DIY Tumbler from Beer Bottles

[CarlLBC]

you could cut the bottoms off and use them as a light fixture. the pendants kind that hang down. not sure what the heat of the light bulb would do to the glass though.

 

[IrregularPulse]

you could cut the bottoms off and use them as a light fixture. the pendants kind that hang down. not sure what the heat of the light bulb would do to the glass though.

That is very cool too. You could use LED lights and have very little heat.

 

[Guidry]

I just tried this tonight. It went very well.

The next task is to go out and find a bottle that would look awesome. Any thoughts?

Joshua

Trying to make this work on some blank 22oz bottles first, but I'd like to make a few tumblers out of these:

 

[schupaul]

I feel so old. In the early 70's (I was about 12-14) I had one of these kits. I especially remembering making a set of juice glasses from Michelob bottles. Memories.

Same here. That thing was cool. I wonder if they still make something like that.

 

[passedpawn]

I'd like to cut the bottlom off, flip the thing upside down, and glue a base of some sort to the neck. Nice tall goblet. Don't care too much about a tumbler.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

Back in the 70's there was a norleco or some such kit that you could easily do it, it was a glass cutter on an arm that you set and the right hieght, you put the bottle on a little turner and scribed/cut it, then you sanded or filed the lip down. But it is still pretty easy to do, there;s a few instructables online here.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Drinking-Glasses-from-Wine-Bottles/

Pretty easy

Damn Revvy, you're making me feel old. I had one of those way back when...

 

[John Beere]

I just edited the original post with a photo of my first attempt.. it still needs sanding, but turned our near perfect.

 

[bendavanza]

I didn't have a cutter but I tried to score a Stone bottle with my bandsaw. It broke with hot water like in that video but my scoring is sub par so I had stress fractures. I'll have tp get a cutter and have another go at it.

 

[nothreat]

My dad did this back when I was a boy. I think he used an autotransformer connected to nichrome wire. Wrapped it around where he wanted the break and turned up the transformer. The wire would begin glowing and in a second - pop - the bottle would break perfectly at the wire point. It has been 30 years, so the wire may not have been nichrome. I think it was because otherwise it would have probably just popped the breaker or damaged the transformer. He did it on wine bottles.

 

[chenwood]

I'd like to cut the bottlom off, flip the thing upside down, and glue a base of some sort to the neck. Nice tall goblet. Don't care too much about a tumbler.

You could make the base of the tumbler out of the base of the bottle that you just cut off.

 

[Centexbear]

Yeah, we did that too, but melting thin glass tubing is altogether different than trying to melt just the rim of of bottle. I think the glass is different for one thing and you would need to heat the entire tumbler evenly in order to avoid heat stress cracks.

and it would be hard to get an even melt around the rim.

 

[passedpawn]

You could make the base of the tumbler out of the base of the bottle that you just cut off.

You're right! Like this. At the guys site (from the video) he mentions using UV glue to join glass. Might not be strong enough, but heck I'd give it a try.

 

[Zamial]

Ok I have been trying to do this and I can say it is ALOT of work. I use a drawer and the hand held glass cutter. Not every bottle will break on the score, or there will be a dip/peak in the rim of the glass. I have discovered that if the dip happens to re-score it and use the tool to break the glass to the inside of the bottle, this seems to get a decent edge. I average about 50% "usable" breaks...

Next the sanding. I start with 100, the sand paper dulls FAST but it does work. I bought a cheapo orbital sander and it did speed up the process but it still takes a LONG time to get a smooth edge. (Years of being a machinist has made me paranoid of sharp edges so I probably take mine to the extreme.)

At the end of the day it takes about 2 hours to sand 1 glass smooth and about $5.00 worth of sand paper. The end result is an awesome conversation piece. If SWMBO feels better I may snap a pick of some of my finished glasses tonight.

I love the glasses but hate all the work, especially when I do not have hours to spend on 1 glass...I am stockpiling the cut glasses so that I can revisit this project in the winter when life will be a bit less hectic...

 

[Brew-boy]

Back in the 70's there was a norleco or some such kit that you could easily do it, it was a glass cutter on an arm that you set and the right hieght, you put the bottle on a little turner and scribed/cut it, then you sanded or filed the lip down. But it is still pretty easy to do, there;s a few instructables online here.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Drinking-Glasses-from-Wine-Bottles/

Pretty easy

LOL I had one of these kits.

 

[Austin_]

You're right! Like this. At the guys site (from the video) he mentions using UV glue to join glass. Might not be strong enough, but heck I'd give it a try.

UV Glue would definitely work. I worked in a glass shop for 14 years. That UV glue is no joke. As far as sanding them, when we sanded glass in the shop we used a hand-held belt sander. They make some pretty small belt sanders. Something like this would probably work pretty well for this application. It would turn two hours of sanding in to 30 seconds. http://www.harborfreight.com/1-2-half-inch-bandfile-belt-sander-92158.html

 

[Cheaton]

I'm probably the only person on HBT who cares about such things, but if you glue the bottle I would attempt to glue iti n such a way that the liquid inside would not contact the glue. For reasons of chemical leeching and reactions morethan anything else.

 

[passedpawn]

I try to eat healthfully, but really I don't worry a lot about things. I went to the doctor recently and he said I'm terminal -- 30-40 yrs max -- so I'm at the "who cares" stage of life. Live it to the fullest, without much fear.