Technical Custom cut glass, what should I expect for quality?

@Lloyd's paint & glass I was always under the impression that glass can only be either laminated glass or tempered glass But not both as the plastic used to laminate would not resist the heat needed to temper it. True or false???t

So, if this is not laminated (no visible layers at the edge) and can be sanded does that make it plain old annealed glass, subject to uncontrolled shattering, like home windows?

 

True. Tempering will melt the plastic that holds the two pieces of plate together. It's 2 different types of safety glass, safety plate (laminated) and tempered. In my life I have never attempted to sand tempered glass.

 

You can have laminated glass where the individual glass layers are tempered. The tempering is done before the lamination process. We had some printed glass panels done this way for a Navy memorial wall we were commissioned to do. We designed the artwork, oversaw production, and completed the installation of the panels on site. It was a very rewarding project that we were proud and honoured to be involved in.

 

Totally off subject…but, is that in Canberra? Seems familiar.

 

No, not Canberra. It is actually in a small country town in south-east Queensland.
It was dedicated in commemoration of the cooperation of the allied Australian and United States naval forces in the Battle of the Coral Sea, May 4th to May 8th 1942. The battle stopped the Japanese sea-borne invasion of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The glass panels list all of the conflicts the Royal Australian Navy has been involved in, and the names of all the Navy vessels involved in each conflict.

 

Evwn in tempered?

 

All the glass in my old junk is laminated safety glass, most of it is flat. The coupe was custom cut back in 2011 by a local glass shop. The rear glass in the coupe was originally tempered, and when I replaced the window frame, its glass was also tempered (not many options), bought from an online store. The truck was done in 2021, and the glass was bought from an online glass store (not the same glass store the coupe rear glass came from, they didn't have the patterns for my truck). The local guy didn't want to cut it at all. The truck has 2 curved corner windows, I believe those two pieces are tempered (not many options on those), but the rest is all flat glass and is all laminated. I'm not a big fan of tempered glass in old cars.

 

Laminated glass is the best choice for panels that are retained around their entire edge, such as windshields, rear windows and fixed window panels. For windows that roll up and down or pivot to open and have bare polished edges, tempered glass is a better option. It will be better at resisting the forces of slammed doors and the like, which can cause failures in laminated glass when the panel is not fully closed.

 

Yuppers, normally you can see the plastic when you look at the edge of laminated glass while tempered glass is just one layer.

The exact reason that I am going to have my door glass tempered for my truck. Chopped with 9-1/4 stretch in the doors is going to be a long piece of glass to deal with and my thinks every car or truck is a late 60's /70's Ford when she closed the doors.

 

Well, it is definitely safety glass....

It shattered, I guess too much sanding and stress handling it so much.

After much time on the phone with other glass guys and the regulator guys, we determined it was out of square. That was obvious, but no one knew for sure if that was causing the glass to bind or if it was supposed to be. It would slide up and down just fine, just not on the regulator.

I ordered new glass, and the regulator guys sent me new stuff to make sure it was the glass.

I should have sucked it up and sent it back and been prepared to eat my money........

When it shattered it scratched and nicked the paint. Ruined the felt and wipes removing it, so this has turned into a costly ordeal, and that isn't even counting my time. Lesson learned for me, I will make all patterns from now on and send them out after verifying they work. No longer will I rely on any off the shelf glass.

I tried calling Vintage Glass, no answer so I emailed them. That is the only way to get a response. After replying tell me to sand it, then ship it back previously with no further communication, this time all I got was an address in the reply.

Probably a jerk move on my part, but I ate the shipping and sent the remaining glass back, along with the fragments from where it shattered on me. It will be interesting to see if I get refunded, but I doubt it considering it is all scratched and I had to send the channel with it, as I glued it on..........

 

Sorry for your experience.
The laminated glass in the roll up doors on my coupe were installed in 2011. The car has 100,000 miles on it since then. Most of those miles have been with the windows open, or partly open, the car does not have AC. The doors have been opened and closed with the windows part way up more times then I want to count, and when they are 1/2 open, driving down the road there is some in and out movement at the top of the glass. All of that is considered a worse case for long laminated glass survival.
A couple years ago, the driver window developed a crack from the top to the bottom, and that was my fault. When you are rolling down the road with the window down about 2", the top of the glass has about a 1/4" of in and out movement. On that window there is a trim piece at about 3" from the front edge that gets pretty close to the glass when its in that outward position. Its been like since the car was built. the process is, when I roll up the window, I get it to about a 14" down, and watch for the glass to bounce towards the inside, and crank it up fast. Its been wo rking OK for a long time., so, you know, why do anything with it? We were rolling down the road at 60 mph on an out of state, winding road. We topped a hill and ran into a hard rain, very hard. i cranked the window up fast (I was getting wet fast) and ignored that last 1/4" deal at the top, and it caught the trim piece (probably for the 100th time), and the top inch cracked. By the end of the week, the cracked extended all the way to the bottom. It appears to be only the outer part of the laminated glass. The replacement glass for that door was $50 back then, but I'm not in a hurry to replace it.

The other door window developed a crack in the bottom corner this last year. I just noticed it a couple months ago. The car has been parked for the last year, so its only been moved to mow around it. A couple months ago we started driving it again. The car developed a fuel pump problem (electric in the tank). I had the car towed home, thought I had the problem fixed and drove it 2 days and had to have it wowed home again. One tow was a regular wrecker, the other a rollback. Then it got put up on jack stands to get a new fuel pump and a few other things while I was under it. Whit the fuel pump replaced, we have put a couple hundred miles on the car. It was then I noticed the 2nd door window has that crack on the bottom corner. I don't know what caused that. Given that it is cracked on the bottom corner, I will accept the fact that all these years and miles with the laminated glass in that roll up window location mat have caused the crack, but with 13+ years and 100,000 miles, I'm OK with that.

 

point your finger or a pencil up to the flat glass...
If there are 2 images in the glass it is Laminated Safety Glass.
Guess we just break the rest to find out what you got..

 

Those pieces on the floor, tell me it is not laminated safety glass.

 

Can you explain what makes laminated better for applications with full perimeter support?

 

Two part answer.

1) Benefits of laminated automotive glass.
Window will crack but stays in place in low level failures (eg: windshield stone damage). Less inconvenience, and less chance of injury to people in the vehicle (eg: eye injuries from glass particles). Also, automotive laminated glass has a thicker interlayer than standard laminated glass. This is to help stop larger objects coming through the glass panel and potentially injuring/killing vehicle occupants. It has been said that it also helps to stop occupants going through the windshield in an accident.

2) Laminated glass is not as 'strong' as tempered glass. It will not stand up as well to impacts or distortion. When it is used in windows that are fully supported around the entire edge, any flexing or distortion of the glass panel is minimal and will greatly reduce the chance of failure. Where glass panels can not be fully framed, such as wind-up side windows, tempered glass tends to stand up better to the flexing that can happen when doors are slammed closed with the window not fully closed.

 

Yes, that was definitely tempered glass going by the fragments on the floor (and it will be inside the door as well).

'Aint glass fun? Some of us did try and warn you. I hope you have a happy ending with the return/refund.
Keep us posted....

 

Not only time consuming but requiriing semi special equipment & experience the OP may not have , every bump is a source for a stress crack . I would expect a "pencil grind " finished edge on automotive glass , normally done with a diamond infused sanding drum . Don't forget it's a bit dangerous as well .

 

With tempered glass, all shaping and edgework is done prior to the tempering process. Any working of the edges after tempering will most likely cause failure. The edges are the most vulnerable part of any tempered glass panel.

As for dangerous, eye protection is a good idea. It might be more likely to scare the shit out of you when it 'explodes' and cause a heart attack....