In an earlier posting I mentioned having some new rear view mirror
lenses made at a local glass shop. In case anyone is wondering, the
interior mounted rear view mirror for my Cobra consisted of a
rectangular flat glass mirror held in an open clamp, which in turn is
attached to a mounting bracket. That's why I was able to have a mirror
wider than the the original made. I would like to have had it made a
bit taller too, but the clamp has a very limited adjustment range.
I watched with fascination as the shop owner quickly cut out my two
mirrors, clip the corners and round them off with a water lubricated
belt sander. As I mentioned, each mirror only took a few minutes. I've
tried cutting glass myself a couple of time, but always ended up with
mess. The glass never seemed to break along the etch for me. Still, it
looked so easy I'm tempted to give it another try.
As it turned out, the mirror stock I supplied wasn't really mirror at
all; at least not in the sense I normally think of. This stuff was more
like 2-way glass; the kind that reflects like a mirror when the back
side is covered, but can be seen through when held up to the light. I
didn't realize this until I got it to the glass shop. This was a
problem since my Cobra's rear view mirror has no backing. For now I've
put black contact paper on the back side. Another problem with this
type of mirror is that the reflecting material is very thin and fragile.
Just the process of cutting the glass put noticeable scratches in the
coating. While this was acceptable for the wide mirror, I'm not happy
with the smaller one because this is part of a restoration. Looks like
Santa Clara Glass will be getting some more business from me. This time
maybe I'll even get to pay for it.
All of the above is merely incidental to a question I have about cutting
glass. Flat pieces appear to be a cinch. With a little practice, I
suspect even I could do it. However, I wonder how hard it is, or if
it's even possible to cut class with a slight curve to it. I have a set
of "bullet" mirrors on the snake. They are the ones with 4 1/4"
diameter lenses that Moss and a few other places sell. Right now they
both have flat lenses. That's okay for the driver's side, but I would
prefer a convex lens on the passenger side. No one seems to offer these
mirrors new with convex lenses and I can't find any place to order a
convex replacements lens. I've even tried to find a replacement for the
original convex lens in an old Talbot mirror I have, but they don't seem
to be available any more. I have found places that sell flat lenses,
however. To make do I put one of those convex stick-ons on the
passenger side mirror. Besides being kinda tacky looking it's a bit
smaller than the mirror it covers.
While looking for flat mirror stock I did spot a relatively cheap side
view mirrors with a 5" convex lens. It occurred to me that maybe I
could buy one of these, remove the lens and cut it down to 4 1/4". If
it was flat, I'd give it a try, but curved? I donno. Any glass experts
out there? Is there a simple relatively fool proof way to do this? Is
it worth buying and letting the glass shop take a "crack" at it.
Roland
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