Ok, I won an 80" AR5 Acu-Rite Scale off eBay. Its going to be about 30" too
long for my lathe. I have seen the Acu-rite scales. I'm going to give a
shot at shortening it. (What the heck)
It also comes with the mounting spar.
Looking for advice from the peanut gallery :-)

My initial thoughts are to cut the aluminum housing where I can score the
glass scale, support it top and bottom at the score mark and then snap it.

The other thought was to cut through it with a diamond wheel on a 4" peanut
grinder?

I don't have the room to merely let the scale hang over on either side of
the lathe.

How would you attempt it?

i cut several scales with a diamond tile cutter. once i used just a die grinder
they all work fine and your reader does not go to the edge.

In article ,
says...
Ok, I won an 80" AR5 Acu-Rite Scale off eBay. Its going to be about 30" too
long for my lathe. I have seen the Acu-rite scales. I'm going to give a
shot at shortening it. (What the heck)
It also comes with the mounting spar.
Looking for advice from the peanut gallery :-)

My initial thoughts are to cut the aluminum housing where I can score the
glass scale, support it top and bottom at the score mark and then snap it.

The other thought was to cut through it with a diamond wheel on a 4" peanut
grinder?

I don't have the room to merely let the scale hang over on either side of
the lathe.

How would you attempt it?


I cut three AcuRite ENC-150 scales succesfully using a hot
wire to crack the glass. I drilled a small hole tangent to
the face of the scale thru the top of the extrusion. A
piece of SS wire (about .030, I think) was threaded thru
the hole and across the face of the scale with the
extrusion clamped upside down (open side up, seals removed)
in the vice. The TIG welder made a convenient power source
to heat the wire using the foot pedal to control the
current, but I'm sure there area dozen other kluges that
would work fine.

I held the wire angled away from the scale coming out the
open side of the extrusion with the welder's electrode
holder, stepped on the pedal til the wire was glowing, then
swung it into contact with the scale. A squirt of water
from a wash bottle made sure the glass fractured. Then I
cut the extrusion with a hacksaw. The glass in the ENC-150
scales is held in with silicone, so you can cut the
extrusion such that the glass stops short of the end of the
extrusion. The silicone bond on the stub piece of glass is
easy to break. Or you can make two cuts in the glass and
cut the extrusion in between. Leaving the glass recessed
allows the original end caps to be reused.

Ned Simmons

Ned Simmons wrote in
:

In article ,
says...
Ok, I won an 80" AR5 Acu-Rite Scale off eBay. Its going to be about
30" too long for my lathe. I have seen the Acu-rite scales. I'm going
to give a shot at shortening it. (What the heck)
It also comes with the mounting spar.
Looking for advice from the peanut gallery :-)

My initial thoughts are to cut the aluminum housing where I can score
the glass scale, support it top and bottom at the score mark and then
snap it.

The other thought was to cut through it with a diamond wheel on a 4"
peanut grinder?

I don't have the room to merely let the scale hang over on either
side of the lathe.

How would you attempt it?


I cut three AcuRite ENC-150 scales succesfully using a hot
wire to crack the glass. I drilled a small hole tangent to
the face of the scale thru the top of the extrusion. A
piece of SS wire (about .030, I think) was threaded thru
the hole and across the face of the scale with the
extrusion clamped upside down (open side up, seals removed)
in the vice. The TIG welder made a convenient power source
to heat the wire using the foot pedal to control the
current, but I'm sure there area dozen other kluges that
would work fine.

I held the wire angled away from the scale coming out the
open side of the extrusion with the welder's electrode
holder, stepped on the pedal til the wire was glowing, then
swung it into contact with the scale. A squirt of water
from a wash bottle made sure the glass fractured. Then I
cut the extrusion with a hacksaw. The glass in the ENC-150
scales is held in with silicone, so you can cut the
extrusion such that the glass stops short of the end of the
extrusion. The silicone bond on the stub piece of glass is
easy to break. Or you can make two cuts in the glass and
cut the extrusion in between. Leaving the glass recessed
allows the original end caps to be reused.

Ned Simmons

Ned, where did you get the stainless wire? How long did you hold it
agains the glass? If I read this correctly, you let the wire get red hot,
put it against the glass for a period of time, removed it and then right
away sprayed it with some water? The glass fractured right where you
applied the wire?

Just wondering how long this takes and whether or not just heating a
piece of steel cherry red (a 6 penny finishing nail) and then putting it
to the glass would work.

Interesting way of approaching it, makes sense.

Marty

In article ,
says...

Ned, where did you get the stainless wire? How long did you hold it
agains the glass? If I read this correctly, you let the wire get red hot,
put it against the glass for a period of time, removed it and then right
away sprayed it with some water? The glass fractured right where you
applied the wire?

I used SS spring wire. I expect steel would work, but the
SS is a bit stronger at high temp. The welder was set
pretty low, probably less than 10A. Using the foot pedal
allowed me to adjust the current as the wire was heating to
avoid getting it too hot. And yes, the wire was heated
while held away from the glass, then swung into contact. I
squirted the water while the wire was still touching,
though I'm not sure the water is even necessary. In most
cases you could here a little 'plink' almost immediately
after touching the wire to the glass. I must have made 8 or
10 cuts total between practice runs and the real cuts and
only one was noticeably skewed, but not enough to be a
problem.


Just wondering how long this takes and whether or not just heating a
piece of steel cherry red (a 6 penny finishing nail) and then putting it
to the glass would work.

It's worth a try. I experimented first on some microscope
slides before trying it on a scale.

Ned

Ned Simmons wrote in
:

In article ,
says...

Ned, where did you get the stainless wire? How long did you hold it
agains the glass? If I read this correctly, you let the wire get red
hot, put it against the glass for a period of time, removed it and
then right away sprayed it with some water? The glass fractured right
where you applied the wire?

I used SS spring wire. I expect steel would work, but the
SS is a bit stronger at high temp. The welder was set
pretty low, probably less than 10A. Using the foot pedal
allowed me to adjust the current as the wire was heating to
avoid getting it too hot. And yes, the wire was heated
while held away from the glass, then swung into contact. I
squirted the water while the wire was still touching,
though I'm not sure the water is even necessary. In most
cases you could here a little 'plink' almost immediately
after touching the wire to the glass. I must have made 8 or
10 cuts total between practice runs and the real cuts and
only one was noticeably skewed, but not enough to be a
problem.


Just wondering how long this takes and whether or not just heating a
piece of steel cherry red (a 6 penny finishing nail) and then putting
it to the glass would work.

It's worth a try. I experimented first on some microscope
slides before trying it on a scale.

Ned

Thanks Ned. I will give it a try when I get it.
Marty

I just cut my today using a standard metal cutting bang saw fine tooth blade Went right through the extruded housing and the glass from the top down