Scratches in glass

Aw3s0m3

Piranha
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May 6, 2012
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I will be emptying my 150 sometime next week to either reseal it or use the glass for a plywood build but there's a lot of scratches in it from when sand got stuck between the magnet and the glass. What's the best way to remove these scratches? Can I polish them out or do I have to fill them in?


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DDK

Plecostomus
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May 25, 2013
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Basically you have to live with them unless you want to spend countless hours polishing it out. No possible way to fill it from my knowladge but polishing it without a industrial polisher will leave you with a type of jewelers stone or some cerium oxide power and a make shift polisher from a drill or buffing wheel which is no where near strong enough. But good luck.
 

DDK

Plecostomus
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When you run your nail over the scratches does it ever catch your nail?
 

koltsixx

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I will be emptying my 150 sometime next week to either reseal it or use the glass for a plywood build but there's a lot of scratches in it from when sand got stuck between the magnet and the glass. What's the best way to remove these scratches? Can I polish them out or do I have to fill them in?


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There's been a couple of threads that have asked this in the past and the best suggestion I've seen is as Danielcho said by polishing here's a vid by UaruJoey
[YT]f6-L0zvGWfY[/YT]

I'd still keep searching other venues though as there maybe other better options that I haven't seen. Good luck on getting those scratches out and let us know how it worked out.
 

DDK

Plecostomus
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If it does catch your nail its really not worth the time effort of money to buy all the components and end up with barely any difference. If you look up other people using cerium oxide it does improve hazy glass to a degree where its noticeably better but on scratches its usually miss.

I tried cerium oxide on some hard water stains on the glass and polishing a 6x6 square inch area took about a hour and a half to get perfect and I just gave up, it does work on removing a layer of glass but it does take a long time.

Fastest way I have tried is wet sanding it. You do need some fine grit wet dry sand paper which is 3000 or above or you'll just make some more scratches. Some dish soapy water and a hand held sander and a decent amount of time. But beware you'll still need to polish it with cerium oxide which still takes about bit more than a hour for a 6x6 square inch area which is the hardest part imo.
 

Aw3s0m3

Piranha
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May 6, 2012
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Thanks for your input guys!
I'll check out the clip after my last final tomorrow and see what I can do. The scratches really aren't that bad at all. You have to actually concentrate in the glass to notice them but it's just 1 of those things that bugs me since I know they're there. If it seems like too much work, I'll probably just not worry about it. Who knows, that's just the front of the tank where I scrub mostly. I don't scrub the back NEARLY as much cuz its right against the wall so if there's no scratches on the back, I'll just turn the tank around, make the front the back and paint it or if I go with the plywood build, just use the back panel for the viewing window.


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koltsixx

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If it does catch your nail its really not worth the time effort of money to buy all the components and end up with barely any difference. If you look up other people using cerium oxide it does improve hazy glass to a degree where its noticeably better but on scratches its usually miss.

I tried cerium oxide on some hard water stains on the glass and polishing a 6x6 square inch area took about a hour and a half to get perfect and I just gave up, it does work on removing a layer of glass but it does take a long time.

Fastest way I have tried is wet sanding it. You do need some fine grit wet dry sand paper which is 3000 or above or you'll just make some more scratches. Some dish soapy water and a hand held sander and a decent amount of time. But beware you'll still need to polish it with cerium oxide which still takes about bit more than a hour for a 6x6 square inch area which is the hardest part imo.
I've never tried polishing out scratches myself and always wondered how effective it is, can I ask when you did polish did you do it by hand? Or did you use a power buffer? I only ask because I know if you polished it out by hand it could be the cause of your limited success.

Thanks for your input guys!
I'll check out the clip after my last final tomorrow and see what I can do. The scratches really aren't that bad at all. You have to actually concentrate in the glass to notice them but it's just 1 of those things that bugs me since I know they're there. If it seems like too much work, I'll probably just not worry about it. Who knows, that's just the front of the tank where I scrub mostly. I don't scrub the back NEARLY as much cuz its right against the wall so if there's no scratches on the back, I'll just turn the tank around, make the front the back and paint it or if I go with the plywood build, just use the back panel for the viewing window.


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No problem, and again good luck; hope it works out for you as I know all to well the pain of sand scratched glass.
 

DDK

Plecostomus
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http://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/polishers/6-inch-compact-palm-polisher-90219.html

This is the buffer that I used and it does a pretty great job for 18 bucks but it broke during the polishing of the glass. Went to get a new one and apparently they stopped making it and now have this buffer in stores unless you get lucky.

http://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/polishers/6-compact-palm-polisher-69487.html
This buffer sucks, it doesnt rotate but vibrates and makes a circle motion that isnt complete if that makes sense but I dont recomend this buffer, total garbage. I finished up the area with this buffer and gave up just cause this buffer half assed the job as my bones in my wrist felt like they were clashing together.

I'm sure if you get a quality industrial buffer or even a air powered buffer it would work in a fraction of the time but there a bit too pricey for the job they do imo.
 
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