Lake County-Glass Polish System

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

Kewl. I'll pick up the kit this week and try that method
Thanks!
I figured their instructions needed modifying

[oldmodman]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

Many years ago I made my own reflecting telescope mirrors. And for the final finishing I used cerium oxide as a polishing agent. So when I needed to polish out a wiper scratch I bought a pound of cerium oxide and made a paste by mixing a very small amount of powder with distilled water. Then I put a hard felt bob in a drill motor and polished out the scratch from the wiper arm. It removed it totally. Just be aware that a flat windshield is like a lens. If you remove too much glass you will change the "prescription" of it's optical flatness and induce a distortion. Luckily for me the scratches were all on the lower part of the windshield and it wasn't apparent.

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

Many years ago I made my own reflecting telescope mirrors. And for the final finishing I used cerium oxide as a polishing agent. So when I needed to polish out a wiper scratch I bought a pound of cerium oxide and made a paste by mixing a very small amount of powder with distilled water. Then I put a hard felt bob in a drill motor and polished out the scratch from the wiper arm. It removed it totally. Just be aware that a flat windshield is like a lens. If you remove too much glass you will change the "prescription" of it's optical flatness and induce a distortion. Luckily for me the scratches were all on the lower part of the windshield and it wasn't apparent.

This sounds like what I'm looking for.
I understand about optics, thanks for the reminder
Were can I get Cerium Oxide? What is it's common name?

[oldmodman]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

Here is where I get mine. A one pound jar should last a lifetime unless you do a lot of windows professionally.

http://www.facetingmachines.com/polishes.shtml

And I bought the optical (top) grade just in case I ever do any optical polishing again. Top Grade (99.9%) 1 lb. $23.00

But I am sure that the 90% pure grade would be fine for windows.

And here is where I got my felt bobs. Best price that I could find.

http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/feltbobs.htm

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

Sweet!
Thank you very much!
Can't wait to use it!

[Alfisti]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

Mario, most pro glass polishes contain cerium oxide. If your polish removed even the slightest scratches, then it already contains CeO2. Nothing else works.

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

kewl,
I have no idea what's in the LC kit
Do you own that Alfa?

[Alfisti]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

Mario, I don't own it but I do know it contains a CeO2-based polish.

However, I have used a similar product. Remember, you are trying to remove glass and leave a glossy, flawless finish. That requires a very fine substance that's harder than glass. CeO2 is your man! Stick with it. Maybe a more aggressive *pad* is required.

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

Yes I undersand what I'm doing
I think I'll give the LC another try and will be more agressive with it
I'm still getting the CO, maybe it will be easyer to use.

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

Here's some info from there site:

Polishing Scratches Out of Glass
We are "rock people" and not "glass people". Therefore, we do not know anything about glass other than what is on this page.
Please don't call us up or email us with any questions about glass polishing, because all the information we have is on this page.

Cerium oxide is the polish of choice for glass. Before you can polish scratches out of glass, you must first determine how deep the scratches are. If you can feel a scratch as you run your fingernail across it, the scratch is too deep to be polished out with cerium oxide. You must first grind the scratch out.
The grit used to grind out the scratch will depend on the depth of the scratch. It is best to use the finest grit you can to grind out a scratch. I suggest starting with 2000 grit. If that is too slow, go to 1500 or 1200 grit and if it is still grinding too slowly, try 600 grit. However, after grinding with 600 grit, you will have to re-grind with 1200/1500 and then again with 2000 grit to remove scratches from the coarser grits. Only then, can the glass be polished with cerium oxide. NOTE: Grinding of glass can create an undesirable lens effect.
An easy way to grind out the scratches is to use silicon carbide sandpaper (the black sandpaper available at hardware stores or auto body shop supply houses) with water as a lubricant. After grinding, carefully clean off the area you ground with water and clean off your tools before going to the next finer grit. It's best to use an attachment on a drill, or an electric buffer.
Mix cerium oxide with water to create a slurry that's the same consistency as milk. Put the slurry on spinning buffing pad. Harder buffing pads made out of hard felt, or leather work best. The polishing action will be fastest when the cerium oxide is damp, but not dry, or runny wet. Fill a spray bottle with water and use it to keep the area you are polishing damp.
Glass is relatively easy to polish. Therefore, you don't need to use the more expensive 99.9% cerium. Instead, the less expensive 90% Optical grade will work fine. We have been told that 99.9% cerium works much faster than 90% on tempered glass.
Cerium oxide is listed on our polishes page and can be ordered on our secure form.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

Interesting thread as scratches in glass is a common problem and one most people don't have the tools and experience and skills to tackle.

Just to note when I tried the glass polishing kit Mario bought using the included pad on a rotary buffer it had no effect on the scratches. The surface of the glass became clean and shiny, but there was no visible effect as far as abrading the glass in a way that removed any material to level out the glass and in effect remove the scratches.

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

What is Cerium?
Silvery metallic element, belongs to the lanthanoids. Four natural isotopes exist, and fifteen radioactive isotopes have been identified. Used in some rare-earth alloys. The oxidized form is used in the glass industry. Discovered by Martin .H. Klaproth in 1803.

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

Yea! Got Cerium Oxide today!
Using it tommarrow...

[Chop]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

Yea! Got Cerium Oxide today!
Using it tommarrow...

Looking forward to your update.

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Lake County-Glass Polish System

My new post
Scratched Glass Solution - Cerium Oxide