aggressive scratch removal

[repare-brise]

Hello, I currently use the Glass Mechanix glass polishing system(scratch removal is beond my patience with this kit, it is great for polishing, but not removal) I would like to know your experiances with the Glassweld system VS the GT Glass scratch hog VS others less known but as good. Thanks in advance for your input.

Merci

[glassfixerCO]

Yvan,

About 2 years ago, shortly after I started in this biz. I got a call from a lady with a beautiful 500-800k home with french doors leading to a den. The construction cleanup crew had used something like steel wool to remove excess paint from the french door glass. She had called Novus, who quoted her at something like $65. pr sq. ft.!! I told her I'd do it for something like $100 per door. Anyway, after masking off the surrounding area as much as possible, I turned on my Glass Mechanix buffer and started-in trying to remove the 20,000 or so light scratches. After about 3 hours of frustration--my arm is still vibrating--I finally gave up and proceeded to spend the next 30min. cleaning up orange stuff. Thanks for bringing back bad memories. If I were you, I'd check into the Scratch Hog system. They're located somewhere in Colorado and they'll demonstrate the system for you in their facility on a real piece of glass. One of the other companies offering scratch removal equipment--the one with a demo video showing a guy in a white lab jacket removing a huge scratch--might be owned by the same guy who bullies glass rep. co.'s into not fixing long cracks because he has a patent on the process, etc. According to someone I spoke with at Scratch Hog a year ago, the reason the scratch in his video comes out so well is because he uses another piece of glasss to make the scratch, so what he's primarily removing is glass residue. Hard to tell who's telling the truth, but I hope this info. helps you a little in making a decision on which tool--if any--to buy.

[Gr8tTech]

I didnt like the scratch hog. Didn't seem to take off much without distortion.

The pads and everything are 3M Trizact pads though, so you could easily put something together for much less than the scratch hog costs.

[GlasWeldTech]

We have two of the Glas Weld scratch systems. Do they work without distortion? Yes. Do we push this? No. Why? We charge $75.00 for the first hour and then $65.00 each additional hour. Now, I would rather fix 2 windshield repairs in say 20 minutes give or take and make more money than work out with the scratch system for $75 for the whole hour. If you can catch your fingernail in a scratch it is NOT coming out. I once made $800.00 in 7 hours taking off some severe acid rain on 10 pieces of glass in a Denali that came off the coast for a dealer here. He was very happy and so was I.We have made our money back on the systems but do not really push this due to some strenuous upper body movement while working with it. It is a good tool to have and occasionally we do jobs with them. They do work but a lot of trouble.

[jonnyques]

I

[jonnyques]

GlasWeldTech, do you think the secret is their compound and pads vs what Glass Mechanix has? They both used the same Jepson drill. The water feed is nice but a spray bottle would work as well. Im thinking that if it is the compounds / pads it would be cheaper to just order these and use my own drill. Ill have to check on Glas Welds site as to these prices.

[jonnyques]

Just went to their site. You can buy everything including; Polisher, 2" & 4" backing pads, 2" & 4" polishing pads qty 3 each, 1lb of teal compound, manual and trainging video for $505. Now if you interested for another $800 you can also get a nice carring case, a spray water bottle, and a plastic aplicator. But thats up to you. I can get 4" and 2" backing pads localy and at a fraction of the price. I don't see a reason a standard backing pad wouldn't work ok. So for about $250 you can get the buffing pads, compounds and training manual (if you need one?). A $250 investment would be easy to make back. Any thoughts on this approach to getting a "low cost" removal system? Any cons?
Thanks

[sunshine wr]

I use GW's system, I'm with GWT I don't advertise glass polishing .Everything GWT says is correct. It comes in handy for my existing accounts and certain jobs. I also use mine for headlamp polishing. I use a router speed controler to dial the speed down on the polisher (headlamps only).

[GlasWeldTech]

Johnny,
I doubt that Glass Mechanixs has the same stuff Glas Weld has. Maybe you should check in the For Sale section of this forum because I had heard that there is going to be a glas weld system there. Cheap.

[glassdoctor]

Unless there's been a change in policy, you can't just buy supplies... you have to buy a kit first. Only kit owners can order sundries. If they let you just order pads and compound, they will have to reduce the kit prices or only morons would order one.

I have extra drills that are cheap versions of the Jepson. I got them for like $15-20. It was so cheap I don't even recall the exact price... the variable speed models are realy nice imo. (I don't have one) as the router speed control works but not as nice as a built in vs.

i got to edit my post! cool.... thanks Jeff!

"i" above should be "I".... edit #2 hee hee