Question about etched glass

[vq5speed]

HI all is there a product like a clear epoxy that can be put on an etched surface and make the etching disappear.

[Aaron Ellis]

Flame polish ? That's all I know of. Is it boro or soft glass? What is it?

[byron3]

Yes and no, glass can be polished with any polishing compound made for the purpose, you just keep getting finer and finer with the abrasives till the scratches disappear. Seems like you have found a subject which Wikipedia is unfamiliar,
Ultra-fine, abrasive paste polishing
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02:20, 20 January 2009 Rjd0060 (talk | contribs) deleted page Ultra-fine, abrasive paste polishing (Deleted because expired WP:PROD; Reason given: This is a made up process; there is no such thing as "ultra fine abrasive paste polishing".

yep, yep , seems like flame polishing or no polishing!!

[LowTideGlass]

Cerium powder will give an optical finish. Not sure how well it will work on etched glass though, depends on what type of glass, how deep the etching is, ect.

It is usually put on a cork wheel or hand polished.

[vq5speed]

It is thick plate glass. The glass has some graphics and a logo I want to remove. Polishing out seems not practical might distort surface to much. I was thinking about a bonding product HXTAL NYL-1 epoxy just paint a thin layer on to the etching to make the surface look clear.

[Greymatter Glass]

Welcome to the Melting pot vg5speed!


So... questions:

Is it blasted or acid etched on just the surface? (common on bar ware, showroom signage & display, architectural glass accents, shop windows)
Is it "copper wheel" engraved with small details and sharp edge detail? (common on stemware, picture frames, awards/honors)
Is it sand carved with a stenciled design and deep etchings that are not very sharply defined? (common on mirrors, glass art panels, architectural feature/focus items)

If either of the latter it will be MUCH cheaper to replace the glass.

In any case, if it is regular float glass less than 1" thick it will be cheaper to replace it.

In any case it would also depend on how much you want to remove from the glass, but generally, the bigger the design or pattern is will related to how much it would cost to replace:repair.

There are acid polishing methods, but they're not gonna be cheap...like don't even bother.

There is no way to "fill" the etched area with any kind of glues or resins that would be able to match the refractive index of the glass 100%, but some can come fairly close but tend to be very expeosive, like hxtal and xtr-311.

You can use abrasive and a waterfed angle grinder to polish the glass, but you will always see the etched area unless you take down the entire etched surface of the glass. You can hand sand glass with various degrees of success with things like wet/dry emery cloth, sand blasting abrasive and a sacrificial sheet of glass, 3m sanding/finishing films, diamond finishing pads, etc.... again depends on the area you need fixed.

Pics would help.

-Doug

[vq5speed]

Its really big table 14'x5'x3/4". The glass is some company conference table. They are selling it but they put there logo on the center of the glass. Was just lookin into the possibility of removing the etched logo. But I don't think its worth the trouble thanks all for your suggestions.

[Greymatter Glass]

yeah... a sheet of glass like that to replace would probably be around $800-1000 is my guess....

if it's lightly etched on the surface you could call around to local glass placed and see if they can polish it out, otherwise, it's just gonna be on there. Much like tattoo work, maybe you can find someone to do a "cover up" design over it?

[Bglass]

or think of it like a tattoo cover up? center a better bigger picture on or around the logo?...

or just etch or blast the whole thing! if you really want a glass table that big id etch the whole surface.

or better yet etch or blast the whole surface and flip it over to the nice side again!! if you do some deep carving/sandblasting you could create some really interesting effects and designs. if you really want the table thats what id do. once done it may fetch twice what its worth, if done with class and esthetics.

ive seen sick tables as well as art relief etched from underside and they are freaking spendy!! 1000's$ some dudes thats all they focus on and they make a great living! im sure the company that had the table made payed and pretty penny to have that custom made, it at one time was probably a 2000$ or more job.