Strong tape? Or maybe using vinyl?

I had a job a few weeks ago to film pieces of glass... they were not in frames, just free standing. The edges were not finished. After doing the job and the film starting to cure, I saw a lot of contamination. :( Very much not good.

Took home a piece and removed the film... it appears that they are tiny shards of glass. When applying the film, between the size of them being small, they were clear.. and there was water under the film I did not notice them.

I spoke with two reps from the film company, and one of the suggestions was to tape the edges of the glass.

After pondering the situation for a week or so and talking with some friends, I couldn't come up with anything better, and I think it has as much of a chance of working as anything.

The bottom line is the edges can not be finished... and this problem has to be solved.


What I am planning to do is scrap the glass... rinse & squeegee... dry the edges.. apply tape.. do a final squeegee pass.. film.

I'm using 60" film... the sheets are like 61.5" inches.. so the film doesn't go to the edge anyway. I'm hoping once taped, when I do the final pass with my squeegee, it will prevent any shards from breaking off the edges and being dragged along the glass.

The only problem (ha!) that I can think of is that having water applied the tape might not stick.

So then I thought - maybe using vinyl would work better????


1. Would vinyl work better for this??

2. Does anyone have any other suggestions????


My stomach just went into a knot when I saw how much of the job was unusable.... but the company said they want to work with me and get over this issue. So for that I am very grateful.



-R

I would hire a pro... But beyond that I would scrape glass as normal squeegee then run a lint free paper towel along all the edges and lay the film as usual. once done wipe the edges carefully with a towel again.

We has a job a couple weeks ago with frosted crystal, I bid the job off a set of plans that showed the glass size to be 60 x 130 CIG. When we got there with our 60 inch rolls, actual measurements were 61.5 EEEEECH. WTF. So after pondering where about I shall place the beauitfull seam. I had a idea, The units were not yet installed so we could lay them on their sides to make it easier. The edges of the glass were kind of skanky but we cleaned the top horrizontal REALLY well, stuck the FC on with about 5/8 daylight showing top and bottom, let it dry for a day and went to boaters world to get some 3/4 inch marine grade pinstripe for the edges. The end result was great .

But see, the problem is that the edges are not finished.... and when we use our tools, be it the scraper or squeegee, it's chipping off tiny shards of glass. So at every step touching the edge with any tool is, evidently, dragging the shards along the surface of the glass. Which since they are so small... they don't continue all the way along with the squeegee and fall off... .rather they land where ever and sit there.


I dunno... I think with the tape.... I could maybe even use a scrubby pad around the edges of the glass.... scrap everything else... tape... final cleaning pass... film.

What a drag.

In the past, if we did loose glass with sharp edges. I have belt sanded the problem edge< IE the edge that is going to cut my squeegie no to mention my hands. If you can do that it should solve your problem.

No can do. The edges are how they are....


-R

you should tape any unfinished edges on glass to protect from cuts when handling it,(now that the parenting is over). Try taping edges with duct tape, the adhesive is strong enough to hold up to water and the residue can be removed.

good luck

Ah, duct tape. I didn't even think about that, but it's not bad.

What about painting the edges with rubber cement...hmmm Is that a stretch???

Hmm.. that actually might work... but it's a ton of glass..... then waiting for it to dry... The duct tape idea seems pretty solid... at least for now.

rubber cement dries fast and smells groovy too.. sniff sniff

Groovy.....

Roach can you tell me what type of glass you are doing. And you do not need to seal any glass edge that is not in a frame before you tint them except for wire glass if you do not then the wire inside the glass will start to rust.

Wired glass.

That’s what I thought as they are the most difficult to do with no frames. What do you use now for an edge sealer? What film are you applying is it safety? And where are you tinting this glass? What is the size of them?do you know the set back of the frame as in how much of the frame will cover the edge of the glass?

7 mil safety clear. Glass being tinted at glass company... they said the frames would cover like 1/2 inch off the edge of the glass.

BUT - from here on out I'll be doing large sheets prior to them cutting the glass.. so the edges won't be an issue.

Just the tiny shards of glass that break off when using my tools... hence the tape idea.

really? i've never heard of filming before cutting the glass. did i misread that?

..... Nope...

Dang! let us know how it works out!

dang, i'd try to get paid quick on that one...

Yeah, BEFORE they cut the glass.....

Do not do them laying flat have them place the glass vertical. Best to have 2 next to each other as then you can use one for a peel board.wet the glass and wipe it down and flush the edge of the glass.wet glass and use a soft scrub pad do not use #0000 steel wool and scrub up to the edge not over it. Flush the edge again and right before you apply the film wipe dry top edge squeegee the glass and stay away from the edge of the glass with your squeegee eye f*ck the glass at an angle to see contamination then flush the sides and bottom apply film as fast as you can. If you just use a squeegee the little glass shards will be hard to remove that’s where the use of a scrub pad will help. And if they were smaller I would dry the top and flush the whole window then tint. As I have a rack next to my peel board when I do in shop glass and I will flush them off rather than squeegee them wire glass that is. The use of a vinyl would help you but in my opinion that would be more time consuming. I have not seen wire glass cut in to pieces before after the 7 mil film has been applied so I am curious to know the outcome of this can you look at them after they cut the glass and post what you see on here? And have they cut the wire glass before with this film applied??if not you may want to have them try one first.

That's for the tips. The last two sheets I did for them I did use a scrub pad, and those ones seemed to come out much better then the smaller individual pieces.

I have no idea how they cut the glass, but they have cut glass after the film was applied. Boggles my mind, but it works.

So I'm not really worried about that aspect of it. It's all the other stuff. lol