Many years ago when the world was new and dinosaurs were still alive and well, I remember experimenting with different particles for removing mineral deposits. I learned very fast that they are not all created equal. I used them wet and dry. Even capturing them in platinum cured silicone disks. I remember making a silicone pad (soft) loaded with fifty bux worth of optical grade diamond. It was able to take reformed water spots off sealant coated surfaces without removing the hydrophobe using just water. I call these my Poly Pads. Then I remember having little to no success removing some very difficult spots off dark glass with typical wet compounds. Which compounds worked well on even heavier spots on other windows. What taught me that ‘application’ was critical was an experiment with a special pad used for polishing granite table tops. It was five inches across, was used with just water, and had these little dots or bumps all over it. The hard plastic bumps were loaded with optical grade polishing particles. The special pad knocked the spots off in minutes! A large drawback was the millions of very very fine scratches that were left behind. Now I know the last step in scratch removal for the final polish would have removed such scratches. So that the entire plate could be done in under an hour. If the hospital really really wanted the glass cleared they might have paid the price. I’ll never know now.
So advances in particle technology will continue. People will develop more advanced pads for scratch and stain removal. And new ideas will give us more advanced techniques for performing this work.
