windscreen Scratches
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kevgreen36
windscreen Scratches
I work for a leading windscreen repair company in England, i get asked all the time can I repair scratched windscreens. There is not a lot of information available here so I would be pleased if anyone could offer advise,techniques how long it takes, and what is the best equipment available,are there any dvds out there!!!!
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sunshine wr
- Senior Member
- Posts: 626
- Joined: August 13th, 2003, 5:53 am
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repare-brise
Re: windscreen Scratches
Kevin(I assume)
Screen scratches can be a good add-on bussiness, especially if it's your customers that are asking about it. There are a plethora of choices that are on the market, all with good and all with not so good points.
On the market there exists 3 types of systems, glass polishing, Hybrid/closed loop, and glass grinding/polishing.
The glass polishing systems are numerous and varied in price. The basic system for all of the consistes of a grinder, polishing pad and cerium oxide(CO) powder or slurry. The least effective of these systems is the Glasweld, Glass mechanix, and other bottom end systems(they are all virtually identical except for the price, $450-$1600, and marketing hype). These systems use CO and patience to remove scratches. They are best used for very light scratches unless you are very patient. This equipment requires little maintenance, but extensive clean up of the work area(do not use indoors if you want to keep your customer)
Higher up on the evolutionary scale are the SRP and LPS systems. They use a CO slurry and a closed loop system for containing the slurry. They are 5-6 times faster than the basic systems, are easier to control, but are very expensive(+/-$2500)and require rigourus, and somewhat time consuming maintenance. The above systems sell a grinding(finer) wheel to speed things up when the scratch is deep. The disadvantages of these systems is the set-up/maintenance time, they are hard to get close to an edge(minimum 1/2" with optional equipment), hard to control on curved glass, and the initial cost is very high. On the plus side they are relatively fast, easy customer cleanup, and look very professional.
Next up are the glass grinding systems, currently the best known one is the Scratch Hog sold by Glass Technologies. With this system you get as fast results than the SRP/LPS systems for deep scratches. The system uses abrasives deleoped by 3M(trizacs)and a center water feed grinder. While fast for deep scratches, it is hard to bring up a final polish with this system(for deep scratches SRP suggests combining this system to thiers, a good but expensive choice). The reason for this lies in the abrasives, the steps between abrasives is too high. This means you have to spend too much time with every grit, and the final grit is too high to polish out with fast results. The initial($1700) and ongoing costs are also a factor with this system, the abrasive discs last about 10-15 mins each, and cost between 75c and $3 each, and to work at it's best it is suggested to use distilled water. Cleanup of the work area is still a concern, but not as bad as the basic systems(the pad stays flat on the glass, not at an angle) and equipmemnt maintenance is not a factor.
There are other systems than the ones dscribed here all with variing results. One thing to keep in mind is that all systems remove glass(despite some companies marketing hype), therefore they all create different degrees of distortion. The distortion is somewhat controlable, but that comes down to practice and opperator skill. For myself it"s a very lucrative side business(and in some area's a stand alone business), but don't expect to by a kit and be perfect on the first try, it takes practice, practice, a muscle relaxant or massage, and practice. Once the previous is done, get more glass and practice some more............
Merci
Screen scratches can be a good add-on bussiness, especially if it's your customers that are asking about it. There are a plethora of choices that are on the market, all with good and all with not so good points.
On the market there exists 3 types of systems, glass polishing, Hybrid/closed loop, and glass grinding/polishing.
The glass polishing systems are numerous and varied in price. The basic system for all of the consistes of a grinder, polishing pad and cerium oxide(CO) powder or slurry. The least effective of these systems is the Glasweld, Glass mechanix, and other bottom end systems(they are all virtually identical except for the price, $450-$1600, and marketing hype). These systems use CO and patience to remove scratches. They are best used for very light scratches unless you are very patient. This equipment requires little maintenance, but extensive clean up of the work area(do not use indoors if you want to keep your customer)
Higher up on the evolutionary scale are the SRP and LPS systems. They use a CO slurry and a closed loop system for containing the slurry. They are 5-6 times faster than the basic systems, are easier to control, but are very expensive(+/-$2500)and require rigourus, and somewhat time consuming maintenance. The above systems sell a grinding(finer) wheel to speed things up when the scratch is deep. The disadvantages of these systems is the set-up/maintenance time, they are hard to get close to an edge(minimum 1/2" with optional equipment), hard to control on curved glass, and the initial cost is very high. On the plus side they are relatively fast, easy customer cleanup, and look very professional.
Next up are the glass grinding systems, currently the best known one is the Scratch Hog sold by Glass Technologies. With this system you get as fast results than the SRP/LPS systems for deep scratches. The system uses abrasives deleoped by 3M(trizacs)and a center water feed grinder. While fast for deep scratches, it is hard to bring up a final polish with this system(for deep scratches SRP suggests combining this system to thiers, a good but expensive choice). The reason for this lies in the abrasives, the steps between abrasives is too high. This means you have to spend too much time with every grit, and the final grit is too high to polish out with fast results. The initial($1700) and ongoing costs are also a factor with this system, the abrasive discs last about 10-15 mins each, and cost between 75c and $3 each, and to work at it's best it is suggested to use distilled water. Cleanup of the work area is still a concern, but not as bad as the basic systems(the pad stays flat on the glass, not at an angle) and equipmemnt maintenance is not a factor.
There are other systems than the ones dscribed here all with variing results. One thing to keep in mind is that all systems remove glass(despite some companies marketing hype), therefore they all create different degrees of distortion. The distortion is somewhat controlable, but that comes down to practice and opperator skill. For myself it"s a very lucrative side business(and in some area's a stand alone business), but don't expect to by a kit and be perfect on the first try, it takes practice, practice, a muscle relaxant or massage, and practice. Once the previous is done, get more glass and practice some more............
Merci
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Bill D
Re: windscreen Scratches
Repair-brise,
Nice long post. How many of the scratch removal companies have been approved for distortion free removal by ANSI and BSI ? One-www.ips.co
m. Private labeled for GlasWeld several years ago. Yet the first you badmouthed.I think they have dropped GW.
I used their products for years sucessfully until my back gave out. I will soon be using their headlamp polishing system.
Nice long post. How many of the scratch removal companies have been approved for distortion free removal by ANSI and BSI ? One-www.ips.co
m. Private labeled for GlasWeld several years ago. Yet the first you badmouthed.I think they have dropped GW.
I used their products for years sucessfully until my back gave out. I will soon be using their headlamp polishing system.
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repare-brise
Re: windscreen Scratches
Bill
As english is a second language for me my mesages don't always come out as wished, If you care to re-read my post you will note that I stated "different degrees of distortion". Effectivly the IPS based systems create little or no distortion when used as instructed, but can remove glass, therefore creating a slight distortion(or it could be described as slight variance in the thickness of the glass that is unperceptable to the eye and creates no dicerernable distortion). Glass being what it is, is never 100% uniform in thickness(look through a WS at a 10-15 degree angle(the car beside you on the highway as an example) and you will see much distortion and waviness, but the same glass wiewed between 60 and 120 degrees creates no visible distortion.
As always results will vary depending on opperator skil, and batteries are not included, but if you buy in the next 15 mins you will also recive the bamboo steamer as a bonus, now how much would you pay for all of this..............
Merci
As english is a second language for me my mesages don't always come out as wished, If you care to re-read my post you will note that I stated "different degrees of distortion". Effectivly the IPS based systems create little or no distortion when used as instructed, but can remove glass, therefore creating a slight distortion(or it could be described as slight variance in the thickness of the glass that is unperceptable to the eye and creates no dicerernable distortion). Glass being what it is, is never 100% uniform in thickness(look through a WS at a 10-15 degree angle(the car beside you on the highway as an example) and you will see much distortion and waviness, but the same glass wiewed between 60 and 120 degrees creates no visible distortion.
As always results will vary depending on opperator skil, and batteries are not included, but if you buy in the next 15 mins you will also recive the bamboo steamer as a bonus, now how much would you pay for all of this..............
Merci
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jonnyques
- Member
- Posts: 182
- Joined: October 31st, 2003, 1:00 pm
Re: windscreen Scratches
LOL .... What a deal! now I can offer steamed Vegies to my customers! I too buff glass, or try to. It can be profitable when you dont crack them out from too much heat! I find its been a great add on and has gotten my foot in doors that were closed. Bill D if you have any pull with IPS tell them to get their butt to the MTE this year. Id like to see their plastic polishing systems.
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CPR
Re: windscreen Scratches
Are you guys talking about ipsglass.com ???????
He is about 10 miles from me, and knows alot about glass scratch removal and headlight polishing. Would be worth a look at the website and a phone call.
He is about 10 miles from me, and knows alot about glass scratch removal and headlight polishing. Would be worth a look at the website and a phone call.
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jonnyques
- Member
- Posts: 182
- Joined: October 31st, 2003, 1:00 pm
Re: windscreen Scratches
Web site sucks. Very little details, no component discriptions, no prices, no pictures of before and after. Thats why Id like to see them at the MTE, heck they are already in Flordia. Let me see what your systems can do. CPR if your that close, stop in and tell him to visit this fourm. Let him know there is an intrest in his products. Let him know we ALL would like free samples!
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John62
Re: windscreen Scratches
Hi, there are some people you could contact and websites you might visit;
http://www.ipsglass.com
http://www.renovatorsystems.com
http://www.glassmechanix.com
http://www.ipsglass.com
http://www.renovatorsystems.com
http://www.glassmechanix.com
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