HI Kris

Kris Krieger wrote:
Adrian wrote in
:

HI Kris

Kris Krieger wrote:
"charlie" wrote in
news:g9mmch$f0l$1 @aioe.org:

"Kris Krieger" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I'm still learning a lot, so I don't know this - cabn a regular type
of mirror be cut with a plain glass gutter, like on can do with
stained glass?
If not, does one need a special cutter? if it can be cut like
"regular" glass, shoud one cut it fromt eh glass side, or the coated
side, and hoan one
keep tehcoating from chiping/flaking?

Also, can a a mirror be run trough a glass grinder, or does the
coating chip/flake off too badly?

Thank you in advance!

- Kris
it should be cut on the glass side with a regular cutter. you can
grind it with an extrafine grit grinder head. i like to use spray
clear krylon varnish to protect the backside edge before foiling it,
but don't do this for leading. the acids of soldering flux will eat
the mirror off, causing black spots if you're not very careful.

Thanks for the info

I'm currently working on copper foil, since I have a prefrence for
small detailed projects - maybe I ought to put some blue painter's tape
on the mirror back just inside the foil line, so that flux and solder
don't get onto the coating...?


I do quite a lot of work with mirror - particularly some little
'tealights' - which have three pieces of mirrored glass joined together
at 90 degrees to form the 'body' of the tealight.

In my experience, you need to prevent the flux from getting at the
_edge_ of the mirrored surface - as it will eat its way between the
silvering and the glass - turning the mirror black or brown.
The worst part of this is that the damage occurs over a period of time -
weeks rather than days - so the first you know of it is when a customer
brings back a ruined piece !

Prevention (for me) consists of using a special mirror grinding bit on
the cut edges, grinding as little as possible, then washing the glass
very thoroughly with soap and water,
After drying, paint the cut edges with a sealant (either nail varnish or
a clear laquer) and, once dry, foil over the edges and burnish the foil
down well before soldering. Silver-backed foil gives a tidy effect.
Clean off the flux residue as soon as possible after soldering - using
hot water and soap.

It's also worth taking care with storing your mirrored glass, the
backing is easily scratched, and, if damaged, may allow the flux to get
under the backing. Small scratches can be repaired with silver-backed
tape, but you then need to smarten up the rear of the mirror with some
self-adhesive paper etc.

Hope this helps
Adrian
www.inspired-glass.com


Thanks, Alex!

I assume that the varnish is similar to Charlies's use of Krylon...both are
good ideas

Yes - same idea, I guess...

Actually - I'm surprised that the Krylon does the job - I can understand
it protecting the back of the glass, but in my experience it's the
_edge_ of the glass that's most vunerable.....



Just out of idle curiosity, have you even used any of the pre-cut mirrors,
such as the small circles?

No - never used them - I'd imagine they'd suffer from the same problem
unless they've been pre-treated with a varnish or something similar...

Regards
Adrian