Beveling glass platen liner edges

H

Hubert S.

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Dec 14, 2019
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I ordered a glass platen liner for a belt grinder I am building. I am wondering if I should bevel the sharp edge at the top and maybe even make the side edges a little bit smoother. Is this a good idea, and if so, what would be the best way to go about it? Can this be done by hand on a coarse diamond stone?
 
I just used a piece of 220 grit aluminum oxide sandpaper to ease all the edges on my glass platen. It only took a couple of minutes. (Don't breathe in glass dust!) I was worried that the sharp edge at the top of the platen could dig into a belt. I did all the other edges mostly for the sake of completeness.
 
I used a belt on the grinder before I put the platen on. I can't remember what grit I went to. I do remember it being a bit difficult and taking some time.
 
I used a 60 grit ceramic belt. It took a bit of time but worked well. You definitely want to do the top and bottom and the sides is up to you. On my older platen I had the lower upper half rounded and the lower half sharp depending on what I wanted my plunges like.
 
Thank you all for the replies. I was a little hesitant to use a grinder with it being glass and presumably pretty fragile and prone to breaking into shards. I also read that silicone carbide is the only abrasive that will cut the glass, but that's the internet for you, I guess... I think I will try it on the grinder.
 
Glass is a 5-7 on the Mohs hardness scale, aluminum oxide is 9, silicone carbide is 9.5. Either abrasive will cut glass (but neither will last very long).
 
If you have a DMT diamond plate it will make fast work of rounding the edges. A 120 grit blue CZ belt also works fine.
 
Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I beveled top and bottom on a diamond plate, it took just a couple minutes per side.
 
Hubert S. said:
Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I beveled top and bottom on a diamond plate, it took just a couple minutes per side.
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Do same on edges from sides ......at least 1-2mm. radius .You would find useful moving belt on left and right sides of plate when you work on plunges ......
 
Natlek said:
Do same on edges from sides ......at least 1-2mm. radius .You would find useful moving belt on left and right sides of plate when you work on plunges ......
Click to expand...
I will probably do that. I have only made four knives so far and they don't have plunges.
 
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