Windshield Repair Forum

Re the curing questions, here's another one: How ''old'' is your UV-lamp (bulb)?

screenman wrote:I always flex starbreak legs and hold that flex, that way I can be sure that I have filled right to the end of a leg. Sometimes as we all should know the end of a break is not where it appears to be, hence the flexing.

I would never do a repair without using my UV light, which of course has the bulb changed regularly.

How often do you change your UV bulb? Do you notice a significant difference between the effectiveness of a new bulb versus one that has been in use for quite a while?

the picture I showed in this topic was a break before repair to illustrate the question I submited. I suppose it may be caused by inadequate curing light since I think the resin has filled in position "A".

Today when I made another repair, I gave a drop of pit filler and then put a tab on it after filling the break with resin. After I applied a 36W UV light to cure it for about 10 minutes, I took off the tab and scraped the cured resin on the windshield with a razor blade, I could feel the cured resin turned very hard and stick firmly on the windshield. When I cured it with a twilight at (4-5 pm) last time, even after 30 minates later, the resin were cured just like a plastic film but not as hard as this time when I try to scrap it.

What is your opinion about it? Thanks a lot.

Could well have been an uncured repair, but I would still use the method I described on any repair with legs.

As for curing bulb, about every 10 weeks for me and yes I do see a difference, uncured resin has a slightly different refraction index to cured resin.

screenman wrote:Could well have been an uncured repair, but I would still use the method I described on any repair with legs.

As for curing bulb, about every 10 weeks for me and yes I do see a difference, uncured resin has a slightly different refraction index to cured resin.

I agree with much you said but replacing UV bulbs every 10 weeks seems a little premature. I'll replace every six months. I guess much of this depends on area and the type of UV lamp used. I've never noticed a difference, like you stated.

Not knowing where BrightFast operates...I'd say him using the sun this time of year to cure resin in the evening hours was his major problem.

I've never relied on the sun to cure and will always use UV lamp on ever repair.

I would also say how much use your light gets. I had mine measured when I first started in this game and there was quite a difference between the output between the new one and a 3 month old one. At the price per repair I prefer to err on the side of caution.

I have always had the same problem with trying to get star breaks or combination breaks to completely fill. Then, I started to pay more attention to these details:

1) made sure that I was applying less preasure on the injector seal and not to over tighten (Delta Kits)--not more than three/fourths of a turn
2) made sure that the leveling screws were adjusted not more than two/half turns only
3) make sure there are no leaks coming from the seal after applying drops of resin into the injector and inserting the piston (plunger)
4) if there is a leak, made the proper adjustments that will stop the leak and have a complete seal over the pit
5) allowed more time (usually at least 5 minutes) for the injector to do its job with both vaccuum pulls and preasure cycles
6) flexed the thin tight cracks (or any crack that wasn't filling all the way) at the tip end ( the way most of us do) and hold it for at least 30 seconds or more if neccessary.

In applying all these steps, I have had noticed more successfull results in filling star breaks. But, there's still those occations that there is some type of blockage inside the fracture that keeps the air from completely leaving the cracks. If I've technically done everything I could do to get them to clear up, then I drill directly into the weak (or opened area of the crack) and created a tiny air pocket and then properly fill with the injector-- Hope this helps....

I never flex from the tip end, I also hold for longer than 30 seconds if that is what is required, I would also never leave for 5 minutes on vacuum. Apart from that your set up tips are good.