Two on Tuesday

[sgailey]

Hi all!

Since this is my first post-- I'll say a quick introduction:

Me and my brothers do glass-treatments up in Alaska, supplemented by glass-repair. I started out doing repairs with Deltakits' injectors last August, and got certified in Eugene September of this year. We average about a dozen repairs a week at our business, and expect traffic to be ramping up in the near future.

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I've got two questions regarding repairs:

1.) Star/Combination Fractures with legs

Recently I've encountered a handful of these types that have proven difficult to fill completely. For example, one I encountered yesterday:

The damage was uncovered, a few months old.

[INDENT]- Midsize break (no larger than a quarter)
- Small bullseye
- A pair of short dark legs
- 4 thin, shiny legs (slightly longer than the above)[/INDENT]

I started off by cleaning out the pit with probe & denatured alcohol, blowing it out with compressed air. Upon examination/probing, there was no visible water in the break. The bullseye and dark legs filled in almost immediately, but the thinner legs resisted filling. I followed up with heating and increased the pressure on the injector, and this of course prompted the cracks to extend about 1/8 in. Immediately I took off pressure, loosened the injector barrel, and resumed with a vacuum & 2nd pressure cycle, and the cracks persisted.

Next, I decided to drill down into the pit, where the cracks intersected. When the burr was roughly 1/2 way in I stopped and tried another cycle with no results. This process was repeated once more before I decided to just finish up the repair and cure it, concluding that I would drill-stop the cracks if I had to.

However, once the pit-resin was been applied and the curing had completed, the legs appeared to have filled themselves in. Upon close examination, I could see resin in the cracks, but there was a 'splotchy' appearance beneath them.

Does anyone have advice for filling breaks where cracks don't fill until the curing process (if at all)? Are these 'splotchy' fills credible?

2.) Indenting to create bulls-eyes with the probe.

What situations would constitute tapping a drill-job with the probe?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Happy Holidays!

[GlassStarz]

sometimes when there is a attached leg you can open it by running a lit match under it from the inside of the car do this in the vac cycle then add pressure as it cools it will pull the resin into the stubborn leg i use a paper match that way I dont give it too much heat fingers will roast before that happens "Ouch! im done"

[GlasWeldTech]

I don't use heat at all. I believe I would have drilled a little first and opened up the break to the legs and took my time with longer vacuum and pressure cycles. I don't use your type of injector though.

[Brent Deines]

Shiny cracks that open when you apply pressure, and don't fill until you release pressure may indicate that those cracks are in the inner layer of glass. This is fairly uncommon however, and would not account for a "handful of unsatisfactory repairs.

I have a number of other thoughts as to why you may be having problems, but it would be much faster to discuss over the telephone. I am confident any of our tech support staff can help you resolve this problem in short order.

Since you mentioned that you attended a Delta Kits training class I do need to clarify that Delta Kits does not recommend cleaning with alcohol, or any liquid for that matter. Alcohol softens the laminate and that is not acceptable.

Splotchy does not sound acceptable to me.

Drill and pop a tiny bull

[sgailey]

Thanks very much for the replies, GlassStarz & GlasWeldTech. I appreciate the advice very much.

Brent, I will be sure to hop on over to the support line and get up to speed. (and to not use alcohol anymore!) :redface: