How I can cut glass? (aka help me to hack my IKEA HOL)

I have an IKEA HOL :

I like it but something about it is driving me insane , because I’m using it as coffee table between the tv and the sofa , every time anyone is using as , you know, coffee table , the crumbles goes inside and because I’m using as storage as well, it became a completely pointless furniture so , I thought , I should put a glas on it , like this person did :

But I have no experience in glass cutting and I have no idea where to start…

any help? :smiley:

It’s possible to do it yourself, but it gets harder as it gets larger. The round corners in particular will be very hard. Best thing is to get a glazier to cut you a piece to order. You’ll get a perfect finish and can have all the corners bevelled.

Ok , Thanks!

Is there any trusted one around the space?

Any advice of how I can “glue” the glass to the wood ?

The local guys we used for the front window seem to have moved/closed down. I would just do a google search for local ones, read reviews and get a few quotes.

They’ll ask if you want Toughened, which is the sort that is stronger and breaks into thousands of little nuggets instead of big shards. If it’s being supported across the whole span by the wood, then you probably don’t need it.

I wouldn’t glue it down. Glass is heavy and almost all the work will be done by gravity. If it does move around, then consider some thin/recessed (so they don’t lift it off the rest of the wood too much) rubber feet in the corners.

The main problem is that the glass panel will be on the lid , that’s why I want to glue it …

I’d definitely go for safety glass: laminated (which you can cut to size yourself, in theory), or toughened (which is professionally toughened after being cut to size). Plenty of glaziers still around, depending where you live.

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Thinking outside the box: Instead of spanning over the holes, why not fill them? You could pour coloured resin into each one and make a pretty pattern.

That sound like a great idea , I thought to laser cut some square fillers (and put LEDS underneath ) but I will have some problems with how to glue them in place…

From experience - you want to seal the hole before pouring resin in it because that stuff will find any gaps.

So actually, I’d fix a sacrificial sheet to the underside and seal up the bottom of each hole with silicone. The pour resin into each hole, right to the top. Sand flat. You won’t get a glossy smooth finish, but you won’t get any overspill either.

Well, that sounds like a plan! :smiley:

Any recommendation on the resin?

None at all! I just went for something cheap and clear.

It’s Google time :slight_smile:

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Following on from Tom’s great idea, Could get some epoxy glass resin and drop an item in each hole, suspending it in the resin. Things like coins, bottle caps, badges. That stuff polishes up to a lovely gloss too.

Addressable LED.

Possibly?

Or, select the central 8x8 and alternate in two different colours to make a chess board in the centre. Then fill the remaining holes in another colour to differentiate between the board and the rest of the table? Could suspend small chess pieces, draughts and dice in the other holes using the clear epoxy. Make it a gaming themed coffee table.

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