etching glass or mirrors

[BIG AL]

JUST COULD NOT RESIST, BLOW IT! (SORRY)

[DLMACHINE]

Funny BIG AL however are you trying to tell me that you haven't ever seen a solid peice of shaped glass. Not hollow blown glass?Nobody here has any replys or even a guess?

[BIG AL]

DLMACHINE, I've watched the process , and know these folks do solid glass also. They do a melt and spin, forming as they roll the molten glass. If my memrory serves the New York area was home to many of the people producing this form of art glass. Seems like a good bet would be contacting a museum or art dealer and asking for a lead as this is a very special form of art. Hope this was a help.

[HuFlungDung]

DLMachine,

Perhaps you could make a mold to at least pour a near net shape in glass. You might even be able to slump some plate glass together in a suitable oven.

You would likely want to anneal the glass very carefully, to prevent it from fracturing spontaneously when grinding it. I don't know what the Rockwell hardness of glass is, you might be able to shape it with carbide burrs on a real light cut, but diamond impregnated burrs would likely be the best.

[DLMACHINE]

Thanks

[lsfoils]

About a hundred years ago (ok, maybe a little less) I used to cut my stencils out of contact paper, used for shelving. Did the drawing, applied to the glass and cut it with an excato. Had to sharpen the excato a lot because glass is quite a lot harder than steel. Anyway, I would peel one panel at a time and blast the appropriate edge or surface and reapply the panel peel the next one and so on. Very tedious but rewarding. I always wanted a computer to cut the stencils for me because of course it takes a steady hand - seem to have misplaced mine. Someday, when my machine is finished, I'm planning on taking on this challange again. My computer art doesn't care where my steady hand is.

As to your question of carving, check with the stained glass people for tooling. More like grinding. I have beveled glass and its a trick to keep from cracking the stuff for the heat. Lots of water there.



Uh, 6 hours, 20 psi, 90 grit Olivine -Doug

[DaSigntist]

Howdy,
In the sign business we use a vinyl material that simulates sandblasted glass we call "etchmark" (see photo below)
It is basically a sticker we cut with a knife cutting plotter.
Cost is (guessing) in the range of $5.00 per 15" X 3' and can be had in sizes up to 60" wide.
Awesome stuff which can be hand cut too.

Love the sandblasting Isfoils!

[lsfoils]

Thanks DaSigntist,

This vinyl you talk of reminds me that I want to cut stencil in window tinting some day. Ever considered that when making signs?

Thanks again

[turkgeltz]

Very nice pictures!!!! And I like all the different ways you can do it! I'm trying out cutting a image in plexiglass at the moment to see how it comes out and I'm thinking about trying to carve out a image in ceramic tile (12x12). I don't know if anyone's tried that yet. I think I'm just use a sharpened carbide bit at high speed. Any good advice on it or would you perfer the damage report?

[High Seas]

Just finished laying a kitchen full of tile - and a marble counter top - water, LOTS of WATER. All my cutting was with carbide or diamond blades.
I didn't etch/carve anything - but there are a lot of finishing products available (best to always check good ole Harbor Freight first). Some folks have been engraving marble over on the Yahoo/Master5 group. Might be a hint or 2 there too.
Jim

[turkgeltz]

Thanks, maybe I'll check it out! I'm only going to go about .015 to.020 deep. Probably only enought to break the ceramic coating, I think. Experimenting, you know make 3 or 4 pieces of trash and then learn something neat that can be done from it!

[foamcutter]

Check out this site www.luberth.com/plotter/ditwasplotter.htm I hope I copied that all down right. look down the links to Marty Harper 3d stone carving. may be some help there.