Trouble etching glass

Good morning, first off I did search the forum but couldn’t really find the information I need.

I have been using a spring loaded diamond drag bit to etch acrylic with excellent results.
I recently tried etching glass with the same bits, with very mixed results. The etching starts out great but as the job proceeds the quality rapidly goes down hill.

My questions are, has anyone used these type of bits for glass etching, and if so what are your settings?
I have been using the following settings for acrylic and attempted to use them on the glass also.

In vcarve .08 depth/pressure, 200 in feed rate, 0 spindle speed.
Thank you in advance

With results in the picture it tells me that the work surface is not level. The bottom end with “Married” is higher so there is more pressure on the bit…as it goes to the Top of the piece that end is lower so there is less pressure on the spring loaded bit.

Ok but why did that not happen when I’m etching acrylic

and I had recently leveled the wasteboard by cutting it down

Is your spring fatiguing so there’s less pressure at the end of the job?

Brand new spring loaded bit that day

Does acrylic require less pressure to etch? If so it would not be noticeable.

Have you tried changing out to a new spring half way through a project and see if that helps fatigue mid-carve?

One other thing to keep in mind is that glass dulls abrasive types of cutting tools.

I haven’t worked glass with the X-carve, but I have done extensive work with glass and other tools.

Just check your bits and make sure they are still cutting nicely.

May not be your problem, but just a note on working glass.

One thing to keep in mind…thin glass tends to flex very easily. Your method of clamping may be causing this. I ended up making a wooden frame for clamping to etch glass.

I wound assume acrylic definetly needs less pressure, because if it’s lack of hardness compared to glass

Not yet

Thank you

Interesting, but the glass is actually 1/4" thick

It will still flex…

So has anyone actually etched glassed with a drag bit on their xcarve?

yes

What settings did you use?

I had the same problem turns out my waste board was off. You don’t see it on acrylic because it’s soft and super easy to scratch . Glass is much harder so from the looks of it you are losing pressure some where try to zero your z height off the top left corner. Then bring it down to bottom left and do x and y. And see what happens

My settings would do you no good, my X-Carve is no longer comparable to a stock machine in both rigidity, speed or controller. I have made a few changes.

Throw a scrap piece down and tweak settings. Judging from your picture your settings are pretty good…I truly believe your issues are related to an uneven surface…either the wasteboard or the glass.

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thank you, i will give it another try tomorrow

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