"Helpful" ... Right?

I have a big project in mind, Nevermind what it is, except it's in glass and it's very elaborate in my mind.  I've been mentally designing it for over a month now, but putting off the actual start except for putting it on paper, then copying it in different sizes, until today. This is a far cry from the mostly straight cutting lines I've been doing so far.

I had to get the glass saw back together from its last cleaning, but one has to lift the motor-with-saw off the large bin holding water to clean it after every use. Replacing it hadn't been done right. I gave it a try or seven. I have gotten it exactly right on a few occasions, but needed help on several others. There is a trick to it. Somebody in the club had to know what that was. I didn't.The person who, up to today, was the only one in the club who could do it properly, didn't get in until an hour after his usual time, and my attempts while waiting didn't do the job. 

I found things to do in the meantime. 

Once he arrived he agreeably went straight to the saw to reseat the motor. Except it didn't work for him either. Not even his 5th try. One he managed to get it in place, he immediately removed it again to see how this  time was different, and 3 more failed attempts ensued. Eventually after several of those, he managed to figure out that there is a part on the bottom that has to fit in a slot to lock it in place, and the wrong angle kept it out of the slot. It had to slide in place on a curve, but not that much of a curve, nor that little.

So now we both know. We also know that the cord can get in the way so it has to be held to the side. Once I finished my sawing for the day, and cleaned the base out, I reseated it on only my second try. I consider that a victory.

Did I get any further in my project? Well, does a total failure of concept count?  I guess I'm a little further on the learning curve, right?

The first fail was in following the marker lines on the glass. The marker is supposed to be permanent but the water the saw needs washes it away and you have no clue where you're supposed to go next. They (he and his wife, our top glass people) had a remedy for that: Vaseline! Great! I wiped it on each of my glass pieces and started the saw. The lines to follow lasted about a half inch of progress longer than before. My project - just this piece of it - has 8 pieces to cut and connect. They curve and zig and zag. After working on two of them I decided a whole re-think is in order.

I explained my issue (besides some lack of skill) to our glass-working couple, and this time she came up with a solution. It works in another glass club, putting one's drawn design into a machine which copies it onto a piece of red vinyl with a sticky back. You can cut the vinyl, stick it on your glass and saw around non-moving, non-disappearing lines. Well, so long as your glass isn't the same shade of red, of course.

But I'm not a member of that club so I can't use their equipment. Membership would involve a fee, their required number of training hours (whatever I think I know they don't care: they train or else), and volunteer hours before using their facility. Not gonna do it.

But... I could put tape on one side of my glass, draw my pattern (much simplified) onto the tape in place, and cut ( exacto knife?) the tape into the form to saw. Or I might just leave some of the tape in place with the excess there to hold it down better while I saw. I don't know if I need special tape to do that, or if masking or duct tape would work. I'll do small test runs.  On the plus side, I do know how to get tape "stickum"  off of glass or anything else. It's just like getting bubblegum out of hair. You need oil. Peanut butter works on hair. Skin oil works well enough on glass so long as you didn't just wash your nose or forehead. Since the glass is always cleaned before any next steps with a soft toothbrush in soapy water, removing the oil isn't an issue.

What I do know to be an issue is getting cuts that don't make divots in the glass every time I turn the piece to get a different angle or curve. I don't think there is an easy cure for that besides wasting glass.

Sighhhh.....