Cutting filters - advice

[Medavoym]

Hi!

I want to cut down some of my filters (4x4.5) to smaller sizes (4x4 and/or Series 9 round).

I want to do it myself. I have some 4x4 and Series 9 filters that I don't need and I plan to use use them as guides - placing them directly over the 4x4.5 filter and cutting the filter around them.

Any advice?

I wonder if anybody did it before, and have some experience on how to go about it. For example, I wonder if the gel that is sandwiched in the middle of the glass will make the cutting different than any other regular glass cutting job.

Any particular glass cutter I should get?

Thanks!
Best regards,
Mike

[ericyoung]

Hi!

I want to cut down some of my filters (4x4.5) to smaller sizes (4x4 and/or Series 9 round).

I want to do it myself. I have some 4x4 and Series 9 filters that I don't need and I plan to use use them as guides - placing them directly over the 4x4.5 filter and cutting the filter around them.

Any advice?

I wonder if anybody did it before, and have some experience on how to go about it. For example, I wonder if the gel that is sandwiched in the middle of the glass will make the cutting different than any other regular glass cutting job.

Any particular glass cutter I should get?

Thanks!
Best regards,
Mike

I've NOT done it, so these are just suggestions to try at your own risk, but you can probably use tile cutting tools or tile snapping methods.

The main difficulty is avoiding accidentally moving the filter on the surface you're doing it, and all the swarf, and ending up with millions of little scratches.

The other way is to score a line down with the glass cutter, and then put cocktail sticks (or matchsticks) under the tile behind the score, score side uppermost, and then GENTLY push down on the sides of the filter until it cracks along the score. The problem with this is that it can sometimes crack elsewhere. The deeper and more even the score the better.

Then file the sharp edges down with a needle file.

[Juhan Malmstein]

Just a thing to notice when using glass cutters, is that making the filter/glass wet before cutting helps to reduce the possibility of cracking. Don't know how or why, but it definitely does.