So I've been reading this forum now for a while but, as we all know (and I'm guilty of this myself) we have a lot of repeat questions. A lot of these questions seem to be centered around questions about insurance, finding fleet accounts, getting more retail customers, ad nauseam. I came to the realization that this site isn't being used to its fullest. Duh. Now, I'm no windshield repair expert. I received little training from the guy that got me started in this business and I've done my fair share of poor repairs for sure. I've had chips fail a year later that I would have sworn were done to perfection. Such is life. I own up to my mistakes and do whatever I can for my customer. I plan on attending Delta's training class in Texas in January for some real training. I practice nearly every day when I'm not looking for more work and I can say that I'm ten times better than I was two years ago. But all this time I've failed to utilize one of the most valuable resources I have at my disposal -- you guys.
I want to start asking some real questions of you long timers to make my repairs better. So I'm going to start today. Here is a crudely drawn picture of a repair I did about six months ago that I thought was perfect when I was done. Apparently it wasn't. The guy called me up said I needed to take a look at it. I jumped at the chance to go see what was wrong. So this is the story is.
bullseye crack.jpg (7.75 KiB) Viewed 673 times
What we have here is your basic bullseye post-"repair." Extending from the right is a crack about one inch in length. That U-shaped spot at the bottom of the bullseye appears to be a void or or something. It is just a faint, but clear... void... that's the only what I know to describe it. Now, this is what I was thinking of doing and please tell me if I did it wrong.
Since there was a crack coming off of this thing I figured the best thing to do would be to drill and pop a mini-bullseye at the end of the crack. Now, I don't normally mess with cracks so if I'm wrong about the procedure please correct me. Once I popped the mini-bullseye I was going to drill another hole into the crack itself close to the original break. Then I was going to inject from this point. What do you guys think? How would you do this repair?
Unfortunatelu nasty things like this do happen.
I am not attacking or accusing you of anything, but here are a few probable options -in random order.
1 Are you sure it was YOUR repair?
This sounds silly but are you? How can you tell it is, by just the looks or do you ''believe'' it is? Facts are important.
Whar kinda work form do you use? 2 Was the void completey filled with resin?
How many cycles did you need/use to remove the air and fill the void? 3 Did you cure for a long enough period?
Many people develop their own funny and sully habbits, one of which is poor curing (''saving time'') or ''let the sun do the job for me''. 4 Did you DRY OUT?
Are you sure that you've dried out the break properly? 5 Choise of resin
A good quality resin matters big time. I am not saying to avoid all the cheap stuff, and to only use the expensive resins.
It is NOT the price that should be bothering people when selecting a product, quality doesn't have to come with a high price as a standard.
Go with the known brands like Delta Kits, GlasWeld, UltraBond or GT. I have been playing a lot with all kinds of resin (in our training/test facility), and had never amy issues with the first three mentioned (never used GT though). I have also done work with SuperGlass acid-free resins, they work great.
When selecting your supplies, never be penny wise / pound foolish
Pfff, too many typing-errors in the above post -it was dark when I typed the info. Why can't we ''open'' our work and make changes?
Anyway, here is my reply how I would overcome the problem.
Find yourself a proper dril bit and drill the end of the crack, pop a bull's eye.
Determine the crack, is it surface or sub-surface?
If sub-surface, dry out and fill the void. Cure, pit-fill and finish the work.
If surface, treat it like a crack, it will fill don't worry too much about it.
Make sure to fill out a NEW order form and to note that this is service, free of charge, but that this is your last option. No more further actions, apart from giving the money back (should be coverred in your Terms and Conditions of Trade too). Also noit the order form # of the original work.
Good luck.
Pretty much agree with everything that Frank posted. To add, after viewing your diagram I would highly suspect that moisture was trapped in the repair that you may not have seen. That 1" crack may have been filled with water from the get go but wasn't visible. All trapped moisture over time will evaporate between glass layers and will leave a void. That's why when in doubt "I will always dry out". (especially during cold climate repair conditions, because moisture is present 95% of the time)
Can't tell you how many asked customers had a repair previously provided by car wash and it looked great when done but 6 months later it reappeared. JMO
I would say there are two approaches that could be taken here.
1. You could drill Bullseye "Center" ensure your depth is correct per the new Spring Hammer Tip from Delta. Then Dry it out using a ME from Delta (20 secs.). Apply your Heat Xchanger to cool the void to reccommended temp. Ensure the resin and the glass were the same temps. Inject the void doing the reccommended pressure and vac cycles. As that is in process pending wether it's a surface or sub crack as fRANK MENTIONED! Surface meaning your scribe will make contact with it by rubbing it across the crack if the scribe detects the crack it's "Surface" if not chances are it's "Sub" Let's say it was surface you would treat it as a crack repair by terminating the end in which you did and then carefully and patientlly drop magni bond along the crack and watch as it feels.
2. If it were "Sub" I would have drilied the center of the bull just to try and remove some more moisture and air. By the pictorial I am going to guess that one if not both were present. I would then fill then cure scrape and polish. I would then drill center of the crack to the correct depth and filled there.
It sounds as if you have or are thinking of making a total of "3" drill points. Thats 2 too many! The goal is to make the repair look as good as possible without much scarring! But you are doing the right thing and that is asking questions!
JMHO!
Chad E. Clewis
President
GLASSTIME Windshield Repair & Headlight Restoration
GLASSTIME wrote:I would say there are two approaches that could be taken here.
1. You could drill Bullseye "Center" ensure your depth is correct per the new Spring Hammer Tip from Delta. Then Dry it out using a ME from Delta (20 secs.). Apply your Heat Xchanger to cool the void to reccommended temp. Ensure the resin and the glass were the same temps. Inject the void doing the reccommended pressure and vac cycles. As that is in process pending wether it's a surface or sub crack as fRANK MENTIONED! Surface meaning your scribe will make contact with it by rubbing it across the crack if the scribe detects the crack it's "Surface" if not chances are it's "Sub" Let's say it was surface you would treat it as a crack repair by terminating the end in which you did and then carefully and patientlly drop magni bond along the crack and watch as it feels.
2. If it were "Sub" I would have drilied the center of the bull just to try and remove some more moisture and air. By the pictorial I am going to guess that one if not both were present. I would then fill then cure scrape and polish. I would then drill center of the crack to the correct depth and filled there.
It sounds as if you have or are thinking of making a total of "3" drill points. Thats 2 too many! The goal is to make the repair look as good as possible without much scarring! But you are doing the right thing and that is asking questions!
Why would you ever drill the centre of a bullseye, it is just a solid piece of cone shaped glass. Also why does it make any difference if the leg is sub or or not when doing a drill stop.
For me drill and stop the running leg at the end and fill from there, accept the blemish in the bullseye. This would only be for a low end vehicle or truck windshield. I would suggest the repair failed due to moisture or air being left in at the first attempt.
Maybe I have been mistaken, but I surely thought this FORUM was to help others out. I feel we all have our own personal opinons and everyone here thinks they are better than the next guy. I've always been tought we all slide our pants on the same way. I will always lend my advice if it's asked for...It's my nature.
In this case it's obvious this person is eager to learn either how to repair this void or at least make it better? Can't we at least give some sort of help? Is it wrong to do so? I would do everything I could to correct or at least find out what I may have done wrong to avoid another failed repair, that includes posting it here.
It's entirely up to the individual themselves to accept what is laid out on the table before them or not.
I just recently had a "Bullseye" that was previously serviced by another company in which I posted on this forum
Drystar, You commented on that post saying that "If I find one where a leg is expanding and flexes open"
screenman, You said "You can try, some work many do not. Depends how badly they have been repaired,"
I get the point. However this is a very simular task. I would take what you said against my post and use it for this one as well. I may have not had a photo but my situation was clearly cloned.
I just try to help when I can...
For what it's worth I respect everyones opinion here on the forum and feel we should encourage instead of discourage. Have a wonderful day!
God Bless!
Chad E. Clewis
President
GLASSTIME Windshield Repair & Headlight Restoration
