Question regarding ROLAGS

[engineer]

Item (3) under section 8.1 of ROLAGS reads as follows:

"If the temperature of the glass is outside the recommended range, cool or
warm the glass accordingly"

I have searched the entire document and there is not another single reference to temperature to be found. If this is to be a specific procedure and/or guideline to the method by which one should repair laminated glass, I would have assumed that the"recommended range" would be specified somewhere in this document.

Under Annex A, a reference to "Recommended practice for the repair of windshields", National Windshield Repair
Association, Sept. 2002; is listed. I was hoping that possibly this document may define the recommended temperature range but when I attempted to load the document from the NWRA website, the document cannot be found.

Could someone please direct me to where I can find this missing document and also shed some light as to what the recommended temperature range is for windshield repair? How is this temperature range determined and where is it documented in reference to ROLAGS?

Sincerely,
Allen

[Glasseye]

Attention to the glass surface temperature is important. Glass expands and contracts, this is easily demonstrated by heating a star break with, say a lighter. The legs of the star break will almost dissapear as the glass heats up. Leave it to cool for a couple of minutes and the legs will reappear therefore proving glass expansion and contraction. For repair work you want to aim for a working temperature range of 10C - 29C(50F-84F). If the glass is too cold the resin thickens making the repair longer and more difficult to achieve a good finish. Too hot, the risk of cracks breaking out from the damage increases as the interlayer softens, as well as the cracks tightening through expansion, hindering the flow of the resin. After practise you can guage the heat of the glass just by laying your hand on it, but you can get surface temperature thermometers which help. If you use the car heating/cooling system to get the right temperature range, make sure the air flow is not venting onto the screen this could create uneven stress on the windshield increasing the risk of cracks developing further before you get the chance to repair.

[engineer]

Thanks for your reply! Are you aware of anywhere where this temperature range is actually documented so that I can be assured that I am meeting the ROLAGS requirement?

[Glasseye]

I have not seen it in any regulations, just manufacturers recommendations. I would say that the temperature range I indicated does, from experience, work well.

[Brent Deines]

In case you are not aware of it, there are a couple of proposed revisions to the ANSI/NGA R1.1-2007 standard that are now open for public comment. Whether you support the standard or not I would encourage you to visit the ROLAGS website and offer comments about the proposed changes. http://www.rolags.com/public_comment_notice.php

For you newbies, ROLAGS stands for Repair of Laminated Automotive Glass Standard.

[SGT]

There is a note that preceeds the steps in section 8.1 that the standard specifies to be carried out for a repair. That note basically says that you should follow the MFG reccomendations unless their outside the scope of the standard in which case you should follow the standard to be compliant.

To answer your question, since the standard does not specify a specific temp or temp range for repair you should follow your MFG guidelines. You will still be compliant with the standard.

I think that the standard is for the most part is written well but needs some lanuage clarification in areas to avoid interpertation issues.

Case and Point, Section 8.1, Step 6. Displacment technology will always inject resin first, the way the standard is written, resin is introduced last no matter what technology you are using. It is open for interpertation. Brent, that might be better fought from your level.

[Brent Deines]

It was a battle just to keep the displacement language in the document as some are trying awfully hard to convince the world that a 1st stage vacuum is the "only" way to properly fill a break. Of course it's obvious to most that is a personal agenda to promote a particular type of system, but it never ceases to amaze me how hard some manufacturers will work to gain an unfair advantage in the market place.

Although I agree that the wording in Section 8.1, step 6 could be misinterpreted, I have faith that the majority of the industry has enough common sense to understand that as long as the break is properly filled, the method used to fill it make's no difference what so ever. I think this year's Windshield Repair Olympics was proof of that. Every system used in the competition, whether 1st stage vacuum or 1st stage pressure, was capable of properly filling the damage.

There are a number of things in the standard that I feel could be written better, but nothing that I can't live with at this point.

[glassgeek]

You must understand that ROLAGS is a voluntary standard that is based on little or no science. The makeup of the committee prevents best practices from being discussed in detail. If the subject is in anyway threatening to certain replacement interest, the resistance is substantial. It is wrong for an association that is primarily supported by manufactures to control the standard. That why AGRSS is independent. We in the repair industry should reexamine the choice we made. Replacement interest can out vote repair interest every time... The NGA has shown its distain for repair in the past. Don't let them fool you in the future. The current president of the NGA has said in the past that he would like to see repair eliminated. I believe the NGA is not serving the interest of the repair industry.

The fact that Belron now has a seat on the NGA board is troubling. I know how Belron has had a negative impact on the repair community in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and the EU. The repair community is not happy there. The standard is in jeopardy of becoming irrelevant if the REPAIR community does not get its act together...
Let’s see more support for the NWRA.

[SGT]

I have said it before, it is good to rally the troops here on the forum but if this as is far as it goes nothing will change.

Contact the NWRA or any association of choice, become proactive and help create favorable change for the repair industry.

[Frank EU]

GlassGeek; I agree with all you have mentioned. It is NOT good that Belron is there ''serving'' and ''contributing''. I just cannot think of a company that has done more harm to our industry on a global level than Belron -and I have been very diplomatic here. Discussions like this are not new, unfortunately not much happened so far (except for the things that happened in a wrong manner for us (repair guys). To put it very clear...I just cannot understand why our REPAIR fellow techs are NOT joining the NWRA. I realize that things must change there, such as banning replacement companies from memberships, but not joining will certainly not lead to possitive changes for our industry.