New ground glass – Almost
Yesterday’s project was to create a new ground glass for my B&J 8×10 camera. I almost succeeded. The pictures of the process can be found in the gallery.
I worked with a piece of 8×10 glass that I bought ($3.99) in the picture frame section of a local Aaron Bros. store. I bought ($5.99) a second piece of 11×14 to use as a grinding platform. These pieces had nicely lapped edges.
Because of the configuration of the focus screen holder I had to clip the corners of the glass off. That went fairly well – I used a standard glass cutter to score the break line and then broke off the section using a set of tile nippers I had on hand. The breaks weren’t perfectly clean, so I lapped the edges using some 120 Grit valve grinding compound I bought ($12.99) for the project (Set of 2 grits #120/#280). The lapping took about 10 minutes per corner.
I then spread the 280 Grit compound around on the 8×10 glass and flipped it down on the larger glass and started grinding. This is where my troubles started. The grinding compound I had purchased was oil based and it was very hard to move the glass around to achieve the grinding action. It moved, but with effort and slowly. I had to apply a lot of pressure. Mistake. Adding to the problem is that the desktop I was working on is made of a hollow core door and somewhat flexible. Mistake. Snap, crackle, pop. The glass broke. See sad photo in the gallery.
As I was cleaning up the mess, I also noticed that I had not been getting an even grind. (Photo) The edges of the glass were ground but not the center. I think the thick compound had “domed up” trapped in the center and prevented the two glasses from touching.
I will try again but will get some water based grinding compound. I assume from what I have read so far that coping with failure is an important skill for beginning daguerreotypists. :) So I guess I will consider this a skill building exercise. I wonder at what point my costs will exceed $89.95 – the price of a commercially produced ground glass at B&H Photo.
Daguerreotype Process | andy | June 3, 2008
camera, camera construction, daguerreotype, daguerreotype process, ground glass, photos, Suppliers
“coping with failure is an important skill for beginning daguerreotypists”
Better get used to it… it’s not just for beginners!
I’ve never made a ground glass before but this sounds like a dandy operation for a vibratory dish-style finisher if you could fit it inside the drum.
Well, I meant the comment about failure to be a joke about beginners, but your reply made me laugh. My wife (in all innocence) said to me the other day – “there must be some reason nobody does this process anymore”. I think I am getting the idea.
“there must be some reason nobody does this process anymore”
Our wives would get along well.
Just last night I was describing my plans for building a silver foundry (just a SMALL one…) and I got chuckles. She’s so sweet.