Cracked Glass

[tacman]

I was thinking about using windshield repair epoxy on a few of my glass pieces that have MINOR cracks or small bullets by the edges and was wondering if any members had already tried this method and what the results were.

 Dan (tacman)

[westec1]

Hi Dan

I had a belly glass that arrived with a six inch crack starting from the top right corner, after getting a replacement piece I decided to experiment with the old piece, I picked up that chip repair stuff at a local auto parts place, it comes in a syringe with a small suction cup, I started at the end of the crack near the centre of the glass and slowly injected the stuff moving about an inch and a half working my way back to the out side corner, it didn't fill the crack all the way to the corner as you cant get the suction cup to seal at the corner but when I was done I was left with about a half inch crack and when it is in the machine you can only see a small sliver, the rest of the six inch crack disappeared completely. you have to go easy on the injection the stuff is like water and you don't want to separate the backing, so I would think it would be fine, just let the excess on the glass dry over night and gently use a raiser blade the remove it. I have added a pic of the glass with an outline in red were the crack was. the top corner was badly broken but it is mostly covered when installed.

Wes

[rickhunter]

That looks very good.  I'm going to have to give that a try on a Sizzling 7's glass that has several cracks and is being held together by clear tape.  Thanks for sharing. 

[uniman]

I have a Uni round top glass with progressive window, and it has a crack from top to bottom.      
Know I'll never find another one. 
Thought about trying the windshield repair stuff but never did.
Looks good! Thanks for sharing!

[tacman]

Yes, I'm pleased that it seems to work in some instances, at least. I will try it on a couple of pieces in the near future and post the results. Anyone else with experience in this or someone who tries it after reading this post, please let us know the results!

 Dan (tacman)

[CaptainHappy]

westec1,

Thanks for sharing your experience, K+ 

I am sure that all of us have some special canidates to try this on!!! 

CaptainHappy
  ADMIN

[jdkmunch]

This has given me new hope - for this broken glass.

I'll think I'll give it a try and see what happens -  the results above look amazing.  What do I have to loose?

[westec1]

jdkmunch ,
 if you look at your glass starting from the bottom of the O and ending at the top of the E that's pretty much what my crack looked like, I wish I had a before pic, but this was a few years ago, so just start at the O and work your way back to the top, the stuff flows like water, don't worry about the excess on the glass it will clean up real easy after it drys, once you inject the glass dont move it or you will get bubbles in it, just leave it to set over night.

Wes

[slotsteve]

great jobs you need it with  the prices  someguys are asking on ebay 35 each for glass , we use to have a guy make 873 reel /top glass,s on thin plastic and put it behind glass we was charging us  less them 5 bucks  but again then  we only sold  873  831 809 ballys   and you could fix everything no chips no boards,

[Op-Bell]

I've never used the windshield repair glue, but I've had success with UV-setting cyanoacrylate, sometimes sold as "glass bond". It's like superglue, but specially formulated for glass - same refractive index - and it requires UV to set. So you can run it liberally on the glass edges, take your time to mate them up on a sheet of plywood, then put it in the sun for half an hour. I mended a Pinball back glass that way, and the joint never broke again even with some serious abuse.

[jdkmunch]

I just tried the windshield repair  - it actually is cyanoacrylate.   So Now I'll leave it out in the sun and see if the crack magically disappears .   
I picked up the glass on one end to spread the crack a bit and worked the fluid into it.   I can still see the crack though - hopefully when it dries it will vanish.

[jdkmunch]

The results are in and they are amazing !!!      You can still see the crack but it is greatly diminished and the piece feels much stronger.  When it is light up it is completely gone! Like a magic trick.

K +    the crap works well.

[westec1]

Glad to see you were able to fix your glass, looks good

The stuff that you used, did it come in a tube by it self?

The windshield repair that I used came with a syringe and a suction cup, I didn't separate the glass I just used the suction cup and injected the crack.
either way seems to work, at least you wont have to worry about it separating the film on the back when you move it.

[rickhunter]

That's  AMAZING!!!  I'm going to stop on the way home and get some of the stuff and try it on my Sizzling 7's glass.

[jdkmunch]

Yeah it really is. The kind Autobarn had did not have a suction cup. It came with a sticker that you can only use once. $10
I polished up the glass and it looks great. It makes me feel better too because I was the one who broke it.

[jay]

What does the sticker do ?

[jdkmunch]

It replaces the suction cup. Stick it on then place the syringe in and pump the fluid in. 

[CaptainHappy]

WOW, those results are incredible. This gives hope to many of us!!! 

I am going to go out and find my rarest glass and break it so that I can try the fix!!!!  JUST KIDDING!!!!


  I am sure that I have plenty of great glass that could use some repair!!! 


CaptainHappy

[tacman]

I was wondering if the reason the crack is still visible is because the epoxy is not getting all the way through and only the first half of the crack is being sealed. On partial cracks that are only a few inches long, we would just have to try our best to get the epoxy down all the way. I think this is why they come with the suction cup and plunger, to force the eepoxy as deep in the crack as possible. If someone has a crack that runs from edge to edge and is trying this method, I would suggest flexing the glass a little and running some epoxy by the mylar first and then finishing from the top. That should seal the entire crack.

 Dan (tacman)

[jdkmunch]

I think my problem was that the glass was completely broken and too much epoxy went in the crack -  Look at the back you can see that there is an abundance of epoxy. 

I put it in the slot to show how it looks.  You would never know that the thing was broken it two.   

[jdkmunch]

two more

[jdkmunch]

Even with the lights off in the machine - nobody would give a second thought and think that this was broken.  

So Look for the repair kit that comes with a suction cup and proceed slowly and you should be very happy with the results.