film

Bathtub Refinishing

Look in the phone book, find bathtub refinishing, call the guy, buy a small quantity of his tub etch. They use a blend of low concentration hydrofluoric and hydrochloric acids in a syrupy solution to etch tubs before re-porcelain (painting). Wear gloves and goggles. I used to be in that business as a helper when I was a teenager. Leaves a soft satin etch on porcelain tubs and anything made of glass.

Most patterns nowadays are blasted on glass. Like sandblasting except finer.

Air Eraser?

Joe have you tried an air eraser?  I know a lot of paint guys use them with baking soda to prep for painting so you might already have one ( I have one for that, just haven't gotten around to trying it out yet).  Here is a youtube showing it in action 

It will erase anything it touches.  You can do a reverse of what you want and spray away.  When you pull. away your pattern what you wanted is etched in the glass.  It's worth looking at.

Steve

Armour Etch

Joe,

Check out this link:  http://www.etchworld.com/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=catshow&ref=Armour+Etch for a product that chemically etches glass.  I have used it with great success.

Rick

+ +

Rick,  Any idea what  they mean by this

" NOT recommended for etching large solid areas of glass."

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Some outfits can sand etch  with the door in place. They are equiped with a blast noozles with integrated vacumm systems so they do not get dust all over the place. Otherwise blasting etching requires they take the door or glass panel outside or into a spray booth / bead blast booth. 

Marc Fournier, Quebec

Link

I thought I should provide a link for you to one company that produces the film I mentioned.

Didn't read the instructions!

Marc,

As usual, I didn't read the instructions!  And you are correct, it is for small areas.  I had used the stuff to etch auto window glass.

BTW, I've used the spray on "glass frosting" and wouldn't recommend it as it is very difficult to get a consistant spray - thus making the glass look blotchy.

Rick

"Not recommended for large areas."

I suspect they are warning that they don't recommend their product be used ot create a privacy window in the shower or bathroom of your home, or to "fix" a clear glass shower door that you decide is just too revealing! 

I suspect the process is

I suspect the process is aggressive enough that it weakens the glass if used over a large area.  Any warning like that means "no" for a door that's opened and closed a lot. I'll explore the suggestions. Thanks for taking the time to offer some ideas.

Contact shelf paper, image and a sand blaster

If you are looking for intricate patterns, such as a corporate logo or lettering, here’s what I did to make a Frank Lloyd Wright art glass piece.

I scanned the image, printed it with a graphics program capable of “tiling” the image output, that is, printing a large image over several sheets of paper.  I used Corel PhotoPaint; scanned the image into PhotoPaint, cleaned it up, and printed it.

Then I covered the piece of glass with contact shelf paper.  I used spray mount to attach the computer print to the shelf paper.  Then I used an Xacto knife to cut away the to-be-etched portions - tedious.  I then sand blasted it with a Sears sand blast gun attached to my compressor.   Blasting a larger area, I needed something as large as the Sears unit to get even coverage.  The air brush sized blaster has too small of a pattern to render even coverage over large areas.

Milt Spanton

Etching Glass

My wife and I had made many personalized gifts years ago by etching different glass ornaments (even a large clear mixing bowl tagged for my daughter as "Liz's Popcorn Bowl") . It was easy with just a bit of preparation and careful planning. We drew out the designs on self adhesive shelf liner (Mac-Tac) then attached it to the item. We used an X-Acto to cut and "crop" out the part we wanted to etch. Make sure the part you don't want etched is well covered with NO gaps or holes. I can't remember the brand of etch cream we used, but we got it at a craft and hobby store much like Michaels. Wear rubber gloves and goggles for safety sake, use a swab (Q-tip) and apply a generous coat on the exposed glass. Wait the required time as per directions, there carefully wash off the product. Do not remove the masking material yet. Wipe the glass dry and see if it is what you wanted for etch on the surface (it must be dry to see the effect). If it is not enough of an etch, just apply more of the etch cream, wait and rinse again. Check with your local glass shop as to the type of glass in the door. When I worked in a glass shop years ago, window glass just was normal glass, but door glass had to be tempered for safety. This means that you couldn't cut or drill or grind the glass after tempering (a high temperature process) and any attempt by customers to modify tempered glass usually meant they would be back for another piece. Sometimes hardened glass like tempered glass in doors is much more difficult to etch than a window, so do not remove your stencil mask until you are sure that it is perfect. (It saves having to re-draw and re-crop and place exactly so to get it back in place.) Good luck and have fun.

Francis

HF

Dilute hydrofluoric acid is the active ingredient in glass etch. Be very careful. Readily absorbed through skin, dissolves bone. Long ago I worked for a place that manufactured etching solutions. Hydrofluoric, even though classified as a weak acid, was one of the most feared acids in the plant.

NH4HF2

The consumer products rely on ammonium bifluoride. Only two clicks safer. Ammonium bifluoride releases HF as it decomposes.

Regardless of the method, be super duper careful with anything capable of dissolving glass.

Or...

How about a slightly different and more reversible idea?  Mask of the area to be left clear, and spray the area to be "etched" with dullcoat.  If you don't like the results, either scrape it clean or clean with a solvent.

How did a two year old thread get revived, anyway?

Trying to help

We can always use new information on old threads, particularly safety data.  However, the door in the original question was treated to a large transfer two years ago, so our individual problem was solved.

Nothing wrong with adding to an old post.

I'm sorry

I assure you, that was not my intention.  I just found it odd that the thread would pop back up, seemingly out of the blue like that.  I'm all for resurrecting old threads if there's new material to add.  Given that people are coming and going all the time, there's a good chance that somebody will come along with new ideas from time to time.  Still, as I said, it seemed a little odd, since it doesn't happen often.

I probably should not have commented on the age of the thread, and I sincerely apologize for offending or insulting you, or anyone else.  I really do try to play nice here.