Been getting screwed by the lighter

[Sharks25]

I have found that heat is for cheaters who want to rush thru a repair. I never ever use heat. It expands the glass to quickly and can cause the inner layer to possible melt. Be patient and the repair will turn out great.

[t4k]

I have found that heat is for cheaters who want to rush thru a repair.

Heat actually slows or stops the repair. It gives a false repair till it cools.

[Brent Deines]

So you "no heat" guys never warm the glass regardless of how cold it is or how much snow and ice are on it? I assume you also do not remove the moisture then as vacuum only will not remove all the moisture from an extremely cold windshield. Naturally you would be against moving a cold vehicle indoors as that would be heating the windshield as well.

I doubt if that is what you mean, at least I hope not. I also doubt if you avoid windshield repairs on warm glass. My point is that when you post something here newbies sometimes take you very literally but I have yet to meet a windshield repair technician who worked in a snowy climate who did not practice temperature control. We get a lot of tech support calls because of advice people take from this board. Sometimes it is because the advice is bad but often times it is because they misunderstood a well meaning post.

I think most of us agree that "over" heating the glass is a bad idea but having repaired windshields in the cold Montana winter I am a firm believer in warming cold glass prior to and during the windshield repair process. I also believe the best way to remove moisture from damage, which is extremely important, is with the use of heat. If the glass is heated rapidly it needs to cool back down to a reasonable temperature prior to curing to make sure you don't have a "false repair" as t4k put it. If it is heated slowly it is no different than temperature changes that occur naturally throughout any given day. In many climates ambient temperatures range from the low 30s at night to over 100 during the day. In the high desert these natural temperature changes happen quite rapidly. A good windshield repair technician should be able to successfully repair a windshield in any of these temperatures using proper temperature control measures, which sometimes include heat.

I do not rush my repairs or set a specific time limit. A repair is complete only when the air has been replaced with resin and my track record for successful repairs speaks for itself.

[t4k]

You're right Brent...HEAT, in this context and as used in the title of this thread is "by the lighter". I live in the south and I much prefer a warmer w/s than a cold one but I don't put a lighter on the glass to make a repair. The heat from a lighter does give the appearance of a completed repair,until it cools.

[GlassStarz]

Are you being serious? Obviously what he is talking about is heating a crack that won't fill. A lazy man's way to give a repair the appearance of being filled not bringing the GLASS up to temp because it's frozen or remove moisture. Kind of Apple's and oranges isn't it.

[blemon56]

I've used heat (torch) on the inside of the glass when I can't get a chip to fill. I heat until the chip/crack disappears and leave the injector on pressure while the w/s cools and the chip/crack opens up and allows the resin to flow. I've had success using this procedure.

[screenman]

blemon56 I do the same, but I always use a heat sink to get as much heat out of the glass as possible, without one you could be waiting hours for the PVB to go back down.

[t4k]

I've used heat (torch) on the inside of the glass when I can't get a chip to fill. I heat until the chip/crack disappears and leave the injector on pressure while the w/s cools and the chip/crack opens up and allows the resin to flow. I've had success using this procedure.

This definitely works if you go by the procedure you mentioned above. As Screen said you have to wait for the cooling of the glass to get a correct repair.
I've seen guys heat the glass, see the false repair, then pop off the injector and call it repaired.

[blemon56]

Interesting... I never thought to use the heat sync on the inside of the windshield. When I use the torch with a circular motion on the inside... it's just for 15 to 20 seconds. You can see the legs close up. Then within 5 minutes the legs appear to open and sometimes the resin flows. I will definitely try the heat sync the next time. Thanks for the tip!

[bill lambeth]

I just don't understand what the deal is with heat ! I never use heat to make a leg fill . I do get stubborn ones every now and then but I flex or scribe the leg . I was trained to use heat but found it not necessary . I believe after switching to GW that the pull vac first makes the legs fill easier. I am not trying to open a can of worms on displacement verses dry vac !