Mobile Screen guard

Hi all,

I just bought a tempered glass cover for my mobile screen. I wonder it will be possible to make with glowforge. No more buying then.

Thank You.

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You can etch glass but not cut it so i don’t think it will be possible.

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Tempered glass (Gorilla Glass and such) is a very unique process of manufacturing. Even a 150Watt laser would not work because even if you could custom cut the glass, the structure and strength would be compromised.

Even an expensive ($35 plus) screen protector would be cheaper than trying to find a .3 to .5 mm blank and them try to cut it.

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You can’t really cut tempered glass.
Tempering is the last step in manufacturing, they cut to size and grind/polish first.
The tempering serves creates a precise amount of stress in the surface of the glass in order to toughen it. Any kind of cutting action will disturb that stress and usually cause the glass to break.

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Yep, I’m not sure about Gorilla Glass but tempered glass will instantly shatter if you compromise the external tension.

Thanks for all the information. Tempered glass is out of question.

What about PET or TPU film.

This is the link I found on youtube. It looks like a laser cutter of low specs.

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Looks like this is the machine in the video:

The specs say it’s a 40W CO2 laser.

Whatever it is they’re cutting, it’s extremely thin (thinner and more flexible than any real glass screen cover I’ve ever had.) I suspect it’s actually some sort of polycarbonate. If it is glass, I guess it’s thin enough and has the right absorption spectra to “cut”.

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I’m not sure what to think of the “9H Anti-Shock Tempered Glass Film”. It’s not “glass” in the traditional sense, that’s for sure.

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I would not have believed that someone had come up with this…

On Alibaba there is a breakout of costs and materials:
http://daqin.en.alibaba.com/product/60313465035-800974756/most_profitable_tempered_glass_screen_protector_cutting_machine_for_making_mobile_screen_guard.html

Would love to get the screen material separate from the 40W laser.

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hmmm.
Says that it can “produce screen protectors of PET/PVC fast and accurately.”

So it’s funny this came up. I was just about to throw away my non-functional Note 4. But then I said “Wait! I’ll see if I can engrave it!” Are you saying I shouldn’t attempt that?

Well if you are going to throw it away anyway, do it for science!

My guess is that nothing spectacular will happen, but that the glass will be significantly weakened and any traumatic event (i.e. dropping it) would cause it to shatter.

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I have no problem with that. It is, unfortunately, trash. Which is a shame because it was a great phone. I’ve the S8+ now, so I’m quite happy.

I just don’t want some sort of tension release in the form of glass shards all of the inside of my Glowforge with little bits getting into the mirrors and glass and destroying my Glowforge. :wink: If there’s that risk, my Glowforge wins over my curiosity. :wink:

Hit it with something sharp before putting it into the glowforge. If it shatters, it’s destined for trash anyway. If it doesnt explode into pieces it might be OK. Have any old spark plugs laying around? If you break the ceramic insulator off, that material is sharp enough to shatter tempered glass with a good hit.

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I think “Anti-shock tempered glass screen protector” means an anti-shock film for protecting tempered glass screens. I.e. it is a plastic film that is being cut, not tempered glass.

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i’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that it’s something lost in translation, but it’s probably just some disingenuous keyword stuffing; solid glass screen protectors are 100% a thing.

but yeah reading through the listing on that page they explicitly say the material is PET.

Maybe the film is a protector for your phones tempered glass screen? Love it when established terms get abused to make something cheap sound more expensive.

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