Scratch my Glass Tank ...

[veeresh]

Hi Bro

I accident drop my PL light casing from the hood and hit the face side of my glass tank. The accident cause a 5 inch noticable scratch mark.

I try cleaning it away with glass washing solution but no luck...

Any bro out there can help ...

Is there any chemicals or polish or any method to remove this ugly mark...??

Helppp ... thank in advance

Vee

[giantbicycle]

i duno abt glass but i know that a scratch on arcylic can be polish off..

[yuji]

If you tried but the scratch remains there, you may been chipped the glass. In that case, you really can't do anything about it.

If you would like, try those DIY stores and ask them. They really have LOTS of stuff you can use for aquariums and maintenance.

[dandelion76]

U can't remove scratch on glass easily as glass is a very hard materials. Unlike acrylic where u can some how dissolve it with chem. solution and remove whatever scrath mark on it.

If you really want to try, you can use fine (~2-3 um grain size) diamond polishing paste (~$20-$40 per tube) to polish away the scratch marks. But mind you that this is gonna be a time consuming process depending on the depth of the scratch mark.. the deeper the more time consuming it would be..

I have not tried that manually but I do machine glass with diamond grinding wheels and finished them to mirror like surface finish using diamond polishing paste. Try to check with KEMET's suppliers here as they make lots of commercial diamond products. Can check with them for advise too.

Alternatively, I did come across with some filler where ppl used to repair crack windscreen.. try check with car workshops to get a second opinion.

my 0.02 cents.

[Archilles19]

Go to almost any car accessories shop & ask for those hard acrylic repair compund for windshield. I saw one, most probably in Century Square, selling it.

On the packaging it says that the compund is very strong & hard when cured & it is transparent that no one will notice it.

Try not to use diamond polish as it is a tank full of water & since full, it is pressurised therfore you might not remove the scratch or chip but making new ones instead & we know what will happen to scrathed glass with pressure applied to it.

[veeresh]

Hi Bros

I will be away on business trip.I will try both option using the windshield repair material as well try using diamond paste using a battery operated drill with superfine grain stone.

Will update again before try anything..... Tks

Veeresh

[dandelion76]

Hi PMed you on the following info but I thought I should post it here as well for sharing.

___________________________________________________________________

I would advise you to used polishing pad instead of grind stone to remove the scrathes(normal grind stone use either alumina or silicon carbide as abrasive, and they are not ideal in removing glass coz it's not hard enough). The pad looks like those soft pad normally use in waxing car body. Just apply a layer of diamond paste on it and it should work. Check with KEMET to see if they have better pad.

Unless you are using extremly fine diamond wheel (<5 um of average grain size**), you will likely to create more scratches. Worst still, if the grind stone is too coarse, your will removed the glass by means of brittle fracture. so instead of getting a transparent clear polished surface you will get a whitish color, non transparent surface with lots of micro cracks .

But it really take time to remove the scrathes as the whole idea of polishing is to removed the material - in this case glass - SLOWLY by the action of abrasive particles. Using fine abrasive will ensure small depth of cut, and hence one can remove the glass material in ductile mode (no brittle fracture, transparent polished surface obtained) although usually glass experienced brittle fracture (whitish non-transparent surface) when removed in larger deep of cut.

As for the hard compound, if I remember correctly you will need a special tool to create vacumn in the crack area to ensure proper filling. Check with the workshop and they should know.

Good luck to your repair.

**: usually abrasive grain sizes are denoted by mesh size, e.g. #120, #1000, #3000 etc.

To estimate the average grain size from mesh size, use this equation:

Average grain size = 15.2/mesh size (mm)

So for grain size of ~ 5 um you should be looking at #3000 mesh size diamond compound/grind stone.