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View Full Version : Any of you polish glass?



Kev Williams
02-06-2017, 4:33 PM
Asking because I'm in the middle of repairing some glass awards that were engraved wrong (most by someone else, one by me ;) )

I fixed one about 3 weeks ago- I found that it's relatively easy to sand glass down. It's work, but I was surprised that it only took me about 10 minutes to sand down enough to get past the engraving.

What isn't relatively easy is polishing the sanding marks out! I just have a few basics for polishing, a few wheels and an assortment of compounds. But none of the compounds provided much bite on glass.

I realize there's likely whole machines & such for doing glass, but I'm not going that deep into this, we're talking a half dozen tops- Area I'm fixing is 1/2" x 4" approx...

Clark Pace
02-06-2017, 4:37 PM
You can get sanding discs up to 30000 grit. And if you take the time you can the. To look pretty good. But. You never get it to look like a factory off the sheld finish

Darren Wilson
02-06-2017, 5:58 PM
I've had good results using cerium oxide and a DA polisher removing wiper scratches from windscreen on car, but was a slow, messy process ...

John Blazy
02-06-2017, 8:39 PM
Hey Kev,

Here's where I can really help you - been polishing glass long before I made Dichrolam in plastics. Sanding engraving to flat glass is easy, as you know - silicon carbide (black) discs and belts cut glass great - go to 400. Then introduce 3M Trizact - ultimate polishing discs for ANY material - glass, 2K urethane coatings, acrylic, etc. Do the blue discs to smooth down ready for cerium polishing (equivalent to 2000 grit). Now it gets difficult. Going from the nearly polished surface from the Trizact to gloss is REALLY time consuming. Cerium is the ONLY abrasive to polish glass to wet gloss. Gotta buy a few oz of ceruim oxide powder, mix with water, and apply to felt pad, and go to work. will work great, but is time consuming. No other alternative.

Kev Williams
02-06-2017, 10:58 PM
Thanks all! Cerium oxide seems to be the first to add to my polishing arsenal :)