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Help with an applied optics problem



I have just been asked by a good friend for a method to repair a
badly scratched expensive glass CRT. A two year old managed
to accomplish this feat with a sharp metal object. My friend is
grateful that the kid didn't use the object on his sister, but that's
about where the gratitude ends. Fixing it (or ameliorating the
damage) is my object here. I will make a significant contribution
to the restoration of domestic tranquility if I can do so.

Does anyone know of a colorless, transparent resin that is a
good match to the index of refraction of a nebbish glass (I don't
have a good number - say 1.55)? I would like to apply it wet
(the less viscous the better) and have it set up hard, but soft
enough to be smoothed with a razor blade.

I know that mineral oil is a fair match, but mineral oil doesn't
set, and my friends prefer to watch TV with the screen vertical.

I am aware of the windshield patching technique widely
advertised on TV. Does anyone know what resin is used in
that process? I have asked at a local glass shop, but the
proprietors are reluctant to let me have any material. They
tell me that there is a $25,000 plate glass window in Vancouver
in need of a similar repair, so I may be able to apply anything
I learn here to another problem.

Thanks,

Leigh Palmer
Professor Emeritus
Department of Physics
Simon Fraser University