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Tempered Glass

Hand Lettering topics: Sign Making, Design, Fabrication, Letterheads, Sign Books.

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Raymond Chapman
Posts: 345
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2004 5:50 pm
Location: Temple. Texas

Tempered Glass

Post by Raymond Chapman »

I have a client who wants to etch the glass in his home entrance doors. The glass will be 3/8" thick, tempered, and with a 1" beveled edge - two pieces about 25" x 50" with side lights of 6" x 36".

He wants the head of a Brangus bull in each of the larger pieces (that's what paid for the house) and some trim work around the edges (with corner treatments from Golden Era Studios).

I've done a search for etching tempered glass and didn't come up with anything, but I'm pretty sure this has been discussed here before.

Nonetheless, is this possible without breaking the glass? I would also like to talk him into some glue chipping, but I'm not sure that is possible either. The glass has not been cut, beveled or tempered yet.

I've heard that it might be possible to do all the various etching and glue chipping and then have the glass tempered. Is this possible?

Thanks in advance to all the experts here.
Mike Jackson
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Post by Mike Jackson »

Hi Raymond,
No doubt the glass piece will be a beautiful piece of art if you use digital clip art from Golden Era Studios! (shameless self promotion)

I looked back using the SEARCH feature of this board and found a post by Larry White called Goin' Large Again.
viewtopic.php?t=168&highlight=tempered

There was some discussion of tempered glass on that post.

Other than the help with the post, I can't help much with first hand expericneces on this topic.

Good luck,
Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

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Danny Baronian
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Post by Danny Baronian »

Raymond,

as in Larry's post, from Mike's link, tempered glass can be glue chipped but the results are not as good as annealed glass. If you want to include glue chipping, do so after beveling prior to tempering. When checking with companies that temper glass, ask about their failure rate in the event you need to produce two pieces to make sure you get one that is acceptable. If Larry's following this, he can jump in and add more, as he has his done on a regular basis.

As far as blasting tempered glass, you can frost it, but no deep carving. Beyond frosting is a pile of thousands of pieces of glass.

Danny
Danny Baronian
Baronian Mfg.
CNC Routing & Fabrication
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Raymond Chapman
Posts: 345
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2004 5:50 pm
Location: Temple. Texas

Thanks

Post by Raymond Chapman »

Thanks for the post Mike. That was the one I had in mind but my search did not pull it up. Must be the way you hold your mouth.

We will be blasting with aluminum oxide at a very low pressure. Is that still dangerous? It would seem that the pressure from glue chipping would be more hazardous than the etching.

I think we will get the glass already tempered and take a chance. Being in such a small town, it probably would take forever to get the glass shipped back and forth.

We now have a small blast cabinet and a glue chip box....just like you big boys.
Dan Seese
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Post by Dan Seese »

Raymond,
I've done glue chipping and frosting prior to tempering. There is always the chance that it will blow up during the tempering process, especially since the chipping will weaken the glass somewhat. You just need to be aware of the risk and, like Danny suggested, either do two pieces or allow enough time to do a second one if the first one fails.
As far as etching tempered glass, I have done it many times with no problem. I used to turn my pressure way down and hold my nozzle way back from the glass. (It also helps to hold your breath) That always increased the production time substantially. Also, if there were large areas to frost, it took a long time to get a good even frost over the entire area.
Then I spoke with Butch Young about it and she said that she blasts tempered glass all the time at fairly high pressures and has no problems. That bolstered my confidence, so I took a piece of tempered glass and did some experimenting. I made sure first to cover the back of the entire glass with transfer tape so it would hold together when it broke. Then I masked the front and cut a design. It took several minutes going over the same area at about 40 psi and getting within a couple of inches before it finally broke.
Since then, I still get no deeper than a light surface etch but I've turned my pressure up to about 30-35psi and hold my nozzle about 6" from the glass. I don't even hold my breath anymore.
Dan
P.S. If you have tempered glass to experiment with, try it first. See what you are comfortable with.
Jeff Umsted
Posts: 37
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2004 9:55 pm
Location: Lapeer Mi.

Post by Jeff Umsted »

Hi Raymond!

In my foolings around with blasting tempered glass I have found that it is not so much the pressure at which you blast but the heat generated from it that causes most problems.

Do not hang out in one area to long while you are blasting and Yes it will be timely to get get a nice even frosting. I kinda treat it like painting with a cup sprayer. Nice smooth even strokes back and forth. Don't forget to take a breath every now and then :lol:

Have fun and post a pic when completed please!

Jeff
Jeff Umsted
Lapeer, Michigan
DAVE SMITH
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Location: ENGLAND

Post by DAVE SMITH »

Hi Raymond.
I have been blasting tempered glass at high presure without any problems. As Jeff mentioned, keep the nozzle moving on the blasting area.
Have you thought about laminated glass? I work with this for architectural jobs. This works fine for chipping and acid etching, I have even started using it for brilliant cutting. 6ml or 8ml in thickness.
Good luck
Dave :D
Darryl Gomes
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 7:04 pm
Location: Underwood, Ontario Canada

Post by Darryl Gomes »

I have always used laminated glass for prejects like these, but I have not had it bevelled before. You can probably get a bavelled tempered piece for the front side and have a peice of annealed glass laminated to the back for your glue chipping and blasting.
Darryl Gomes
Underwood Ontario
Larry White
Posts: 1213
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 4:18 am

Might as well chime in...

Post by Larry White »

Hi Raymond,
To confer with the others, we blast tempered glass regularly. a 1/2" nozzle at 40-65psi depending on glass thickness. On 3/8" glass, it is possible to do about a .030" depth carve, typically in smallish areas. As previuosly stated, glue chipping looks better when executed on annealed glass. The chipping pattern is crisper and more defined. On tempered glass, it comes out a bit smoother with a kind of leathery apperance. It is possible to temper after the work is done. I have done this quite a few times, without failure. Easy on the depth carve if you're tempering after.

The large Milestone Manufacturing #3 sign was all done on tempered glass to give you an idea of what the chip might look like.
Larry White
That's enough for now... it's gettin' late
Town Of Machine
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Raymond Chapman
Posts: 345
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2004 5:50 pm
Location: Temple. Texas

Thanks

Post by Raymond Chapman »

Thanks to all of you for the quick responses. You give me confidence to proceed full steam ahead. Since I consider each of you a master at this stuff, I believe I am getting the best advice available - straight from the horse's mouth.

This client is very conseervative and doesn't want too many "fancy" things. I 've been talking to him and showing photos and samples and he is still stuck on "just something simple"...so there may not be too much to show in the end.

I'll keep you posted, though.
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