The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Doors 53 Windshield and Cab glass....

Well, I guess I should have investigated more on my part. You all were correct on the glass being a lousy fit. Broke one side of the windshield while putting it in. Under closer examination, yes the pieces are larger than originals. Have to find someone local who will do some grinding and not charge $100/hr. Sad, sad day... lesson learned.

Hearing that glass crack is awful isn't it? A few weeks ago when I was putting in the windshield on my '49, I broke half. It though "no big deal, I'll phone the glass shop". Around here, to get one side cut locally ranged from $120, to $250, and would "take at least a week". Grrrrr. I bought a piece from Vancouver for $56. Duuuh.

OVRTRQD,Sorry to hear of your misfortune.

It's sad there's no consistency to aftermarket glass,mine were the exact opposite,too small.
Surely some of these companies know their products don't fit the bill,do they care?
It seems to me they're just out to make a fast buck at any cost.


I would be embarrassed to quote those prices and timescale,not to mention the customer would probably slap me!
For me to supply the glass and cut it to shape I would charge the equivalent of $60 at the current exchange rate.

John, you mean you, a glass man, ordered flat glass from one of the vendors??? I thought
for sure you would have cut them yourself.

By the way, how do they cut laminated plate safety glass?? I can see scoring one side and
I seem to remember seeing a shop use lighter fluid to melt the center plastic when I was
a kid, but how do you transfer the score to the opposite side???
And what the heck, since I've gone this far I might as well ask, when you sand the edges
do you use a wet sander?

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny I did cut them myself,the only problem was I used an aftermarket set my friend had as templates without checking the fit first.....

You live and learn!

To cut laminated glass you first score one side,crack it through,flip it over and trace the previous cut then crack that side.
True... some guys use lighter fluid,I personally have used methylated spirit.
I've since moved on to a small gas blowtorch,you just need to watch you don't overheat things..

This softens the interlayer enough to insert a razor blade to cut the polycarbonate without shelling the glass edges.

Out on site for example on a farm or building site we just sand the edges smooth with cloth backed 80 grit sandpaper.
This is fine if it's in a rubber seal and it's enough to remove any potential stress points from small nicks etc.
If however, there's any exposed edges we normally use a wet sander.

On the whole for glass with exposed edges for example door glasses,we favour tempered glass in Europe.
I would normally make a template and have a local firm make a tempered glass,much like I did with my own door glass .
Unsupported laminated glass i.e. not in some form of surround be it a frame or aperature IMHO is just too easy to break.

I am planning on doing a glass cutting and installation Tech Tip once I get round to re-cutting my own windshields but I need to get a new Steele rubber to replace the dry rotted ROC one i've got just now.
The dang things not even been on the road yet and the rubber's rotten!

So how do I know if it's laminated safety glass or tempered? The film in between two pieces means it's laminated?

Thanks John, I'm looking forward to your write up.

That surprises me, I would have thought the laminated glass would have been the
stronger just as it is with plywood’s.
I remember about a hunert years ago when I was stationed out in Sacramento, California I
parked my '60 Chevy outside a county western hangout and some drunken cowboy put a
beer bottle thru the rear window. I had to clean up 10,000 little cubes of glass from the
back seat the next morning. Never felt comfortable with tempered glass after that.

Thanks for the lesson.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

ovrtrqd..... yes.

Hey Alvin, you been hangin' round those kids to much, that is some sort of texting language isn't it??????

DG

They both have their strengths and weaknesses Denny.
Laminated glass is just plain old plate,laminated with a polycarbonate inter-layer.
Hence the reason it can be cut.
It also has better penetration resistance,without the shattering related to toughened glass.
Although the theory is that the small cubes of glass will ultimately do you less damage than big shards.
Some of my worst work related injuries are down to de-laminated glass,where the plate has separated from the inter-layer.
In the situation where someone is incapacitated due to a crash,it's also easier to penetrate tempered glass to administer that all important immediate first aid.

Tempering as I'm sure you know is merely a process of heating plate glass and rapidly cooling it using air jets to produce the final product.
This creates a surface tension,the pattern of stress lines which under certain light conditions or using polarised sunglasses can actually be seen in the glass.
It's usually pretty resistance to blunt force but it's Achilles heel is definitely small impact i.e. pointed objects.
A 1/4" thick tempered door glass such as the ones I have will easily support my not inconsiderable 220+lbs!
Try that with laminated glass......

Well some good did come out of it anyway. I wrote the company I bought the glass from and told them of my dilemma (and irritation) and even though it's been over a month, they said to send back the pieces that are the wrong size along with a cardboard template of the original pieces and they will get them out to me. Surprise surprise! We shall see how it turns out.

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but I am about to take my old glass to Binswanger (local) and have them cut me new pieces so I am guanteed the glass fits. Even if it costs me more, I would rather know the glass fits. So, I have two decisions to make:

1. Tempered all around (except windshield)? Like others have said, tempered is WAY stronger than laminated glass using annealed glass. And, you wont see the unsightly laminated edge on door and vent glass.

2. Color. I assume factory is clear, but am considering green tint to help with heat gain. But then again I can always have the glass tinted with film (other than windshield) if the clear glass becomes an issue. I just think clear glass would look the best. Oppinions?

Update: Went with green tint (I know, not original but hey I am in Central Texas...hot and no a/c). The glass shop talked me out of tempered. The local Binswanger shop also said they do a lot of classic vehicles and thus custom cut laminated glass. They give me old stuff back to save for template in the future. When I was leaving, there was a fully restored TF truck (clear glass...I liked it, oh well) used as a company vehicle in the parking lot...sharp (no pun intended).

David,there's certainly nothing wrong with laminated side glass.
Hey,It was good enough for your trucks first 50+ years!

I suspect Binswanger talked you out of tempered,purely to keep the job 'in house',I imagine most local glass shops would have to farm out the tempering work to another company.JMO.

I just used tempered purely out of personal preference.

You are spot on and they even said as much. $90+ more to have it tempered as they would have to send it out. No big deal, laminated will be fine. I just hope I like the green tint.

I went green as well,it think it adds a 'deluxe' look.
The green in mine shows up quite well in this pic.
The tint on mine was more for looks rather than temperature control as you can see from the picture!

Just how obvious the tint will be on yours depends on the final colour of your truck and interior.
It will be more noticable if your colour scheme is light.

I am painting the truck factory Mariner Blue, so it should be ok, I think. Interior will be original color as well.

David, if you don't mind my asking, what did they charge you? I'm just up I35 in Temple and trying to get an idea for what I'm looking at pricewise. And would you use them again?