glass grinding/polishing
 

"robojo" wrote in message
om...
I have a couple hundred glass prisms (right triangular: ~1.5"x2"x6")
that need to be cleaned and polished. The wide side has a mirror
coating that needs to be removed. Most just need polishing but some
need some grinding first. The local glass beveling shops are not
interested so I might have to do it myself. What would be the right
equipment to touch up that large a flat surface? The horizontal
grinders look nice, but I hate to spend over $1k and then still have
to do it myself. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Brian

Where are you located?

What application will these prisms have once they are polished? Are you
looking for perfect optical flatness? What tolerances?

I know some people in the photographic lens mfg business that have the
equipment to do this...

Did your local shops quote you a price? Unless this is top-quality optical
glass, I'd bet the cost of repolishing all three sides (and ends?) of the
prism will exceed the price of new replacements from Rolyn Optics or Edmund
Scientific.

In New Mexico. A local glass shop did a box full by buffing with
cerium only. The results were OK, but they chipped and scratched way
to many. The glass is good quality but optical flatness/accuracy not
required, just aesthetically clean. These are to be used for simple
spectrum demonstrations, the acrylics don't stand up to handling as
well. The 6" length is also hard to find. Beveled glass work is the
closest example I can think of and I need to keep the costs
reasonable. Most of them only need to have the mirror removed and be
cleaned up. Thanks for the response, I'm still looking.




"Moonraker" wrote in message .. .
"robojo" wrote in message
om...
I have a couple hundred glass prisms (right triangular: ~1.5"x2"x6")
that need to be cleaned and polished. The wide side has a mirror
coating that needs to be removed. Most just need polishing but some
need some grinding first. The local glass beveling shops are not
interested so I might have to do it myself. What would be the right
equipment to touch up that large a flat surface? The horizontal
grinders look nice, but I hate to spend over $1k and then still have
to do it myself. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Brian

Where are you located?

What application will these prisms have once they are polished? Are you
looking for perfect optical flatness? What tolerances?

I know some people in the photographic lens mfg business that have the
equipment to do this...

Did your local shops quote you a price? Unless this is top-quality optical
glass, I'd bet the cost of repolishing all three sides (and ends?) of the
prism will exceed the price of new replacements from Rolyn Optics or Edmund
Scientific.

"robojo" wrote in message
om...
In New Mexico. A local glass shop did a box full by buffing with
cerium only. The results were OK, but they chipped and scratched way
to many. The glass is good quality but optical flatness/accuracy not
required, just aesthetically clean. These are to be used for simple
spectrum demonstrations, the acrylics don't stand up to handling as
well. The 6" length is also hard to find. Beveled glass work is the
closest example I can think of and I need to keep the costs
reasonable. Most of them only need to have the mirror removed and be
cleaned up. Thanks for the response, I'm still looking.


A couple of hundred? and you want to do them in a non automated way?
Just for the record, the "buffing with cerium" would not cause the chips and
scratches, it was either from handling or they were already there, how are
they packed?

This would be no cheap endeavor unless you send them overseas.

I do beveling, and could strip the silvering off them, but I bill at $75/
actual hour worked.

Nice source, looks like the right stuff.... Thanks.


"Michele Blank" wrote in message ...
you're better off going to lapidary suppliers like kingsley north or
similar. You can get an inexpensive(700$) set-up that's used to facet /cab
stones and can grind, then by reducing grit size down to a slurry of cerium
oxide, polish your surfaces. m

"robojo" wrote in message
om...
I have a couple hundred glass prisms (right triangular: ~1.5"x2"x6")
that need to be cleaned and polished. The wide side has a mirror
coating that needs to be removed. Most just need polishing but some
need some grinding first. The local glass beveling shops are not
interested so I might have to do it myself. What would be the right
equipment to touch up that large a flat surface? The horizontal
grinders look nice, but I hate to spend over $1k and then still have
to do it myself. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Brian