Turning resin with crushed glass in it

[Joe Sheble]

I was curious, if I took broken, crushed glass and embedded in into a resin blank, could this be turned on the lathe?

 

[hockenbery]

be interested in whether carbide tools might scrape glass in a resin.

I have done a little work with glass. I have cut it by scoring and breaking it on the score lines.
I used Power sanding and abrasive wheels to do shaping and to soften cut edges.
I have done some sandblasting to leave frosted patterns.

Glass won’t cut with HSS tools.

the size of the glass particles would be something to consider.
fine ground glass I have used as a blast media is 170-325 grit it look more like talcum powder than glass.
If it were in resin you could probably shape it with carbides and sand with 180 Up to get a polished surface but who would recognize it as glass.

 

[Matthew Ferriter]

This sounds like an injury waiting to happen. With some of the harder resins, I tend to get a lot of chipping. I can only imagine how much glass would chip and how sharp those chips would be. Not to mention the possibility of inhaling airborne glass dust. If you're looking for "glass like" pieces in your resin, you could pour thin sheets of colored resin and break them up with a hammer after fully cured.

Glass shards spinning at a couple thousand rpm just doesn't feel right.

 

[William Rogers]

I guy wanted me to put some special sand into resin to try. I mixed some play sand in polyester resin. Using a old freshly sharpened Benjamin Best I didn’t put much of a dent in the blank, but put about a 1/16 land on the gouge.

Any one need a plastic “concrete” blank?

 

[Joe Sheble]

This sounds like an injury waiting to happen. With some of the harder resins, I tend to get a lot of chipping. I can only imagine how much glass would chip and how sharp those chips would be. Not to mention the possibility of inhaling airborne glass dust. If you're looking for "glass like" pieces in your resin, you could pour thin sheets of colored resin and break them up with a hammer after fully cured.

Glass shards spinning at a couple thousand rpm just doesn't feel right.

It was the wife's idea, and I figured it wouldn't work, but I told her I'd ask... I thought the same solution about the resin...

 

[egsiegel]

I wouldn't do it...
and what would you expect it to look like anyway?

 

[Philip Rose]

I was curious, if I took broken, crushed glass and embedded in into a resin blank, could this be turned on the lathe?

I work in wood, resin and glass. I would not attempt as I don’t think it is safe with glass chunks potentially flying or the highly dangerous glass dust. If you want the look of glass chunks in the resin I would suggest trying preformed resin pieces. I can’t recall exactly where I’ve seen them, but if not Hobby Lobby, Michaels, etc. I might try some fake jewelry sites.

 

[Gary Beasley]

Ive achieved the look of stained glass in resin by crushing resin pen blank cutoffs and casting them into clear resin. If needed you can cast your own colors using the appropriate dyes and pigment then break them up as needed.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

I would try casting a small piece, you never know what you might end up with. Of course, safety should be a priority. I wear a 3M Versaflow, I would not attempt it without a respirator.

 

[robo hippy]

Glass dust would be a problem. I was chatting with some obsidian knappers and they mentioned that glass in the lungs with just the knapping was a problem. No idea how you could sand glass. Diamond abrasives???

robo hippy