool is white hot, cool it with sealing wax.
After the drill has cooled, remove the remaining sealing wax.
With this simple manipulation, you get a durable tool that can make holes in a tempered glass sheet.

To avoid cracking of the material, apply a little turpentine or honey to the surface at the drilling site.
Do not press the screwdriver or drill while working, do not shake the tool from side to side.
Take breaks of 5-10 seconds. During breaks, lower the drill into a vessel with cold water for cooling.
If you choose between a drill and a screwdriver, give preference to the latter, since the drilling mode in this case will turn out to be more gentle.
For surface treatment, you can use both a solution of ethyl alcohol and acetone.
Do not forget about safety precautions - you need to work in goggles and gloves.
The minimum distance from the point of drilling to the edge of the sheet: 15 mm for fragile grades, 25 mm for ordinary glass.
It is desirable to place a glass sheet on a wooden surface.

Glass cutter application

With this tool you can create holes of large diameter or complex shape. The algorithm of actions is the following:

Apply with a marker or felt-tip pen contours for further processing.
Press the tool smoothly and evenly, do not make sudden movements.
To fall off the cut off part, gently tap on the surface with the handle of the tool.
To remove glass residue, use special tongs.

Important! Before you start working with glass, check the condition of the tool. It is necessary that the roller is in the center of the glass cutter, rotates freely and evenly.