Anyone know how I can etch a small glass worktop saver cheaply to stop stray reflections ? - I want to make myself a new "pro" mouse mat :-}
TIA :-}
- posted
15 years ago
etching glass ?
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- posted
15 years ago
Three methods are available.
Sandblasting which is easy if you know someone with the gear.
Hydrofluoric acid which is deadly and should be steered clear of.
And a harmless chemical that attacks part of the glass and gives a fine etch to it. Sadly I don't remember it's name. Sorry :(
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- posted
15 years ago
Hmm not an option that had occurred to me - one worthy of further investigation :-p
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- posted
15 years ago
Nope :-(
I knew there was an acid that did it, but couldn't remember what it was - it's probably also a biatch to get hold of...
Some of the DIY shops do an "etch" spray, but I suspect it's a plastic sprayover layer, rather than a proper etch solution...
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- posted
15 years ago
In message , EricP writes
Well, if he can get to Watford, I have
the stuff you use for etching car windows
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- posted
15 years ago
What sandpaper abrasive's harder than glass?
NT
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- posted
15 years ago
Colin Wilson coughed up some electrons that declared:
It's very very nasty. Not at all like conc. nitric or sulphuric. Something about where the fluoride ions go after they hit your skin - and how fast...
Apparently involves having appendages amputated if not flushed off quicky. Not a chemist - just read the safety leaflet once.
google "hydrofluoric acid burns"
I'm totally mad, but I wouldn't go near the stuff.
Cheers
Tim
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- posted
15 years ago
Can't help re. the etching...but I use a finely textured wall tile ( free sample ) and an optical mouse.
Regards,
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- posted
15 years ago
As a youngster I used to grind the surface of glass for photographic purposes using another bit of glass and a paste of Vim-type scourer. Worked a treat.
A glass worktop saver might be a bit tougher, so you may have to resort to ordinary glass. No harm in experimenting though.
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- posted
15 years ago
Yep. Spot on.
Think it attacks the silica in the glass
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- posted
15 years ago
Years ago I was walking around a Clarke-Eaton glass factory and was shown the blasting section where one little man did the artistic stuff and good he was. But next to him was a large sheet of glass, flat on the floor. It had a putty like stuff making an edging to dam a liquid that had been poured over it. There it was right by the walkway, no signs, nothing. Any passer could have triped and fallen right in it. It was HF acid. :))
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- posted
15 years ago
'fraid i'm up in Liverpool - it'd be cheaper to buy a vastly=20 overpriced =A330 "gaming pad" than the cost of the petrol :-}
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- posted
15 years ago
Dunno about harmless, but ammonium bifluoride will do the job and is much safer than HF:
SiO2 (s) + 4[NH4][HF2] (aq) ? SiF4 (l) + 4[NH4]F (aq) + 2H2O (l)
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- posted
15 years ago
almost any. glass is soft. T cut would probably work..
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- posted
15 years ago
Stained glass suppliers will carry 'etching cream' which does just what you want to do... (maybe) An example is here
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- search for 'etch' - but it's £15 + vat for a far bigger tub than you'd ever want.
The etching process does leave the glass slightly rough to the touch - don;t know if that will affect your mouse 'slideability'.
I don't know if the cream contains Hydroflouric acid - but whatever it contains, it's covered with elfin safety warnings - take great care with it - they're not joking!
Your friendly local glass supplier might be able to sand-blast it for you - or use some very fine wet-and-dry paper with water. Problem will be in getting a uniform finish (whatever technique you use)
You used to be able to get 'non-reflective' glass - picture-framers used it - might be worth asking - you might get an offcut for next-to-nothing
- but you'd need to treat the cut edges to take off the sharpness
If you were over her in Ireland then I could probably help - but postage between here & there is a killer !
Regards Adrian -
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- posted
15 years ago
"tougher", hum, A worktop saver might be toughened glass as well, medium risk of it just falling apart once you start to abrade one surface or at some random time afterwards...
Probably better to get a couple of sheets of ordinary 6mm plate glass, some mild abrasive (Vim etc has been mentioned) and water. Rounding the edges or radusing the corners would probably be better done by a proper glass merchant who may as well frost it as well.
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- posted
15 years ago
You still can.
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- posted
15 years ago
I've watched a glass merchant make a sheet of PAR (Polished All Round) and he did the edges with a fine grindstone - like you would use to sharpen a chisel. I'd be quite happy to do it myself now, although this doesn't help the OP.
(Also cutting glass; Having watched the glass chappie do it, I'm much happier about doing it myself.)
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- posted
15 years ago
To be honset, go and by a sqquare of frosted toughened glass anyway. It's not THAT exepsnive. Hacing had 6 sheets of std. glass just break under its own weight because here was a seat rail infer the dog rug in the boot, anything other than toughened should NOT be allowed in a house.
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- posted
15 years ago
Rounding the
Round) and he
It would be a relatively soft bond (*)carborundum wheel - quite probably a rubber bonded wheel rather than a vitrious one. If you use a hard bonded wheel it'll end in tears
(*) the bond of the wheel is what is used to hold the abrasive grains into a matrix, so 'soft' refers to the holding together power rather than the hardness of the grains themself.
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