Windshield Repair Forum

use what works for ya

screenman wrote:I know at what extent water vaporises, I am just trying to get us discussing where it goes to in an enclosed container, which when you put a vacuum over a damage that is what it becomes.

I think will be equally dispersed in the volume of the "enclosed container" What is the volume of the space outside the chip compared to the space inside the chip?
I don't know.Say it is 1000:1 well then you removed 99.9% of the moisture from the chip.
I repair windshields so obviously I am no physicist but this is what my logic tells me.

Chipfix, that is the best answer I have ever had back on this subject and was my thinking in the early days. Now taking this another step forward does drawing a vacuum over say a bullseye shut it up slightly trapping moisture in? There is some flex in the PVB does this allow the cone to move upwards on vacuum. Also we have found that it can take a very long time for the heated area to cool down after heating, in fact we have seen after 15 minutes that some legs have not fully reopened after using heat. They will however flex open, now I put this down to the PVB retaining heat and pushing upwards due to expansion, much the same as we can open a leg by pushing down with a probe.

I am certainly not saying your vacuum and heat system does not work, I used it for most of my career so far, just for me I have found a quicker way. Since I certainly cannot remember the last time I did a repair that was already dry, must have been years ago, speed is of the importance.

This is great that often the most missed part of WSR is being discussed, in the UK where every damage is damp only a very few techs attempt to remove the moisture prior to carrying out a repair. Or should I say attempted repair.

One of the best things I've ever done regarding drying out chips --- I put my practice shield on some sawhorses and put a half dozen breaks in it - got them wet and tried drying them with my dry-star, my hair dryer and my butane torch. Then I tried seeing what it would take to crack out the breaks with each heater. Practice shields are free from dumpsters - no harm, no foul. Try it, you'll like it.

and what did you come up with doing your testing...?

I found that the quickest way to force a crack-out was the torch - second was the Dry Star and the blow dryer never cracked the glass at all.
On most of my hard-to-dry chips, I tell the customer to get sun on the glass or hang a 60-100 watt bulb close enough to the break to get it to 90-100 degrees. I just did a chip for a guy who had the light on his truck w/s since Saturday (3 days) and it was ready to go.

J.T.Window wrote:I found that the quickest way to force a crack-out was the torch - second was the Dry Star and the blow dryer never cracked the glass at all.
On most of my hard-to-dry chips, I tell the customer to get sun on the glass or hang a 60-100 watt bulb close enough to the break to get it to 90-100 degrees. I just did a chip for a guy who had the light on his truck w/s since Saturday (3 days) and it was ready to go.

A light bulb on a windshield for three days? Are you serious? This method seems a bit antiquated to me.

J.T.Window, with the torch hold it slightly further away and crack outs will not occur, with the Drystar use it for slightly less time and crack outs will not occur. Come on all you guys, we know extreme heat will cause crack outs, the use of the correct amount of heat is down to experience, gained through either trial and error or correct training.

I commend you on having a practise windshield and taking the time to experiment, not many guys have that kind of determination, well done.

I figured that once I learned how to crack the glass with the torch and dry-star, I'd know a little more about how not to.

My business is in San Diego where moisture and cold weather is less of a problem than in other areas of the country. Occasionally I'll have to deal with a wet windshield though. I'm wondering if anyone has tried to use alcohol to speed up evaporation and how you tell when the crack is completely dry. Most of the time when there's a moisture problem I simply reschedule but a quick remedy would be nice.