First cold weather repair

[tooldini]

I did a repair this morning around 10:30 here in Michigan. I had to use moisture evaporator, defrost running. It turned out good but I think the legs were a little too noticable when viewed from the inside. It was a large star break total about 1 inch across. Had a nice crushed center and surface and sub surface cracks. The customer was very happy with it,,but I think it should have had less noticable scarring. Some crack you could not see at all from one angle and another you could see a faint line. Is there anything I could have done to make it nicer or is that the best to expect from a mess like that? I should have taken before and after pics

Jeff

[screenman]

On a small star like this it should be barely noticeable when finished I suggest there was still moisture left in the break. How may times did you dry it out?

The nice thing about starbreaks is that although they suffer from moisture contamination, they do not normally fill with to much dirt, unlike bullseyes and combinations. They are of course harder to dry out.

[tooldini]

I hit it with the moisture evaporator probably 5 times for about 6 seconds each. Didn't appear to have any moisture in it, but was wondering about the fact that at one angle they invisible but at another you could still see the slight line. Would a tinted resin have helped?

Jeff

[Sneck]

Tooldini,

It was a large star break total about 1 inch across. Had a nice crushed center and surface and sub surface cracks.

Naturally, we as repair techs would prefer if every repair turned out absolutely perfect and invisible (or nearly invisible). But the reality is not all breaks clear up the same - namely the type of damage as you describe (with a crushed center with surface and subsurface cracks.

From your description of this break, it sounds like there was a fair amount of damage within the body of the chip. I have run into this as well, and have seen the same result as you describe myself, and from other techs.

That is why we always say it will look 80 to 90 percent better, and is guaranteed to stop the break from spreading further.

A simple star with say four, five or six legs will fill quite nicely. But an impacted star with lots of underlying cracks and damage within the body of the chip will not clear up as nice as a standard star break because of the many, many fragments of refracted light being refracted on multiple planes.
... Kinda hard to decribe without a 3-d model of a pulverized star-break.

As long as you did the following, it is a billable repair, and you should feel confident in your work...

1. Removed possible moisure from the break.
2. Repaired the break according to your equipment manufacture procedures.
3. Have exhausted all other tips you have learned and agree that works from other techs on this forum, such as probing, flexing, heat??? etc, etc.
4. And your customer is happy with the repair.

Hope this helps,

[tooldini]

I did all of that, and customer was very happy and said it looked great. Sometimes I am too hard on my self. I was mostly wondering about the surface and subsurface cracks causing the visibility issue. A couple days earlier I did a small star and it was nearly invisible except the impact point was a small dot. Your right though sneck sometimes they just don't turn out great as you would hope for.

Jeff

[StarQuest]

tooldini,

You did everything right and acquired the best possible results. I do have to say one thing....it's not even close to winter here! Start prepairing yourself for 3-4 long months of sub freezing temps. Repairs do take longer this time of year to achieve quality results but so far I'd say your on the right track;)

[tooldini]

Thanks starqwest,, I know it is gonna be hard but I am trying to learn alot about the cold weather repairs. I actually did bring a towel on that repair and about curing time it was snowing so I had to use it. That was just mid 30's temps so I can imagine 10 will be hard to work in LOL

Jeff

[mrchip]

tooldini.. were legs filled when looking at a side view of lines??if so you did all you could do..sneck said it all..i"m looking forward to my first winter here..10 to 20 degrees warmer here than nj

[tooldini]

Mrchip all of them that I could look at from a side view were gone. It took me about 50 minutes to do. I do think I did all I could on it, but just wanted to get some opinions from you guys here. Also about tinted resins I heard they didn't do much but wondered if some tinted color or just clear would get the best results.

thanks
Jeff

[mrchip]

sounds like you really care about your repairs..i am sure its a good repair and glad you charged for it ..