Conveyorized Chemical Glass Etching and Cleaning Equipment 

How to etch glass?

Glass etching (silicon etching, Si etching) can be completed chemically, mechanically, or with a laser. Chemcut specializes in building chemical glass etching machines.

Chemical etching can result in a clear, see-through surface or a frosted, matte finish.

Etching glass for a see-through surface would be completed using HF plus another acid. If you need to remove some material but keep the optical properties, then chemical etching is a great solution for glass thinning.

Creating decorative glass through chemical engraving is a fast and cost-effective solution. You can utilize a glass frosting solution to engrave the pattern into the surface for a matte finish or an HF etching solution to engrave grooves.

There are many glass etching chemical formulas. The most common glass etching solutions we see are:

HF and Nitric acid (Glass Etcher)

HF and sulfuric acid (Glass Etcher)

HF and Ammonium Fluoride (Glass Frosting)

Ammonium Bifluoride (Glass Frosting)

Pros of Chemical Glass Etching

Etching to Strengthen: Increasing the strength of glass via etching is due to the removal of the external layer which is weakened by defects. Micro cracks will be removed or “rounded out” which significantly lowers crack propagation.

Little to no micro-cracks which is a common issue in mechanical and laser etching.

No chipping along the etched surface and non-etched surface.

Unlimited complexity. All features are etched at the same time so there is no added machining cost to more complex parts.

Fast Machining Process. Glass etching is slow relative to metal etching but is fast relative to laser and mechanical machining. Laser and mechanical machining can only make 1 part at a time, so it is much slower than chemical etching.

No Expensive Hard Tooling

Fast Prototyping and Quick Design Changes since the tooling process is digital.

Cons to Etching Glass Chemically 

Chemistry is dangerous. If using HF, the chemistry is very dangerous and needs to be handled with extreme care.

Equipment Cost is more expensive than mechanical machining tools but will be similar in price (depending on what you want) to a laser.

Glass Projects Chemcut has Built Wet Processing Equipment for

Glass Cleaning Machine

Chemical Glass Cleaner

Mechanical Glass Cleaner

Glass Etcher

HF Etcher

Glass Thinning

Glass Frosting Machine

Glass Photoresist developer

Glass Photoresist Stripper

View Commonly Used Wet Processing Machines for Glass and Flat Panel Display Manufacturing

Chemcut has manufactured equipment for specialized glass processing. Today, our wet processing equipment is ideal for a variety of glass manufacturing projects like Flat Panel Display (FPD), cell phone glass, large frosted windows, small frosted parts, or solar panel silicon cleaning or etching.

Our glass etching, frosting, or cleaning machines will meet your manufacturing needs.

The flexibility of our XLi, CC8000, and 2300 Series allows equipment for glass products to be built with a wide range of process steps, dwell times, and rinsing configurations.

Compared to heavy steel components, Chemcut’s lightweight conveyor construction reduces the possibility of damage to thin glass substrates. Standard conveyor configurations can accommodate piece sizes from 5 – 60 inches wide and 6 – 80+ inches long