Glass grinding system and method

• US 8,029,336 B1
• Filed: 04/10/2008
• Issued: 10/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Redd Group LLC
• Original Assignee: The Redd Group LLC
• Inventors: Thomas, Adam, Thomas, Cody, Thomas, Keith, Evans, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Rose; Robert
• Application Number:
  US12/082,308
• Time in Patent Office: 1,272 Days
• Field of Search: 451/41, 451 57- 58, 451/37
• US Class Current: 451/41
• CPC Class Codes: B24B 7/241 Methods

Abstract

A glass grinding method starts with an assessment of the scratch or surface defect to be removed. A series of abrasive pads with different diameters and different grits from 60, 120, 180, 220, and 400 grit are selected according to the depth of the scratches or defects on the glass, and is installed on a handheld circular grinder. The work area is restricted to an imaginary area around the scratch that is two times the length of the scratch squared. The area is worked and feathered out with successively finer and finer dry abrasive pads applied flat on the surface of the glass. During this process, the glass surface temperatures are monitored and not allowed to exceed 150° F. Any glass powders that stick and build up on the abrasive disk faces are knocked off by slapping them with wire brushes or rasps. They are not brushed off. In a final pre-polishing stage, the powders are allowed to build to gradually reduce the cutting action and produce a finer surface. When the glass has only a haze left to remove, cerium oxide powders mixed in water are misted from a spray bottle onto a felt pad installed on the grinder. The area is outlined with a dry-grease marker applied on the backside of the glass.

Claims

1. A glass grinding method, comprising:

assessing the severity of a scratch in the surface of a flat glass to be one of shallow, medium, or deep;

establishing a work area boundary around said scratch;

selecting and mounting an abrasive disk on a portable rotary grinder wherein a particular starting grit of an abrasive paper depends on the assessment of said scratch being shallow, medium, or deep;

grinding said flat glass in said work area by keeping a selected abrasive disk flat down and dry;

stepping to a next finer grit abrasive disk until a final abrasive disk has concluded its grinding of said flat glass in said work area; and

removing a residual haze on the surface of said flat glass in said work area with a felt pad misted with water and cerium oxide and mounted to said portable rotary grinder.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

limiting the surface temperatures of said flat glass in said work area by monitoring with a thermometer and interrupting said step of grinding to allow a cooling down.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

cleaning accumulations and caking of glass powder on said abrasive disks in the step of grinding by slapping the working surfaces of said abrasive disks with a wire brush or rasp.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

marking said work area boundary on the reverse side of said flat glass with a dry erase marker so the work area is not lost by a user in the final steps.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

color-coding said abrasive disks according to their respective grits which range from 60-grit to 400-grit.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

choosing different diameters of said abrasive disks according to the size of said work area.