Anyone ever make a glass tile tool?

[Garyh]

Hi folks,..:hi:
Anyone ever made a glass tile tool?
Was thinking of making one for my next mirror.
Have heard that they are a bit quicker and less likely to scratch at the finer grades?
I have some 10mm thick plate glass offcuts I could cut into squares.
Have seen a few on the net and one of them used flattened glass beads.
Sounds like a good idea?
What do you think?
cheers Gary

[Aster]

Yes, tried that many many years ago. The chance of scratches, as the edges of the glass tiles shed minute flakes are to great in my opinion.

My favorite, and most successful one, are tile tools. 20mm square good quality ceramic tiles attached with blocking pitch, or in todays technology, with waterproof adhesive, always gave me a good finish right down to the finest micro grit, which at times could be used for a rough ronchi test.

[Garyh]

I think you would be right there Alex! I have a lapidary grinding wheel so I can round off all the edges and corners to help stop that happening?
Last tool was a laminated plate glass tool. worked well but I think it was hard work even for a little mirror!
cheers Gary

[Aster]

Never had a lapidary grinding wheel, so I can't comment. Have used diamond lapping tool on edges of lenses. Worked ok there. But that is not the same as on glass tiles.

Had minute flakes coming off on duran50 blanks polishing nearly dry with a hard pitch.

Personally I would stick with ceramic tiles, just my opinion.

[Merlin66]

I agree with Aster, I successfully made a lite weight grinding tool for a 8" f4 by gluing mosaic tiles onto a 2" hardwood disk, a few coats of varnish to seal the wood and it worked 100%, the polishing tool was done in a similar fashion but with a layer of pitch faceted with a wood saw.
A 44 gallon drum half full of water makes an excellent grinding table!

[Garyh]

Well I think I will get some ceramic tiles then guys.:thumbsup:
Any particular type of tile I should try to get?
I have seen mosaic tiles on ebay 20mm x 20mm. Do they have to be unglazed or doesn`t matter?
cheers

[Merlin66]

The glaze would dissappear with the #80 grit, so makes no real difference. I'd just make sure they are as thick as you can get 6 -8mm. Mark out the backing plate to position them off centre with a 4-5mm gap; at the edges of the disk nibble them with a tile cutter, doesn't have to be a 100% neat job!!

[Zuts]

I used tiles to grind a 12.5 inch mirror. A glass blank that size would have cost to much. I basically just got a few sheets of 20mm bathroom tiles and stuck them on a plaster of paris tool i made up. After a few grades of grit everything looks nice and smooth.

Paul

[Satchmo]

In my opionion best are unglazed white porcelain type. Glazed tiles have a soft tile underneath, and they grind down too fast.

Also get the square ones so you can brush the grit out of the channels properly.

Hope this helps.

Regards

[Garyh]

Thanks guys for the replies...
Thanks Mark for that info..nice hard tiles would be the way to go as I am planning on a fast mirror and hopefully won`t have to replace any on the tool.
Thanks again
Gary

[CoombellKid]

Gary,

Look for floor tiles as there are harder than wall tiles. Wall tiles are baked
once, floor tiles are baked twice to (as Chopper would say) harden the
%@#& up!. Also think of joining...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zambutomirrorgroup/

and

http://www.atmlist.net/

There have some good dicussions on mirror making and the tools they use
to make mirrors with.

regards,CS

[DaveGee]

Hi Gary,

After hogging I use a plaster tool with mosaic glass tiles glued on. The tool pictured below worked fine.:thumbsup: