Can Glass Cut Wood?

Watch us make a wood saw blade: bit.ly/43MbJqw
Can glass cut wood? There's only one way to find out. We made a glass saw blade and tested different methods to have it successfully cut wood.
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[@WaterjetChannel]

What are your best suggestions for the materials we should try next? Any tips on how we could make the glass blades less explodey?? Also, here's a link to the wood saw blade video in case you missed it: bit.ly/446R546

[@SAHILKHAN91972]

Obsidian or sapphire

[@yoo571]

Next a paper saw blade

[@PatrickAdairDesigns]

I think the two best solutions to get glass to not shatter would be 1. Smaller diameter blade (much less inertia and therefor stress on the blade) and 2. A method to actually control the rpm and spin it slower (just like what the foot pedal was supposed to do).

[@puerlatinophilus3037]

What "ramen + resin" mixture does one at least need to cut wood?

[@Onoma314]

Cut Balsa wood instead

[@randomasiandude7055]

Alternative title: How to harness the explosive energy of breaking glass to split wood in half

[@jessee2142]

Which is impressive

[@nikorek1470]

Also add "(gone sexual)" at the end

[@brandonthomson3361]

Too funny 😂

[@jordantynkler201]

Alternative alternative title: p h y s I c s

[@xanamazing9799]

@@nikorek1470what why

[@eddieprasad108]

I have an silly idea. Make a saw blade out of lexan. I’ve heard from a bedio it’s 250x Stronger than glass!

[@craazyy22]

That is genious

[@swschrader1981]

That was my thought to

[@bonkser]

heres an idea: education

[@mytuberforyou]

you'll need to put it on a cold saw.

[@Vadow789]

But then what's he going to use as a shield?

[@fgbhrl4907]

You don't need to have the blade be the fully 12" or whatever. The centrifugal forces are way higher. Instead, you should have made the blade just big enough to cut through the 1x1 (or whatever it was). This would dramatically reduce the forces on the blade.

[@cohcam2113]

Do you think slowly bringing the blade up to speed would have helped? I was thinking it would. 🤔

[@reverse_engineered]

@@cohcam2113 There are thee main lines of force. There is the main torque of the shaft attempting to rotate the blade around the axis of the shaft. There is also a centripetal /centrifugal force of the atoms of the blade wanting to continue their linear motion away from the axis while being pulled back into a rotational motion by rest of the atoms of the blade. Finally, there are rotation forces perpendicular to the shaft bending the glass in towards the shaft as a result of gyroscopic precession if blade isn't perfectly aligned with the axis of rotation (e.g. it's not flat or it's not perfectly perpendicular). At low speeds, the rotational force is the primary force as it tries to overcome to rotational inertia of the blade. As the blade speeds up, the centripetal/centrifugal forces and gyroscopic forces increase. Decreasing the rate of acceleration of the rotation of the axle reduces its torque. The other two forces are perpendicular to this and depend only on the overall rate of rotation and the geometry. The only way to avoid the disc pulling itself apart at high speeds is to reduce the final speed. This is why small grinding discs and even large metal saw blades specify a maximum RPM. More than that and the blade will both wobble violently and try to pull itself apart radially.

[@edherdman9973]

@@cohcam2113 Maybe if it was sharply snapping on and cracking at the start, or if it helped dampen vibrations. I think you're going to have the most trouble when the glass hits the wood, though.

[@TosGD]

then to make the optimal object you just get a drill XD @fgbhrl4907

[@yobandit100]

A big reason your first blades might have additional stress is because the hole you cut in the middle of the blade is round while the fit for the blade has some edges on it - its not a cirlce. This would have caused a worse fit and additional vibrations as the fit was not tight

[@adamreynolds3863]

I think the shaft of the motor was slamming into the glass from start up, and the weight of the glass was resisting the motion. So that was like an immense amount of pressure on a tiny area, you could make this work with a plastic bushing

[@JamesTK]

There's a screw that was rubbing against the blades, can see a good closeup at the end

[@jamesbizs]

Yeah. It totally wasn’t the cracks in literally the center of the blade lol

[@yorkleroy5605]

i was going to say something about this! kinda frustrating that he never did anything about that in this video.

[@CarXman1432]

Me and my dad make fishing lures out of balsa

[@yorkleroy5605]

@@CarXman1432 that's really cool!

[@zaynehayashi2528]

“Just over 14” “Just like my girlfriend” Caught me off guard lmao 💀

[@ogracid9883]

Mine too

[@jamesvedder1143]

In the future if you test more fragile materials, I think you should add a flare to the bottom of your handle. As it is right now there is a gap in the safety box where the handle is and if you're holding the handle while a blade shatters (although unlikely) a small piece could potentially fly out and hit your hand causes a pretty nasty wound. Judging from this and past videos I know it wouldn't be too much trouble for you guys as you could use pretty much any material from rubber to Poly carb glass and it would work to shield that gap

[@deadturret4049]

There would be a certain amount of irony if they use a real saw blade as the handle flare

[@deadturret4049]

There would be a certain amount of irony if they use a real saw blade as the handle flare

[@cerealguy6359]

Or they could just put a separate shield slide where the handle slides, making it so the gap is always closed..

[@64seweryn]

Add an adittional guard that mounts to the handle so it travels with the handle. Also gloves

[@jeshucena]

5:57 UHHH WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?

[@Ridley882]

I can think of two possible meanings. But I don't know which was intended.

[@bronsontolliver9027]

As a shower door installer/fabricator, this is the most fun thing I've seen someone do with some glass and a power saw.

[@kaneoliver2080]

Me to haha

[@wombatillo]

There were two obvious cracks starting from the hole with the first glass blade. It was obvious those cracks would propagate at the merest hint to centripetal force. edit: the second blade was cracked from get-go too! You cannot have any weak points in the glass or it will crack further! Glass isn't really strong in stretching or bending, only compression like concrete.

[@wmose3694]

this was driving me crazy (on a side note it is are to pierce glass without having a crack form i have always used hollow diamond style hole saw with water flowing through it to flush out the glass as i go still a pain but i think the waterjet is just to violent)

[@wombatillo]

@@wmose3694 yeah. I think you need to saw the center hole gently like you said.

[@bensoncheung2801]

333 👍

[@MrLTiger]

you would think something so obvious would be... well.. OBVIOUS

[@MessyMasyn]

concrete sawblade

[@vinceofdeath1361]

As soon as I saw the Lexan my brain started screaming "Make the blade out of Lexan!". A virtually indestructible saw blade sounds lovely.

[@Phauxz]

One thing to consider when making a sawblade is the kerf (the actual gap you're taking out of the material). Saw blades, be they circular or hand, tend to have flared out (or 'set') teeth, which cut a wider kerf than the width of the blade body. This is to reduce the friction (and heat) the blade experiences when it passes through the material, as only the teeth (ideally) are in contact, as opposed to the body of the blade and the teeth. If you can figure out a way to either make the teeth thicker, or reduce the thickness of the rest of the blade after cutting it out, you might have some more success with materials that expand when they heat up.

[@Adeathwishtolive]

Cut the blade and then take a rotary sander to it to bring the thickness down on both sides. Combined with making the blade smaller to reduce the centripetal force and reinforcing the mounting point before the cut with the super tape to hopefully prevent any small fractures at the beginning, you could quite possibly end up with a blade that doesn’t instantly explode fragments of death.

[@DetectiveJones]

"Don't try this at home kids, try it at somebody else's house" - A responsible man

[@dotcom9601]

😂😂😂😂😂 most hilarious comment

[@petermeier7149]

A abrasive saw blade out of granite would be interesting

[@drantigon]

That made me think, ceramic could also be an option. Ceramic knives are also a thing, and they are more brittle, but pretty tough.

[@surferdudemi]

@@drantigon Definitely ceramic, but granite is not uniform and has grain boundaries which might be weaker than some of the grains, leading to crack propagation

[@sirliam5169]

Correction: use a prince Rupert's drop

[@Ithirahad]

Centrifugal forces will tear it open unfortunately. Maybe a different type of rock/mineral that's more uniform.

[@BITTYBOY121]

Guys, You need to choose a machine equipped with a soft start feature so that you don't shock the glass blade and shatter it when the motor starts up !

[@sponsorthis]

The tape you used was meant to go the other direction (perpendicular to the joint instead of parallel). Has a much higher strength that way.

[@TheMookie1590]

GUYS BUY A VARIAC FOR THIS YOULL SAVE THE GLASS , you can get a cheap one for $50. it lets you control how much mains voltage you send to the saw. This way you can turn the knob up slowly to reach mains voltage of 110volts. that way it doesnt start at max speed, cracking the glass. start at like 30 volts, then slowly turn up the speed so it doesnt shock the glass so hard at max speed

[@GRosa250]

I was thinking a regular dimmer switch for lights would probably work and they’re a lot cheaper

[@TheMookie1590]

@@GRosa250 Possible, but can a dimmer drive an 10 amp inductive load? I dont think most dimmers are designed to offer that amps. and a saw is an inductive load because of the coil in it, and that can trip certain protection circuit a variac, even a cheap one can push 20 amps.

[@j5892000]

Don't they also go past mains voltage too like its a q variable transformer

[@bottlesandblisters]

I love nothing more than coming home from work settling in for the night with a smoke and your videos, im slowly working my way through your older content now. Keep up the good work!

[@zpttpzzpt]

Kudos to the jokes you be cracking. Absolutely straight comedy lol

[@brei2670]

Glass is really bad with these kinds of stresses. Maybe tempered glass? Like you'd find as very thin screen protectors for example. They're so flexible, they feel more like plastic.

[@tatianaes3354]

I thought tempered glass is harder, but more brittle. So the way is to use, on the country, a more flexible, less brittle material like translucent plastic.

[@mrc4nl]

@@tatianaes3354 then there is laminated tempered glass. best of both.

[@1rez378]

You ain't gonna make a hole in a tempered glass.

[@supraaznpride]

Tempered glass would explode into a million pieces as soon they try to cut a blade out of it on the pressure washer. Having said that, I would totally suggest them trying it. Would make a for a fun video haha.

[@joshacollins84]

Variac : you need a variac to try and start the saw more slowly. Although there is still a chance that your particular saw may only operate at full power though (a.k.a. full chooch)

[@TheMookie1590]

lol, i love how me and you both said variacs. I managed to be like comment 10. But what I love about it, is we are both named Joshua, telling him to get variacs.

[@mpioman9885]

Saw has a brushed universal motor, a variac would definitely work for that.

[@Syclone0044]

Chooch is gonna chooch the pooch!

[@Av8orDave]

A variac will sort of work, but once you get to sufficient voltage it will still accerlate quickly. The speed of an AC motor varies with frequency not voltage, so a VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) would be ideal.

[@joshacollins84]

@TheMookie1590 great minds think alike. Josh's usually have great minds. Usually. I do dumb things sometimes.

[@phillip3075]

Really loving the method of storytelling you have put together!

[@ritishify]

Make the center of the blade out of metal, like the washer. Maybe with the jet make the outline of this center piece some kind of pattern that will fit with the outer piece of the blade made out of glass or whatever. Or just glue both parts together, I think it would be a good idea to prevent the pressure of the tightening bolt from damaging the material being tested. Great video.

[@philippe888]

This is comedy gold 😂 the delivery of everything you say is great

[@dattebenforcer]

You need to use stronger glass, like crystal or polarized glass (different layers with opposite polarization). Also make the blade thicker at the center/middle, so that it can withstand the centrifugal forces. Also you should try a different saw, this one's geometry seems to be causing problems. Don't give up on your dream man.

[@drantigon]

Thicker in the center... I'm not sure how they would make that. Would be very difficult to cut properly.

[@CzarYe]

why would the polarization of the glass matter?

[@dattebenforcer]

@@CzarYe It makes it stronger in one direction.

[@dattebenforcer]

@@drantigon Would have to do some glass work

[@exarch404]

As other commenters said, you need a way to transfer the force from the hub into the glass without creating any point forces. Spinning up slowly would probably help, but I would also consider an insert of some different material, fitted or glued in, perhaps even with a similar kind of wavy pattern as the last blade had on the outside. This will also make sure the blade is properly centered, because in the slowmotion footage, it doesn't look like it is (or perhaps it's not balanced), which causes a lot of vibration.

[@carlsonbench1827]

It was funny to see the guy at 1:00 manually editing points one by on. On an object that has rotational symmetry.

[@matthewjones7935]

You could use a diamond coated hole saw, for tile and glass, to drill the hole and prevent cracking.

[@jickhertz4124]

Acrylic saw? Resin saw? Bone saw? Loved the series!

[@daelnelbel]

Bone saw? But can it cut through a femur in 28 seconds?

[@Troyvidihoo]

I noticed the arbor hole of the glass blades was seemingly drilled rather than cut also with the water jet. it clearly had cracks around it which likely were the beginnings of the explosive failure before you even started.

[@shawnphase]

you could have tried putting a variac on the saw. i'd think maybe a variac would bring the speed up slowly enough. perhaps its something to think about with future experiments. loving these vids!

[@derekadams961]

I like the idea I saw of the fiber washer adhered to the glass blade, I feel you should also insert a rubber or silicone grommet in the center hole of the blade to account for micro vibrations against the center shaft. Those vibration I feel are the likely culprit to every glass blade failing since all of the fractures radiated from center instead of from the area that the screw was scratching. more evidence it seems towards the center of the blade being the issue is in the final slow motion shot, you can see the blade isn't spinning in a perfect circle, likely from glass chipping away from the center.

[@surferdudemi]

It would be tough to have a grommet at the center and still center the blade so it doesn't wobble. At those speeds, you need a balanced and centered blade.

[@derekadams961]

@@surferdudemi True but better then the bare glass on metal contact, may increase the longevity of the blade by a few times.

[@mrlor3d]

7:30 task failed succesfully

[@MemesNick]

13:41 bro turned into a minecraft villager

[@user-wo8vy7qg8z]

your point of failure is also the most important aspect of making a saw blade of any material, accuracy of motor shaft hole size, location and how clean cut the hole is. It needs to be perfect!!!

[@jerediah6589]

New question; Can Can Cut Wood?

[@philippe888]

This

[@LDSG_A_Team]

Try making a blade purely out of packing tape. Y'all remember making sculptures in art class that were just packing tape? Those things were surprisingly strong. Bonus points if you use exclusively that tape with the fibers in it that you used for the lexan box. Make sure you make it with the fibers going in all sorts of different directions if you do.

[@mpioman9885]

Use a variac to spin the motor up slowly and to a lower rpm. As for the self-tightening nut, jet the center hole for your blade oversized and fit it over a solid bushing which is slightly wider than your blade. The nut will tighten to a stop against the bushing and your rubber washers will be doing all the work transferring the torque into the blade. Definitely do something about that protruding screw nonsense lol. And also you might try hand drilling the starting hole for the center of the blade if it was the piercing operation that caused the cracks right out of the jet.

[@burgerchristopher4252]

Small Tip for next time, if you use brittle materials. Maybe use an electric soft starter to slowly spin the blade to speed, it seems that the inertia cracked it right from the beginning. You could use a potentiometer as a soft starter, if its big enough to handel the wattage or go the expensive route and get a controller from SEW or other companies.

[@Lostfromyou]

I think you may have been able to get more results if you found a way to add glass teeth to a metal blade so that the centrifugal force doesn't obliterate the support? I don't have experience with these materials, just throwing out some suggestions i thought might be interesting for another video like this. Maybe even a housing for the glass blade that places the stress on the sides of the blade instead of the center?

[@JimmyGsFatNuts]

A resin saw blade could be interesting, maybe add different materials to the epoxy to increase strength or cutting ability

[@ProgramerGeek]

I’d liked to see carbon fiber hardened with epoxy. Idk which weave would be best or the hardness of carbon fiber, but I know it has good impact strength.

[@erikallen9141]

I really appreciated the humor in this video, made me chuckle quite a few times

[@-Jethro-]

You can slow down that saw with a router speed controller, or even a light dimmer switch from the hardware store. Use that to make the startup gentler and to limit the top speed.

[@TheMookie1590]

i commented to use a variac. but after someone else said light dimmer. I looked it up, and they are like 600 watts. Sadly wont work. and a saw is a high inductive load, it will kill the dimmer almost the second its powered on

[@teinej]

I am a lady, not mostly gentleman. I found this to be thoroughly entertaining and laughed more than the average bear.

[@55rman33]

You should do a collaborative video with Dan and Mitchell from “The WaterJet Channel” I feel like those guys know more about how to use a waterjet to not crack glass

[@Leatherman154]

Ceramic tile next please, if possible try to get a Zirconium tile. I work at Leitz Tooling, we make diamond tipped saw blades, the 'diamond' material is a Zirconium based ceramic. So I'd be highly interested to see what a full blade made of the stuff would be like. 2 suggestions I have are. Change the geometry of the blade to give a negative 5° hook angle to the teeth. It will put the blade through less stress when cutting, it is commonly done on metal cutting blades for that reason. Cut a 30mm bore hole in the glass, then epoxy in an aluminium bushing, that will probably help with the vibration.

[@thomasdickson35]

That 'saw blade' was cracked before you put it on. You mentioned you went to medical school?

[@fiery_transition]

Fiberglass reinforced tape should be the universal duct-tape, not duct-tape, the world got it wrong.

[@coltoncowan682]

I think duct tape should be duct tape. Everything else needs a new name

[@PeaNUTFERRET]

I saw this and just screamed NO at the top of my lungs ...in public

[@2pringles]

Also a quick congrats on 1MILLION SUBSCRUBSIORS. My first time seeing your channel, still very impressive none the less! Cheers!🎉

[@A_Friendly_Robot]

While the views aren't what they used to be, the humour is still peak 🤣

[@KenzertYT]

We all watched for Mitchell and Dan and now they're gone and the format has changed

[@rodnyg7952]

any nonsense to kill time in order to make a 15min vid

[@Colith1]

This is what I love about experiments. Its not always the end result, but sometimes the journey is vastly more exciting.

[@tylerlarson2718]

This is the content I’ve been lookin for from this channel I love it!!!!!

[@princeeboka1911]

I liked my own comment

[@ZakHesse]

Nice “rookie of the year” impression and clip… so quick but it brought back a ton of memories. Thanks!

[@GerManBearPig]

Another option to try would be to make the inner part of the sawblade from a different material and only the outermost area (teeth) from glass

[@cpljimmyneutron]

If you make resin stabilized wood you should not only be able to make a much harder blade, but you can actually sharpen it. Alternatively, glue a bunch of paper together. Something like 30 layers of 110lb card stock. Also, a note, super glue bonds too hard, it has no give, and so in any application that needs even the tiniest amount of flex, it just breaks. That's why poly acrylic glues are so good at their job, they are ever so slightly flexible when bonded. I have used a simple acrylic gorilla glue to bond glass to metal in applications where heat expansion exists, and it holds amazingly.

[@reflactor]

Man, the humor in this had me cackling. Great job.

[@Zilege]

I guess I should have expected that. The glass probably lost durability because it's probably getting heated up as it spinning. 😅

[@s7snipr]

I lowkey thought this man was gonna get super emotional and cry when it failed the first 3 times

[@thewolfstu]

this saw is pure "Safety is a suggestion" energy.

[@TheDarkSide11891]

You should try a composite blade next, either fibreglass or carbon fibre would be interesting!

[@Darth_Memus]

You guys should make a saw blade out of Lexan since it’s 250x stronger than glass

[@mckeeganator5844]

Wow that glass blade exploding and cutting the wood, you just created the most dangerous saw blade I’ve ever seen

[@thefroggybannana]

The editing was top notch today

[@augustwest8559]

I think these experiments are good. You should continue until someone looses a eye.

[@kallusive8986]

7:39 “can glass cut wood?” Whelp apparently yes..

[@StippleAlpha]

Why is he editing every single sawblade instead of creating one blade and then rotating that feature around a center? Amazed you guys get any work done at all!

[@austin.england]

Safety squints saved my eyes numerous times. Best purchase ever.

[@Donavin0]

You should of used laminated plexiglass for the saw blade it would of worked with that

[@DominicRyanOsborne]

Best laugh I've had in a while.. I'm like where's the Don't try this at home disclaimer as he says it

[@alephnole7009]

I remember watching a video on Transparent wood. From what I also remember it was tougher than standard wood after the processing. Maybe a transparent wood saw blade would work.

[@Melblueyes]

hmmm have you thought about using the tape in multiple layers since its so strong to keep stuff together and make a sawblade out of that and see if it will cut the wood

[@mightymurph3949]

Safety glasses are the mvp in this experiment

[@Spinattitude]

I recommend using a saw blade for cutting a standard 2x4.

[@Gunbudder]

that crazy tape is called reinforced packing tape or fiberglass tape. its designed to be essentially impossible to stretch or rip

[@ce5243]

“Aw man I broke my whittling arm” is a Simpsons hit and run quote I’ve heard so many times during those roadkill missions 11:39

[@tupcho33]

I would recommend to use water when you start the glass, this way it will remove the vibrations caused by the different weights of the different places on the glass disc further i would use some kind of soft gap filler for the gap between the disc and the middle of the spinning disc - mitigating vibrations

[@carterbourkland1659]

I also notice that the bearing on the saw had wobble which could contribute to the breaking

[@scotttruehart8024]

If nothing else, this video goes to show how much energy is put into a sawblade when you use a saw

[@saassuus9220]

such a smooth cut

[@geoffgunn9673]

I don't know if you have tried hardened glass. Have you tried cutting a piece of plain glass then getting it hardened then ground? Might work at a controllable rpm

[@jared5220]

If you guys try out concrete consider using some of that wire mesh for window screens as reinforcement. Just a fyi but the portland cement on its own is stronger than with substrate in it. Probably don't even need teeth on it just a straight wheel and it already has all the abrasive you could want.

[@andrewbevan3933]

"I thought for sure that tape was going to hold it, especially with the super glue". That explains a lot. Stress concentrations in the teeth are not the problem. It's the stress concentrations caused by the cracks in the arbor hole. All it takes is a little vibration for them to propagate through the whole blade. Eliminate those when cutting that hole and you might have a fighting chance of getting the blade to survive long enough to at least make contact with the wood before exploding.

[@uncleaj4420]

cutting out the center hole a little bigger and adding a rubber grommet should help protect the glass a little more

[@justaguycalledjosh]

i have a dumb idea. can you combine glass-fibre and wood veneer together with resin to make a blade that is the best of both?

[@pauldriscoll5010]

Try industrial synthetic sapphire sheet bonded between spring steel shim stock that should give you hardness and strength to cut most things

[@jtjjbannie]

That glass saw blade would make an awesome clock.

[@dewanpretorius]

Maybe add something like glue to the middle next, cracks may form from the middle and spread outwards (especially with something brittle like glass)

[@seanyoung3864]

Love the shot at Neil. 😂

[@MrChainsawAardvark]

On one hand, I think trying a different type of glass - such as the borosilicate stuff used for laboratory instruments and high heat applications might help. Being a thinner and lighter might reduce the stress as well. Does it need to be a full size table saw? On the other hand this is a mater of torsion/tension/compression and much like concrete - glass is really only good for that third one, no matter what type you're using. I'd also mention the idea of fiberglass, with some sort of grit compound embedded in the epoxy. But at that point, you're making the same grinding wheel as that angle-tool that melted your lexan.

[@lilblairjr193]

I love the channel! And I love the videos! Idea, you should make a blade out of lexan

[@lordcupkake]

I feel like that little scrwe contacting was definitely a major problem. Maybe a metal washer and then rubber washers to space it off that screw more?

[@drvedanglive]

The vandal protection caught me off guard

[@jcpkill1175]

If my understanding of glass matrix is correct you would need some kind of uniform heating after this to allow the new shape's stresses to be evenly distributed again. Doing this puts the glass into a kind of tension making it much more fragile.

[@deadly1720]

If yall where to revisit the glass blade idea maybe coat the glass blade in resin the applying then abrasive just a idea. love the video!

[@MSJONESBLOUNT]

Next do can a stone saw blade cut wood