How to grind Tempered Glass Successfully!
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2014
- This is a video on how I Successfully notched tempered glass with a diamond hand file and dremel tool.
I did notice tiny chips flaking off of the edge of the glass the harder and more aggressive I was filing with my course file. I switched to the medium and then fine grit to smooth out the rough grind and also to chamfer the sharp chipped edges giving it a very smooth final finish.
My 20 cents worth. I worked in the glass industry for just over 30 years and have cut, drilled, edgeworked and beveled glass by hand as well as using semi automated and CNC machines. I've never been an operator of a glass tempering line (e.g Tamglass (Hello Sammy, if you ever read this) but understand the theory and process and have supervised staff on these lines along with organising its production flow. I have re edge worked toughened/tempered glass many times over the years usually it has been because the job was measured/cut incorrectly or dimensions changed due to building not square etc. The general rule of thumb was that you could remove half the thickness of the glass. Yes, corners are different and so are any internal cutouts and notches and their proximity to each other and the glass edge. I have seen toughened glass blow up while being ground down while going through a straight line edger (ADA, Bando, Bavelloni). I've had it blow up on me while grinding by hand. I've seen it leave my machine shop only to find out later that it blew up on site, either due to someone slightly knocking a corner and or sudden temperature change. If you have access to a straight line edger and run a tempered piece through it, see if you can look down into the machine or through the sight covers to the diamonds. Depending on how well your machine is calibrated, glass thickness, amount of diamond wheels or how much water n coolant your pumping on to those diamonds, you are likely to see them firing up. You are getting into that glass that is harder & under compression. So, what this guy is doing, I have done similar. Is the glass integrity compromised, well its no longer in its original state. The bigger the radius the more the integrity is compromised. He did well to get that notch done considering NO coolant of any sort. To me, the glass piece he was working on looks like furniture use. I'm ok with the radius corner but I would replace it when it comes to the notch. Why? A knock to the area of the notch could cause it to blow. Sudden temperature change - expansion / contraction. Do some research on people who have ended up in emergency due to their frame-less shower door or balustrade exploding. Dam, thats all long winded. L8r
Rock Quarry uu
Eloquent response, i work with shower glass, i was wondering how much of it could be runned down before having to throw it out because of mis measuring, 3/16 tops, just seems like a waste to throw away so much of it
My longest coment have ever read on any chamnel but informative thank you agreat deal
I pick up broken aquariums for the tempered glass all the time. I use it in my ring making hobby. A good rotary tool and diamond coated bits and the possibilities are endless.
You just made a subscriber out of me. Thank you for your no nonsense approach to a biased view.
Thanks due to your video I was able to cut 1/8 of an inch off my custom tempered glass and make it fit in the opening of my curio cabinet
Think about keeping it out of direct sunlight or away from sudden heat/cold sources. Thermal shock. If its still in one piece now you should be good. Well done.
Thank for sharing this very interesting idea
thank you. very clear.
Good stuff here dude.
I work at a custom Showet for company.
And I deal with Tempered glass and treated glass and Glass shower doors all day long
Packaging them amd recieving them.
Etc..
Great comment thread. A wealth of experience knowledge in there. I'm contemplating grinding the hinge cutouts 1/8 deeper in a custom 3/8 tempered glass shower door to make the fit in the opening better. Looks like a gamble.
Did this work for you?? I need to adjust my fish tank lib, it's 1/8in to long.
@@elizabethscott8252 - I chose not to do it. My read of the comments led to the conclusion that grinding the glass causes a stress-point to form at the grind making it more susceptible in that spot to later fractures. The area I needed to reduce was right at the hinge cutouts where the stress on the door is at its maximum. Had it been on an unstressed area I might have tried it. In this case I ponied up $800 for a new piece of glass. But I learned a ton from reading the discussion here. It made my choice to purchase a replacement easier to swallow.
@@ronblouch178 well you just made me feel completely like a cheap skate!!! Mine is only $85..
@@elizabethscott8252 - Mine was for a $4900 custom shower door multi-panel install I was getting paid for. Cost me some profit but gave me $600 worth of education. $85 for an aquarium lid is a fair amount of cash, right?
@@ronblouch178 not the cheapest but not the most expensive... bought an used 90 gal. Tank and refurbishing it... the lid that came with it isn't even the correct size for it.
I've use belt Sanders, palm sander, Dremel on plate and tempered glass
Sweet platten!
wow!! thats amazing, i was waiting for that to break to pieces
+Jess Evans, lol me too! :)
Even though I've left a bit of a long winded comment, you did an awesome job considering your using a dremmel and no coolant. I was always taught that diamonds don't like vibration and running hot. The same goes for glass. :-)
You can sand and grind the edge of tempered glass safely up to a measurement of half the thickness of the glass. In the case of one piece that you were grinding (1/4"), you were able to safely grind about 1/8", any further and you would risk destroying the glass
You can grind 3/16” max once tempered I have ran glass in a polisher after temper 3/16” max but it can pop if it wants
"And make sure you wear a respirator!"
*proceeds to work without respirator*
Can a regular schmo grind a slight concavity -- like a trough -- into the face of a piece of glass with great precision? If so, can you send me in the right direction?
What about the strength of the glass after grinding? As you removed a part of the glass, the tension inside the glass will possibly increase right? So it will break with less force than it would without alterations...
I work in the glass industry and both cut and grind annealed glass and temper it. It is possible to grind tempered glass but I highly do not recommend it, especially not pointed corners. There are two main layers that make glass tempered. The compression layer and the active layer. It is similar to a sandwich with the compression layer being the bread and the active layer being the meat. The active layer is constantly trying to escape but is held back by the compression layer. If you have ever seen a broken piece of tempered glass and look at the edges you can see these layers. The active layer will be a milky colored line in the center when dealing with clear float glass. All it takes is a small micro fracture reaching the active layer and the piece pops. The corners of any tempered glass is the weakest point.
You are right about a lot of things, probably everything, BUT the part about "especially not pointed corners". Since corners are cooled the faster (due to higher cooling surface to volume ratio), the compression layer is much larger in that zone. On a 3/8" tempered glass (9.5mm), about 4mm can be ground from a straight edge, and about 6mm in a right angle corner, the more acute the angle, the more you can grind. Sanding/carving the tempered glass, well, since it's normally away from the edges of the piece, it's the lowest cooling surface area to volume ratio, so you can carve a lot less.
The corner IS the weakest point, but only because it is not tempered, so it's the easiest place to break it by impact, but it is where it can be ground the most.
You know your stuff
General rule of thumb is half the thickness of the glass. You can grind about 1/8" off of 3/8" thick glass, but if you get to 3/16", you risk breaking it.
So, I take you can grind non-tempered glass??? If so how is the best way to do it..
Race Bannon Honestly, buy a new piece of glass. Unless you are taking off a very small amount, it won't work. Seriously, it's not worth the mess.
I am sure you can do anything to tempered glass using diamond cutting or similar except it is not likely to be as safe. The glass in the area you have affected may break after impact into sharper sections thus being more dangerous. Also it is more likely to break as well with a lower impact to any section of the glass panel. Think of the tempering process as being like shrink wrapping the glass in a plastic film except its a glass film. If you nick that film the whole structure is not as strong.
So if a tempered panel is part of a structure like a glass door in a shower then it is much more likely to suddenly shatter with sharper than normal pieces of glass around the area where the tempered layer was altered.
I would suggest altering the glass you have and then having it re tempered or just order a new piece. Sorry!!!!!
quite old video but i feel i should put this out here, I've successfully drilled into tempered glass, small holes to mount it to my computer case, it seems to be alright after about 4-5 months now, during the process i found that taking it very very slow and keeping it cold is the best method for it, I've ended up breaking a few of the glass panes while attempting it but i managed to get one that worked its about 10-20mm thick
no you haven't
thanks a lot
i'm an inspector at fuyao glass america. i file chips and shiners out all the time using a fairly fine file or filing block. i do this on tempered glass.
when our glass explodes, and it does, they say it's because it comes out of the curing room (which is literally a sauna) that cures the glue for the clips to hold the door glass in place, cools off too fast when it gets hit with the fans that keep us working schmucks alive, and when it touches the fixture for the bend check a certain way it can go boom. it just sitting there being filed i would say, without being an expert, you should be fine doing what you're doing if you don't start cutting too deep. some of our edges have chips up to about an inch extending onto the surface and don't shatter, looks like a shotgun hit it. but, simply rounding an edge off and, imo and in my experience, you should be okay if you take care.
a respirator would be ideal, but if it worries you a cheap mask would be fine, too. i'd say that were you to attack the thing more aggressively and/or in a larger swath or drilling a hole then some fluid would be in order, but otherwise don't create needless work for yourself.
but, ALWAYS wear safety glasses, because if this stuff explodes it can send glass ten feet sometimes. laminated glass is different, but tempered is like a fragment grenade, lol.
too, we don't have sharp corners, so take extra care there. some guys' comments have some math going on as opposed to my everyday real world layman's experience with tempered car glass, so look into that. :)
Thanks, I tried it once with a diamond drill and it shattered. Looks like I am back to my old method of selectively shatter the inside pane of some of the double pane solarium windows. I have been successful drilling into the sides between the panes to vent the remaining ones once I pop a few key ones to get access. Yes it reduces the "R" value but it is better than paying over $100k for a new solarium.. It is 35 year old and next to impossible to take apart to get access that way.
We've ocassionally put glass through an edger once tempered. Only taking 1 or 2 mm off though. I wouldnt imagine its possible to drill through tempered glass though.
It’s not
I had a glass guy cut a 2" hole in the back of my tempered fish aquarium. He was nervous and it took like 45 minutes to cut through 1/4" glass. It worked. Installed my syphon drain and never had a problem.
It can be done,usually is 1/3 of thickness.I drilled a 5 mm hole in tempered glass,butt it shattered at second hole.
you can sand and manipulate the edges, and it may not break initially, but after it heats and cools it will break. such as insulated units in direct sunlight which gets super hot.
+Matthew McElfish Toughened glass is heat resistant and does not suffer from thermal shock. Sealed units can crack from thermal shock when annealed glas is used, not toughened.
"Toughened glass is heat resistant and does not suffer from thermal shock." Generally no. And lets hope that the furnace operator put in the correct settings for the type & thickness of the glass. Took in to account if any of the pieces had holes and or notches and the overall size of the bed load etc etc cause you don't want to overcook the stuff :-)
My thoughts exactly. It can be done if your gentle and use safe directions with grinder. Dye grinder. Not a regular disc grinder. Yes it can be done. Glass people , we just saved hundreds.
Can you give more information on the bit you were using?
Would have liked to seen an orbital sander used to take down an edge although the diamond file is interesting choice.
thank you
Awesome
what a lot of people don't understand about tempered glass is this.... when glass goes in the oven for the second time... It depends on the guy when he sets the oven timing or the heating process.... That's when he decide how far he allows the heat to get close to the glass eg.... that's why some tempred glass when it get hit on the eg dosent shattered... Because the heating process was stopped 10 or 20 mm before the heat gets to the glass eg... When they allowe the heat to get all the way to the glass eg... That's when the glass shatters very quickly.. you can't even take 1 or 2mm off the glass eg
Btw, You can't remove more than half the thickness of the glass without affecting the integrity.
Jeepers - how long have you had the Chef's Choice? Where did you find it? That's one handy tool!
I've broke the top off of a decanter. Can I shorten n save it?
Hi, just thought i`d say! it would be better if you used running water while using the dremel.
I have a tempered shower glass door. The area closest to the wall is very close to the tile curb, maybe 1/16. I wanted to see if could sand it down in that section to create a little more space. Thoughts?
I would like to do that too. Did you find your answer anywhere else?
Seems like a faster tile saw could give positive results. Anybody tried that?
Asks them to “seam” your seem your edges in the future. I’m a glass guy you need 80 grit to take down glass 120 to smooth and edge otherwise your heating it up
nice
but you never get the polished see-thru surface back, unless you sand down is stages to 6-8000 grit, so actually if you do this the sanded part ends up looking like crap
600 - 800 grit yes. 8000?
Where is your dust mask?
Wouldn't have been better to get something to cover the edges?
Like rubber?
Have you ever tried to cut tempered glass with a tool like Dremel??
i have a question how to cutting the tempered glass
Hi,
I'd like to know what is that special table for ?
How do you use it ? Are the square holes just for bolting down parts ?
Are the holes like the square holes on an anvil ?
It's a fabrication table mate, very heavy and usually cast iron. More modern tables tend to use 16mm round holes. That table could be worth in excess of $20k.
And yup, holes are used for clamping fixtures while welding and assembling. So it has to be dead flat.
That plate is commonly called an Acorn Plate. They are findable on eBay. Most common size is 5ft square and weigh about 2000 lbs. another name is welding platen.
Thanks my friend... I bracked the template glass of my door... :'(
The frozen stress in tempered glass is lower near the edges, so, yes, you can cut/sand on the edges to small depth. The glass along the edges holds back the stress of tempering. What I would worry about is that now you have moved the stress closer to the edge. It's like a trigger. You have moved the trigger right to the edge of the sear line. How far can you pull the trigger before it fires? And now maybe only a small bump is all that is required to pull the trigger past the sear and drop the hammer. ... I've had a number of incidents with tempered glass and now the stuff just terrifies me.
I have a 9 inches long of tempered glass to grind 2 or 3 millimeters can it be sanded without a diamond head
I’m not sure if it would work, but I have seen glass installers use aluminum oxide sanding discs on a random orbital sander. But be prepared for it to break like I did! Good luck
I have a electric stove glass top i wanted to replace i found on that is 1/2 inch too wide so can i cut this down to fit ok?
I wouldn’t attempt it unless the glass is free, but I don’t think you can modify it that much. But thanks for watching!
why you dont do all grinding polishing first before tempering the glass.
Has anyone ever used a diamond coated sander belt to cut the edges down?
you could probably grind it with a angle grinder a not to rough sanding disc if the piece of glass is submerged in water...
I want to drill a hole through my Solarium tempered glass windows to defog them. I have seen old Ads from several years ago and companies that did this but the companies didn't have a big enough market to survive. I see that you have grinded the edges successfully but do you think a diamond bit dremel will work to put a hole in it too?
Yes you notched it out but it is now unsafe to use, with enough stress it can now shatter more easily.
That is not necessarily true, the corners are cooled off faster, so the compression layer is much bigger than any other part of the glass. It can be ground safely for a few mm.
@@xxrgxxcasco no your wrong it is completely true even if it got tempered after the notch was cut the notch is the weak point bottom line
@@DOUBLEDEFENSE Ok, had to re-watch the video, had forgotten about it. So, when I say it's not NECESSARILY true, is because a round edge is less prone to cracking, and the reason why the edges are a tempered glass' weak point is because it's not tempered on the edge, about 5mm or just below 1/4", and when the edge cracks, the crack tends to "run" on the surface, getting to the tempered zone and shattering the glass.
I do get your reasoning, and it MIGHT be weaker, but it could also be stronger due to the sharp edge being more prone to cracks.
I'm sorry if there's some language barrier, as a Mexican, I normally don't talk glass terminology in English. Thank you for complementing my comment, I see I might've under-explained myself.
I got some shower doors I need cut down. any ideas. the unite is made by MAAX
+C. Osi , Thanks for asking! I pushed my luck and found I could do small cuts and notches, but I was prepared incase it shattered. Cutting a door down is seems to risky, maybe file it down... but the greater the modifications the greater the chances are of shattering. Good Luck!
Typically all shower doors are built with tempered glass. Either clear or a pattern of some type. Tempered glass is not intended to be cut down. Once glass goes through the tempering process it cannot be cut down. There is only a small margin (up to 1/8 of an inch) along the edge that can be edged down. Other than that you can purchase another piece of glass from any local glass shop in your town. Hope this helps you out.
use water with electric disc sander and anything between 60 to 400g is what I use. but water is the key. keeps the glass cool and the glue on the disc cool which in return makes the pads last longer. the pads should be glass specific.
I mostly used silicon carbide belts but never the metal oxide type that come with some new sanders. They're way more prone to firing up and heat cracking the glass.
@@danelofson5474 How would you propose to shave down 1/8 in off a 3/8 in tempered glass shower door on a DIY basis? I'm trying to make a better fit in an opening that is not quite square. Only need to remove 1/8 in along the bottom tapering to 0 in over a length of about 6 in.
I’m waiting for those files to break your glass lol
I reworked a 48 inch tempered diameter that was a millimeter or so to tight with a belt grinder knowing it was going to blow. it was on the cutting table while I went for lunch,when I came back it was in a million pieces...write this down IT CANT BE DONE if it don't fit after tempering its garbage, any altering makes the glass very unstable and dangerous.29 years exp.with TransCanada glass talking
Hold the line !!!
F the glass i want that table. Make jigs in seconds 3👌
use water to reduce dust
I wondering how many scratches you left on this piece of glass. Quite messy business...
"Wear a RESPIRATOR"??????????? Practice what you preach mate....
Doesn't make his advice invalid. He may not do so, but the whole "you too" argument is a logical fallacy for a reason.
that's up to him mausie.. he's not going to drop dead from this single experiment. Lol
mausie51, the guy's obviously a bonehead! Love how he takes his welders gloves off and rubs his fingers all over everything too🤪
Toto in the background! Haha
if you get a crack , without the piece shattering. It is NOT tempered.
I think if he did it again but shattered the pice at the end, I'd believe it...
Gabe Wright ive never seen untempered glass with that deep green edge his has so maybe some sort of manufacturer defect but looks tempered to me
Joseph Reese ive got a whole pile of tempered bus window glass which is green from the edges.
glass color SHOULD NOT change with tempering. Different glass manufacturers have different glass colors (clear, ultra clear, etc.), and one manufacturer's clear is different to the next one's.
That is not necessarily true. The edge of a glass is not tempered. Due to the larger surface area to volume ratio, it cools off faster, so there is no tension layer near the edges. This is the main reason glass can be ground on the edges, and even more on corners.
its a time bomb/ applied heat did not hit that spot but...
Use Water
You are advocating a respirator yet you're not wearing one why would that be?
"Hold the line..." :)
He says put on a respirator then doesn't put one on.
Kalau lebih dari. 8mm pasti pecah
Have fun breathing that glass in bro
Dave Smith if you listen heclearly mentions wearing a respirator
Joseph Reese
And if you LOOK, he clearly isn't wearing one.
Dave Smith , youre right but at least he took the initiative to tell others towear one was my point, so learly he understans the dangers or it would never have been mentioned, if he wants to be an idiot thats on him so why troll his comment box about it when he at least thought enough to warn others, his vid was for a very small demo purpose only so im sure he probably would wear one otherwise as they are hard to talk in.
Joseph Reese
I saw a guy breathing glass dust. I wished him well and told him to have fun. How am I a troll?
I'm unsanctioned fabrication and I approve this message!
Looks like a piece of single strength glass to me and not lami.
that is not tempered because it has a big crack in it
NOW YOU HAVE A WEAK POINT....
All edges and corners are already a weak point
This is unnecessarily complicated. A grinder will work just fine.
LOL, He must have broken the glass or he would have shown the finished product...
He shows the finished product at the end
Perhaps he should try to protect his lung than his eyes. One speck could stay there forever and then he would resort to ObamaCare.
I don't believe that's tempered glass.
This glass is not tempered. If tempered it will shattered
This is the most irresponsible video I have ever seen. Show the finished notch? True, you can manipulate the edge of tempered glass to a minimal extent (very minimal). I would bet that he did not succeed in finishing that notch. Do not risk anything you can't afford to lose. 85% of the time you will fail. I tried to drill through tempered glass once (I did not know it was tempered) I thought I succeeded until the bit broke the plane on the other side of the glass, then I found out it was tempered. I have been successful in minor smoothing of edges, but I am responsible enough and smart enough to tell people don't try it. unless I don't like them. ;)
I prepared for it to break as anyone should, but I successfully notched it. Everyone says you can’t do it, but I proved it could be. You’re very correct about your failure in drilling temper glass, but I wonder if you tried drilling a little bit from each side using a diamond dit, very little pressure, and lots of water to cool it if it could be done? There is a very similar technique with drilling large holes in fine carpentry work??? Next time I get tempered glass I’ll try it, if I’m successful, will you deny it again?! Thanks for watching!