Anyone has knowledge on making nice looking edges ? I need to cut 2 inch rod at 45 degree and make that and to look completely transparent . Is it possible ? If yes - how it should be done. Another case is making small drilled hole to look nice. I would cut it with laser , but hole should be at 45 degree and laser dont do that. At least one that I have access to. Expecting your help. Floyd ?
Here's something I recently posted on my local club site about this http://www.greateriowareefsociety.org/Forums/tabid/78/aft/34196/Default.aspx Below is the pertinent part of that post For your case, a 2" rod cut at a 45 degree angle, I would go through the process outlined above. It might be a bit tricky to do the polishing part using a power buffer, because those tend to vibrate a lot and when you don't have something in contact with them, the pad can fly apart. So you might end up doing that part by hand or maybe just using a polishing wheel, like one of those used on a bench grinder/buffer, or one that attaches to a drill bit with an arbor fitting - I've used that before also. As for the drilled hole, if you use an acrylic drill bit, this will give you the best results. But I think the biggest challenge there will be drilling the hole at a 45. Polishing it out would be easier, because you probably won't have as much sanding to do. You would want to knock down the sharp edge first with a razor blade (on both sides of the hole) and then start in with sanding, just a piece of wet/dry paper wrapped around your finger (depending on how big the hole is) Of course you can also flame-polish the rod and/or hole, but if you read that thread I linked to above, you'll understand that flame polishing is very stressful, so in an aquarium environment, I would not do it.
Floyd, Thanks for sharing your knowledge. BTW this will be non aquarium related project. I will try to follow your advices anyway.
