I am looking into building my own sump atm. I talked to one glazier who said that the edges have to be polished. Am I being misinformed? He said that the polishing process is the expensive part, as it get done by linear inch.

Oh and btw the glass is 3/8 inch thick, his reason for the polishing in the first place as "its too thick to break cleanly"

So my question
Is polishing necessary?

Never mind. I was quoted over $1000 for 3/8 plate. So I will make doo with 1/4 inch instead. It was quoted at $300. Slight price diff.

Hello loveless,

Have you considered just buying a stock sized tank and adding whatever baffles you want in there? Try to find one used if your patient. Or even a new stock sized tank would be cheaper than $300 for the glass right? I have a ton of 1/4" glass for baffles if you need and can help you cut it. My labour is cheap, I will trade for future frags. Just a thought.

Hope this helps your decision.

Oh yeah, I built my own overflow and it was all 3/8" glass that I cut myself - no polished edges.

Ive cut 3/8" before too no problems. Just took a large wetstone to the edges to knock off the sharpness. Ive also had good luck using a flapper disk on an angle grinder for glass. Just lightly run it on the edge. Makes the sharpness dissapear, but kinda stinks when you do it

Thanks for the reply. I wanted a custom size for the space I have, 24x48x16 high. For me the problem with stock tanks is they are narrow and tall. Thanks for the thoughts tho.

Polishing is really just them sanding the edges with a sander.It takes off all the sharpness on the edges.Most places do it automatically.Saves them and others from seriously cutting themselves.
its usually in the cost of the price of cutting.

actualy last time i got glass cut there was honed, which is what your talking about where they just knock off the edges. Ground where they make it flat, and pollished where they make it clear. honed was free, ground was a little bit of a charge and pollished was expensive.

Steve

Different places do different things.
The place I usually go to sands it down to a polish finish and they have never charged extra for it(that I know of).Its always included.It does make it alot nicer when they do this.I usually buy the glass to make aquariums or for sumps.