Processing the end of a glass sheet or mirror on finished product required. Cutting leaves irregularities, holes and microcracks along the cut border. It's not even a matter of lack of aesthetics, but of basic safety.
An untreated product may cause injury. Grinding or polishing the edges of the glass will remove sharp protrusions, trim the ends and refine them. Without this, you will only get a semi-finished product.
No matter how beautiful the product is called in the catalog, in reality its untreated edge will turn the most exquisite thing into a sloppy craft.
In addition to the aesthetic side and safety issues, edge processing is definitely necessary if the glass is to be tempered. An untreated edge during hardening will cause destruction of the product, since any microchip on it will not withstand the accumulated stresses.
Grinding
Grinding the edges of glass and mirrors is a simpler option for finishing work. Its essence is the effect of an abrasive tool on the end of the sheet.
Each of us has done sanding at some point. It is made manually or by special equipment. The industrial machine gives the highest precision and cleanliness.
Therefore, you shouldn’t count on finishing the products yourself somewhere in the garage. Most likely, instead of saving on the order budget, you will almost ruin finished project. And you'll cut yourself again.
Industrial grinding smoothes the edge of the glass without changing the original cutting dimensions. The machine will remove a thin layer of material with bumps and micropeaks without violating the specified perimeter of the product.
Sanding neutralizes only large irregularities. The edge remains rough to the touch and appears matte. Although completely safe. There may be small dents and defects on the polished edge - this is not a defect.
But a noble, discreet matte finish is in demand in design. For example, when making freely hung shelves, large mirrors or decorative elements furniture and interior design. Therefore, edge processing is sometimes limited to grinding.
Polishing glass edges and mirrors
Polishing the edge is the best finishing option. It forms an absolutely smooth edge of a glass panel or mirror. If grinding is classified as a technical operation, polishing is already pure aesthetics.
The shape of the glass end is important. In most cases, you will be offered the following polishing patterns:
Euroedge (trapezoid)
"pencil" (hemisphere)
edge polishing at 45 degrees
"cascade"
Euro edge is more common than others. This is a perfectly smooth polishing of the glass end with small chamfers in the upper and lower planes of the sheet at 45 degrees. The chamfer width is usually several millimeters. Euroedge - universal solution. Goes with everything.
When processing "pencil", the end is rounded. Like a ground eraser on the blunt end of a pencil. This is done on mirrors and glass furniture parts.
An edge at 45 degrees is less common, but in some cases such processing cannot be avoided. For example, in the manufacture of certain types of shower doors, for normal opening, exactly this bevel is required on the inner edge of the door (the side with hinges). Also, this treatment is found in UV bonding. Well, aesthetically it looks unconventional and beautiful.
The cascade edge is used for countertops and designer products. It looks great in decorative sets. The cascade is a smooth rounded bevel with two radii, with a “hollow”.
No defects are allowed on the polished end.
Glass and mirror edge polishing technology
Polishing is carried out on special machines with soft abrasive wheels. Depending on the settings, the machine forms an edge of the required shape.
While the polishing operation is understandable, it requires precise equipment and highly qualified personnel. The quality of processing is affected by:
Only a fusion of all 3 components will give an ideal result. And this is exactly the kind of alloy we provide!
Features to consider
The ends of tempered and bent glass are processed in advance. That is, they first grind or polish. And only then they bend and harden. Reversing the order will destroy the sheet.
Polishing the edge of triplex has a number of its own characteristics. Glasses can be processed separately before gluing, or ready-made triplex can be processed (polishing in a package).
In the first case, there may be some divergence of the layers and the edge will look like 2 joined processed ends.
When processed in batches, the end of the triplex looks the same as if the triplex were just a sheet of ordinary glass.
(Last Updated On: 10/04/2017)
Working with glass is one of the most common types of work performed during home renovations - glass today is very popular in interior decoration and decoration. Working with glass is labor-intensive and often practically impossible to do at home; for example, straight processing of a glass edge with your own hands, not to mention creating a curved line, will be a task that only a craftsman with extensive experience working with glass and special equipment can handle . However, some types of glass processing can be done at home, thereby reducing overall processing costs.
Common types of glass processing
Most often, glass is subjected to the following types processing:
- cutting;
- edge processing;
- drilling
Cutting of these is the most common type. Cutting glass is quite simple, but you need to be careful and have at least minimal experience.
The glass should be placed on a flat and smooth surface, and a template should be placed along the cutting line - this can be a ruler, a wooden strip or electrical tape. Then take a glass cutter and place it almost vertically at the beginning of the cutting line. You need to cut towards yourself, using the glass cutter only once. You should not press too hard on the glass, and you should also not create a point pressure - you should press with equal force along the entire length of the cut. If everything is done correctly, a characteristic faint crackling sound will be heard.
If the glass cutter does not cut through the glass, it should be soaked in kerosene. However, this is only permissible if the tool has not lost its sharpness. If the roller becomes dull, it can be sharpened using fine-grained sandpaper. In a situation where suddenly the cut does not work out, you should not cut along the same line - you need to turn the glass over and repeat the cut on the back side.
Before breaking off the cut fragment, you need to tap the glass from below with a hammer. If the cut is small, then it is more convenient to break it off using special notches on the sides of the glass cutter or pliers.
Do-it-yourself glass edge processing
Edge processing, including straight-line processing of glass edges with your own hands, in ideal must be performed on special equipment, but the price of such a machine is very, very high, so only a few can afford to buy it. Therefore, at home, you have to process the edge of a cut sheet of glass using files or a sharpening stone. Depending on the thickness of the glass, the type of file is selected:
- for thick glass - a personal file;
- for thin glass - a velvet file.
During operation, the file should not be dry; ideally, it should be moistened with a 10% solution of camphor in turpentine; if such a solution is not available, kerosene or even plain water will do.
Straight-line processing of the glass edge should be performed by moving the glass back and forth along a fixed tool. In this case, you need to be extremely careful not to break the glass. You cannot move the glass across the instrument. It should also be taken into account that with such processing the tool quickly becomes unusable. Therefore, it would be unreasonable to use a new expensive tool for processing the glass edge - for this would be better suited an old file or whetstone no longer used for precision work.
When processing glass edges, you should wear gloves and safety glasses, which will protect the worker from damage from small glass filings. Because the main requirement for any work is its safety.
Many people are wary of working with glass and limit themselves to simple operations like repairing a broken window. But glass is an amazing material, and not all craftsmen know that at home it can be processed no worse than in production. Oleg Abramov shares his secrets.
The molecular structure of glass allows it to be cut, sawed, drilled, sanded, glued, engraved, bent and even drawn into threads!
A glass cutter is required to cut glass. Roller glass cutters are most often used.
A - glass cutters with such a handle were produced forty years ago. Their advantage is a heavy head, which is convenient for tapping the cutting line.
B and C are cheap Chinese glass cutters. Sold under the brands Jobo, Kraftool, Stayer. They are difficult to use for cutting glass due to low quality rollers and glass cutter head. On Kraftool, the damaged teeth of the head are clearly visible after breaking off the glass.
D - professional roller glass cutter Silberschnitt. My favorite model. A universal and reliable tool.
The professional oil glass cutter Touo TS-17 is good for curved cuts. If you need to regularly cut glass, you shouldn’t skimp on a glass cutter. Although professional glass cutters are not cheap, damaging glass will cost more. And the most expensive part in a professional glass cutter is the roller.
The rollers are made of alloyed stainless steel. They vary in sharpening angle, usually 130-165 degrees. Rollers with a sharpening angle of 130 degrees are used for cutting glass with a thickness of 1 to 3 mm, and those sharpened at an angle of 140-150 degrees are used for cutting glass with a thickness of 4-10 mm. For glass thicker than 10 mm, use a glass cutter with a 155-165 degree roller.
This is how glass is cut. The cutting table must be level and stable. The surface is covered with thin insulation, but ideally a thin carpet or felt is glued onto the table. This makes cutting more convenient, and the underside of the glass will not be scratched by fragments that inevitably form during cutting. The glass is placed on the table surface, marked, and a ruler is pressed against it.
The glazier's true friends are a ruler, kerosene and a hammer.
A ruler for cutting glass is a ruler with a strip of thin rubber glued to the bottom so that the ruler does not move when cutting. Or it is a special ruler with suction cups embedded in it. You can make this yourself.
So, we draw a cutting line with a glass cutter.
Important! This line cannot be interrupted and drawn again. It must be drawn in one pass.
Then we move the glass off the table and carefully tap the cutting line with a small hammer - here is another faithful friend of the glazier. Next, we lay the glass along the cutting line on the edge of the table and break it off, pressing it with a board using clamps. Clamps are especially important if the glass is thick.
With some skill, you can stretch the cut line with your fingers, especially if the glass is thin.
So, we learned how to cut straight lines. What about curves? To do this, first, instead of a ruler, we cut out a pattern - for example, from thick linoleum. The remaining operations are similar.
You can even cut a circle out of glass. To do this, you will need a circular glass cutter or a round template of a suitable diameter. If you have a compass, then attach a suction cup to the glass and draw a circle. Of course, without interrupting the cutting line.
Then we draw rays from the circle to the edges of the glass.
We turn the glass over and use the handle of a glass cutter to carefully press through the cutting line and rays. If everything is done correctly, the workpiece itself will disintegrate into a circle and side fragments.
If you only have a template at hand, you can fix it on the glass double-sided tape from the offset, and then draw a cutting line around it in the same way.
Not just flat glass
For example, you can cut bottles. They make interesting vases or shades for lamps. To do this, they usually assemble an improvised workbench from a base and three blocks. The bottle is placed between the bars and rotated with the left hand, while the glass cutter right hand draw a cutting line.
Then the cutting line is tapped from the inside with a pin with a weighting agent and the cut part is separated from the bottle.
If it is impossible to tap the cut line from the inside, gently warm it up with a portable gas burner. The main condition is that the bottle must have a smooth surface, preferably cylindrical. Bottles of complex shape, angular for example, are more difficult to cut.
We have learned how to cut, now we need to process the cutting line. Those involved in stained glass work use portable diamond machines Inland or Krištáli 2000, which quickly sharpen even an uneven cutting line.
If you need to dull the edges of window glass, you can use a diamond-coated sponge or a whetstone to sharpen knives, after moistening it.
If more sanding is required, a sanding attachment on a drill with waterproof sandpaper will come in handy.
Drilling glass
Glass often has to be drilled. For example, to fix a handle on a glass door or hang a mirror.
Drills for glass are tubular with diamond coating or carbide spear-shaped.
It is advisable to use drilling machine, because the drill is difficult to install strictly vertically, which is why the glass may burst when pressed. Place the glass on a soft pad - for example, rubber or carpet. Drill in a water bath. To do this, attach a plastic or rubber ring around the drilling area, then pour water into it and carefully drill. Do not press hard on the glass. First, drill halfway on one side, then turn the glass over, align the drill and the drilling point, and drill further on the other side.
Engraving on glass
For applying a pattern to glass, processing edges small parts or markings, you can use drills. They are produced by Dremel, Prokhop, Bort, Kalibr, Energomash and other manufacturers.
It is important to choose the right drill and attachments for it so that the power and speed correspond to the operation being performed. For some jobs, carborundum grinding attachments are suitable, and for thin and precision work use diamond-coated nozzles. You won’t be able to save money on attachments: cheap ones are poorly aligned and wear out quickly because they use low-quality abrasive compounds.
Frosted glass
The glass is frosted completely or locally. In the first case - for the manufacture of a lampshade, vase, stained glass element or for subsequent painting. In the second case - to apply a pattern, because you still need to practice drawing on glass with a drill. What about those who cannot draw? We cut out a pattern on the Ogasai film, glue it to the glass surface, and then subject it to local matting.
Matting methods. The simplest is in a sandblasting chamber, which can be found in glass shops and auto repair shops. There are glass matting pastes based on ammonium fluoride - Glassmoze and Glassmat. The paste is applied to the surface of the glass with a spatula, left for some time, and then collected back into the container or washed off with water.
Bonding
It's surprising, but a properly glued seam between two glasses is stronger than the glass itself. The industry produces dozens of types of glass adhesives. Here are the main ones.
Superfluid adhesive is used for: bonding polished surfaces - for example, glass furniture. It is this kind of seam that is stronger than the glass itself, because gluing occurs at the molecular level. An example of such glue is Bohle Verifix LV 740. For household purposes, Spanish glue CristalCeys is more accessible.
Viscous adhesive is used if it is not possible to create perfectly adjacent glass surfaces, as well as when gluing ground but not polished surfaces. For example, UHU or DoneDeal.
Two-component epoxy compounds are well known for bonding other materials. The most popular are Kilto or Rohiroi.
Glass painting
The industry produces paints with good adhesion to glass. But when making vases or lampshades, it is easier to frost the surface of the glass - and then any paint from an aerosol can will adhere well to it.
Glass polishing
We do not recommend polishing large glass products at home: this is a rather messy activity. But miniature surfaces are polished with drills with polishing attachments and polishing pastes based on crocus, polyrite or zirconium oxide.
Products manufactured by the methods described above.
If glass is cut out for doors, windows, or simply inserted into a frame with a portrait, then there is no need to process the edges of the glass. But, if they are used as shelves, doors, countertops for coffee table, as the walls of an aquarium, etc., then edge processing is required.
Firstly, this is necessary for safety, because... You can easily get injured on sharp edges, secondly, it will give the product an aesthetically attractive appearance, and thirdly, such glass processing will reduce the likelihood of cracks and chips.
Processing the edges of glass and mirrors is divided into two stages - grinding and polishing.
In mass production, furniture production, or commercial equipment, glass processing is carried out on special vertical machines. But, at home, you can also do these operations yourself, using available tools.
Let's take a closer look at how to grind and polish glass with your own hands?
To do this, we will need the following tools and devices: a drill or grinder with a rotation speed regulator (we need low speeds so as not to overheat the glass, 1200-1700 rpm), a special attachment with Velcro for attaching the grinding wheels, the grinding wheels themselves with waterproof sandpaper of different grits.
We attach the attachment to the drill, put in a disc, first a larger one (100 - 200 grit) and do the grinding. First, we remove all the irregularities and notches, and after that we form the edge of the profile we need.
Grinding can also be done on emery by attaching a special diamond-coated grinding wheel that has a certain profile, or simply a flat one.
The edge of the stele is made in different shapes: semicircular (pencil), trapezoidal (euro edge), asymmetrical trapezoidal, or any other. After such processing side faces the glass becomes slightly rough and matte. But, this is not the end.
Having processed the surface with a large disk, we put a disk with a grain size of 300 - 600 grit, and at the end we process the edges with the smallest one - 1000 - 2000 grit.
For better grinding, the surface must be wetted; it is better, of course, to do it under a thin stream of water. But experienced craftsmen can do sanding well without water.
After this treatment, the side edges of the glass must be polished, after which the edges become smooth and transparent. Although, in some cases, the edges are still left unpolished, but this is individual.
The difference between polishing and glass grinding is that it is not done with abrasive discs, but with a soft felt wheel with a special paste. You can use regular GOI polishing paste.
Apply the paste to a felt wheel and polish the edges of the glass until shiny, also using a drill with an attachment, a grinder, or placing the felt wheel on sandpaper.
Glass is a very fragile material and is afraid of overheating, so all work must be done carefully, without haste and preferably with gloves.
This glass grinding and polishing technology can also be used when repairing a car to remove scratches and small chips on the glass. The requirements for transparency are higher there, so special polishing pastes are used. First, the scratch is sanded with a grinding wheel and then polished with a felt disc with paste.