Windshield Repair Forum

I just got my drystar the other day. I practiced drying out a few combos and stars on my practice shield and all went well. Out in the field I've been having a problem with cracks running on me. 4 out of 5 chips ran at least 4 inches or so. All were combination breaks. The tempature was about 75 degrees with high humidity. It had rained the day before. I allowed the drystar to just barely glow then placed the heating element directly over the break( touching the damage) for 20 seconds with the button depressed. I would greatly appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

I don't actually touch the glass with mine. I've never had one run so maybe that is the problem, not sure.

4 out of 5 ran? If I had 2 in a row run on me I would never touch the thing again. However, that has not been my experience, and rarely ever do I hear of cracks running unless the hot tool is being applied to cold glass, or it is being held against the glass for too long. In fact, the only other time I have heard someone claim they were using it properly and breaking a lot of glass was when a competitor was trying to sell an alternate method of drying out the break.

Seriously, that is a lifetime, or at least several years worth of crack outs, so something is very wrong. Did you buy the tool from Delta Kits? Whether you bought the tool from Delta Kits or from one of the many other companies that sell it, please feel free to call me to discuss proper use in detail. This simply should not be happening.

I do not actually touch the glass with moisture evaporator but I do hold it extremely close to the glass (approx 1/16th to 1/8 inch off) and just add one additional drying cycle to ensure complete moisture removal as needed. Either way, on the glass or off, if used properly, this tool should not produce consistant crackouts. Perhaps look at these areas.

How many drying cycles did you use?

Did you allow enough cooling time between cycles?

How much pressure did you use while holding it on the windshield?

Are you leaning on the windshield to brace yourself?

Did you have doors or windows open?

I am just north of you about an hour, give me a call or come up if you want.

Firstly, thanks for all the replys and offers for help. I bought the tool from gtglass. Time between cycles was until the glass was no longer warm. The temperature of the glass was about 60 degrees. I applied no pressure directly to the glass. The door was open as I was standing in the opening and yes I am now extremely cautious when using the drystar. I performed 5 dry outs today with no problems. I used the same techniques although I counted to 20 extremely quickly. I like the tool, its working well to dry out a chip and I'm looking forward to gaining more experience using it. Thanks to all who posted replys.

20 second with button depressed I am surpised you did not have liquid glass running down the screen. ( that is humour ) I would have thought let it glow and then take your finger OFF the button and place over damage and leave on for 20 seconds, there is still plenty of heat in the drystar for this amount of time. Allow to cool between applications.This works well for me.

Brent, I too have had one crackout with a recently purchased Drystar and was working on another when I noticed the break appeared it was about to spread.
On the crackout, the heat was only on the break for 15 seconds and the crack spread about 8 inches. On the near crackout I was heating legs of a combination break when I noticed legs on the other side of the break go from wet to quickly becoming "glassy". Exactly what happened on the crackout but this time removed heat immediately. Unfortunately, I had to tell this good retail customer I was not comfortable with the stability of the damage and would wait for the chip to dry naturally.
I love the drystar but am a little skittish when using it now. I figure the tool is brand new and therefore the element is most effective(hottest) at this time. I have resorted to a slightly shorter heating cycle and allow more time for dry out.

screenman;30742 wrote:20 second with button depressed I am surpised you did not have liquid glass running down the screen. ( that is humour ) I would have thought let it glow and then take your finger OFF the button and place over damage and leave on for 20 seconds, there is still plenty of heat in the drystar for this amount of time. Allow to cool between applications.This works well for me.

Holding the button down once it glows and throughout the 20 seconds is normal precedure and it should not be necessary to release the button at the start of the 20 second dry out cycle.

I agree with starstruck here. The DryStar directions are to preheat the element until it is red hot, to keep the button held down during the heating process, and to place the tool directly over the repair "on the glass" for 20 seconds. I now understand why many of you are having to use multiple cycles to get the moisture out of a break when I only have to use one. You are not following the manufacturer's instructions!

Delta Kits is not the manufacturer so you can argue all you want about the best way to use this tool, but I follow the manufacturer's instructions and have yet to have a problem. However, there is one thing that I always do prior to using the moisture evaporator that I think is very important.

I always warm the glass for several inches around the break to at least 80 degrees before applying the moisture evaporator to the glass. StellarChip was working in 75 degree weather, but it is possible that the glass was 5-10 degrees cooler than that. If the glass was in the sun it is also possible that the glass was hotter than 75 degrees, so I am not making any assumptions here, and I am certainly not implying that Stellar did anything wrong. Just throwing out part of the procedure that I use that may not be something everyone else is doing.

Maybe I am just the luckiest guy in the world, but in all my testing and actual use I have never had a crack out when following the DryStar Directions. As I have stated before, I did several years of testing before allowing Delta Kits to sell this tool because it worried me to put that kind of intense heat on the glass, so we actually came on board much later than some of the other resellers. Now however I am completely sold.

We recently discovered that in addition to drying out a break, the DryStar also seems to be quite effective for removing Rain-X when used in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. We are still in preliminary testing, but so far this seems to be a benefit that has been overlooked until now.

Everyone who repairs windshields long enough will have a break run out from time to time, and in my experience it does often have to do with hot on cold or cold on hot, so anytime the glass is being heated or cooled it should be done cautiously and the break should be watched carefully for movement.

I know that most of the problems Delta Kits customers have with our equipment is because the technician is not following the directions for the tool. I suspect that is also the reason some people have problems with the DryStar. There's is nothing wrong with experimenting with alternate procedures on practice glass, but when something is not working properly I think it is wise to remember that the manufacturer has probably put hundreds if not thousands of hours into developing the best technique to be used with their tools. Like my wife always tells me, "when all else fails, read the directions!"

None of this explains what happened to Clarity or Stellar though. I don't think it has anything to do with the tool being new or too hot as the tool is designed to reach a specific temperature, and to hold that temperature until the button is released. In fact, that is the whole idea behind the tool. The water in the break has to be heated to boiling temperature, and you can usually see that happening in 10-15 seconds. Allowing the extra 5 seconds assures that all of the water is evaporated and the steam is consumed by the dry heating element.

The heat put out by the DryStar is very intense, but 20 seconds is such a brief amount of time that you will find the inside of the glass only gets warm, not hot. Even the surface being heated will only get too hot to touch in about a 1 sq in area, and will cool in less than a minute. The tool is a very simple design, but there was a lot of thought put into it. As I have said many times, I wish I had thought of it!

I don't think it was necessarily anything Clarity or Stellar were doing wrong, except that in Stellar's case having several chips in a row spread is very, very unusual. I've been doing this a long time and I have never been able to figure out why some people have far more crack outs than others, while seemingly doing everything correctly.

Someone who has done as many repairs as Clarity will likely be skiddish for awhile after a crack out, but it won't slow him down, just make him more careful. We've all been there I think. The guys I feel for are the newbies that crack their first windshield. It's next to impossible to convince a new technician that cracking a windshield is rare if they crack one on their first attempt, or even in their first 50 attempts.

Here I go writing a book again. Sorry about that!

Had a star grow on me today and could not put a reason why, repaired no problem so still got paid. Brent I will try your techniques tomorrow on my practise glass, although my way works well for me I am more than happy to try other methods.