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Polishing glass edges?

W

whines

n00b
Joined
Oct 4, 2005
Messages
50
I'm trying to use thin glass sheets for a project, and the edges on it have claimed several patches of skin. 8/ It was suggested that I could use a butane torch to 'polish' the edges--I'm familiar with doing that to acrylic, but will that actually work on glass? I'm happy to buy the torch if it would!
 
You can use sand paper and sand it by hand or use a small orbital sander if you are careful.
 
Yes, a torch will work.

We would do this in chemistry class in High-School.

Break the tube heat the broken end to polish it then heat the middle to bend if neccesary and then push it throught the stopper... but I digress.

You will want to be careful not to over-heat the edge and cause warpage.

From my experience, sanding is actually the better way for a novice, unless you have extra glass that can be used as practice pieces to develop the technique of using the torch.
 
Aye, using a torch to do it is a bit rough if you've never done it before. Be careful with the sandpaper though so that you don't scar the face of the glass.
 
If you use the right grit sand paper its simple. I have cut so much glass for peoples houses and sanded down the sides to make them smooth and I have never messed a single one up.
 
MjrStryker said:
Aye, using a torch to do it is a bit rough if you've never done it before.
Click to expand...

It will depend on the type of glass somewhat. Some glasses will shatter more easily than others from differences in heat near the edge vs further away. Lab glass is low expansion (like Pyrex) and can handle a lot of heat. Most glass cannot.
 
Michael Daly said:
It will depend on the type of glass somewhat. Some glasses will shatter more easily than others from differences in heat near the edge vs further away. Lab glass is low expansion (like Pyrex) and can handle a lot of heat. Most glass cannot.
Click to expand...

Ah, I've never used anything but LowE so I didn't know that. Thx for the tip.
 
I grew up in the art glass business, we had stationary grinders w/ a vacuum hose attached to smooth edges of any piece we cut.

The torch will probably lead to cracks if the heating is uneven, glass needs to anneal and cool properly to avoid breakage.

I suggest finding a local stained/art glass shop and paying them $10-20 to edge that thing out on their grinders. I promise they have some.
Forget sandpaper, doing it by hand. AT least use a dremel grinder wheel, its the same as the shop ones we had but in a mini handheld version.
I'd worry about slipping tho unless you had a way to keep the dremel stationary and roll the glass edges across it.
Hope this helps.
 
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