Hi All

On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 23:07:01 +0000, Matt
wrote:

On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 13:08:40 GMT, Lobster
wrote:

How does a DIY'er achieve the ground edges to a glass pane that you get
on commercially-supplied mirrors? Grinding wheel in an angle grinder

I'd probably try a selection of coarse abrasives/carbide sanding
plates in a 1/3 sheet orbital sander or maybe a tungsten carbide
sanding plate in a Fein Multimaster. As it involves applying pressure
on the edge of the glass then whatever method you use I'd get some
kevlar protection sleeves for your wrists and forearms, a slip could
be fatal.

Not sure about the most practical DIY approach....

In stained glass we use high-speed coarse diamond grinding 'drums'
(from 1/4" to about 1.5" diameter - mounted vertically in a work table
which allows water to cool the grinding head.
Looks like
https://www.creativeglassguild.co.uk...ristall1-2.jpg
- the grinding head mounts on the spindle and the glass sits flat on
the 'table'.

This works well for fine adjustments to the shape of a piece of glass.
A bullnose edge on the glass can be produced using a
'windglass-shaped' grinding drum (think router).

Generally, the endge of the glass is covered by lead or copper foil -
so it is only shaped, rather than polished.....

To smooth & polish a straight edge, like a piece of glass shelving,
some kind of wet-belt sander could be used, with progressively finer
abrasive - but diamond belts don't come cheap....

The other thing to watch out for is that mirrors are notorious for
damage to the silvering during grinding - caused by overheating or
just lack of finesse ! The silvering can chip off, or (worse) become
weakened, so that, over time, the mirror suffers from creeping
'black-edge' - which looks awful....

Hate to say it - but this might just be one of those jobs where your
friendly local glass supply shop can do a better job - and probably
much cheaper than you could buy the tools and abrasives for a
one-off...

Hope this helps
Adrian