Float Glass

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white_sw

Established Member
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21 Jan 2007
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Location
Bristol
Can anyone tell me where I can get float glass ? I have tried 3 glazers in Bristol now. One of them explained to me
that float glass is used in very old buildings and has a rippled effect on it. The other 2 told me that it is standard
window glass which is 4mm thick. I thought this glass was rolled, not floated ? I really want it thicker (maybe 8-10mm)
and rounded over on the edges. They can get it thicker (6mm or 10mm) but at a cost of around £100 per square
meter. :shock: But are unable to round it over on the edges.

I want a piece about 750mm x 300mm so I can set it onto a thick MRMDF base and then framed. Hang it on the wall
out of the way when not in use.

Any advice please ?

Cheers,
Sam
 
I think you have been given some poor info by your glaziers.
Float glass is readily available at all glass merchants in a variety
of thicknesses, it is a process developed by Pilkingtons in the 1950`s
where molten glass is floated on a bed of molten tin,and then fed through
rollers giving a very flat sheet of glass in various thicknesses.A good merchant should also be able to grind and or polish the edges for you. Avoid tempered, heat treated, heat soaked,toughened etc as these processes introduce uneven surfaces. I was quoted £35 for a similar
size piece a couple of years ago

HTH Chris
 
As Chris and Olly say, and stay well away from that chap who calls himself a glazier and says float glass is old and has a rippled effect, wrong on both counts!
 
Float glass is easy to obtain at a decent glaziers...don't get it toughened though (as others have said) as this causes distortions - Rob
 
I'll have a phone round a few more from the yellow pages and see what they say....

Cheers,
Sam
 
I walked into the biggest double glazing manufacturer around here and asked if they had any off-cuts. Once I explained what is was for a lovely piece turned up on the desk. :)

xy
 
Ironballs, sorry 200mm x 900mm, ish, x 10mm for plane sole flattening. The edges were nowt to write home about but an old carborundum stone soon sorted that. I should say that this particular place also did new glass for shop frontages.

Sometimes being cheeky pays off, especially if you choose a time when they are not full of customers.

xy
 
Hey Sam

I got a piece 700mm x 400mm x 10mm and it was £15 with the edges beveled from my small local high street glazier.

Hope that helps as a guide.
 
Just spoken to Roman glass and they tell me that Float Glass is regular window glass. Quoted me about £30 for a piece 750mm x 300mm x 10mm.

Spoken to Price Glass. They tell me it is a special glass that has to be ordered. Used for shop display windows. They have quoted £23.53 which sounds a better price to me.

Is regular window glass refered to as float glass ??

Cheers,
Sam
 
I'd be surprised if any glass that you buy from a glazier wasn't float! I think the process is almost universal for glass making now.
My daughter works for Pilkingtons, and took me round one of their US plants a few years ago. Quite impressive seeing sheets of glass about 20m wide being cut "off the roll" so to speak. And I think they said it costs about $1m per day if they have to shut down the process and everything cools!
 
chill":1imcj7ag said:
Is regular window glass refered to as float glass ??

yes

Pretty well all glass available these days is made using the 'float' process, developed by Pilkingtons in the 1950's, as others have pointed out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Float_glass

Any glazier will be able to sell you an offcut in a range of thicknesses - 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, 10mm and more. To get it with polished edges however, you will need to go to a glass processer; there is usually at least one of these in most large towns. Small glaziers generally do not have the facility to polish the edges of glass - it requires a special machine.

I would recommend having the edges polished for your purposes. Apart from looking a lot nicer it eliminates the chances of nicking a finger on a sharp edge.

Cheers
Brad
 
If you're after the float glass for the scary sharp method then I've got a few pieces that I've been meaning to offer on here. Don't have measurements with me at the moment. They seemed a pretty good shape to me when I was considering doing it.

Let me know if you're interested.

Just another thought....again if you're after sharpening have you seen the granite chopping boards you can get in the supermarkets these days? Tenner a piece from memory. Again they look like a pretty good size for sharpening.

Dave
 
I've mentioned this before but, I went into a place near us which does stone worktops, glass display cases for shops etc. I asked if they had any offcuts and they offered me a choice of pieces. Didn't cost me anything.

cheers
Dave
 
Sam, JB Glazing on Filton Avenue will have it, when I went in there were a few 4 or 4 mm pieces on the offcut pile, if you want a specific thickness or size you may have to wait for the right piece to be left over though. good luck
 
DustyDave, yes, it is being used for the scary sharp system, along with lapping of plane soles. That's why I am looking for a piece of 750mm length so I can lap the longest of planes. I also want it for the process of flattening machined parts for my engineering projects.

SeanG, I'll give JB Glazing a call later today and see what they say. Is that the place opposite the Fellowship pub ? I'm trying to remember back to my collage days when I used to live on Filton Avenue.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

Cheers,
Sam
 
Hi Sam, if they don`t offer a polishing service use a piece of carborundum
stone to take off the sharp edges.

HTH Chris
 
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