Cutting salvaged flat glass for a scrach built cab

Adirondack case guy

Well-known Member
OK guys,
I started this project back in 1992. Work and cutting forewood every weekend to heat our house put the project on hold, until I retired the spring of this year. During the summer I built and filled a woodshead that houses 17 full cord of wood to heat our house and my shop.
Anyway, back to my question. When I started fabing the cab, we had an auto glass shop that took care of all our window needs when we were a Case dealer. ( we closed in 1986). They are also gone now.
Over the years I have accumilated a lot of flat glass windows from tractor and truck cabs.
CAN I cut this old glass with a 4.5" grinder with a steel cutoff wheel, to fit my windows, and then fit them with the salvaged rubber moldings that I have saved also?
Loren, the Acg.
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I have cut regular 1/8" house window glass with a hand glass cutter, but I know that won't work on "safety" glass. I'll be interested to see the responses to this thread.
Zach
 
Loren,
where I work we are next to a glass company and we know the guys well and have a good relationship with them.....If I get time I will go over and ask them for you how you can cut safety glass.....

kelly
 
I think I would use plexiglass, or maybe polycarbonate, or something like that. Fairly easy to machine and not too expensive, yet relatively hard to break. Yeah,I know it scratches. I would try gluing it in somehow--maybe automotive butyl windshield sealer?

There has to be some way of making smaller laminated safety glass windows out of larger pieces. Have you researched cutting safety glass on the internet? I would wonder if there might be some kind of a bandsaw blade with diamond dust that might work with water cooling, but it might be WAY expensive.

Probably the best answers would come from a company that regularly deals with replacing flat glass windows in machinery. Would they work on your old glass? Hard to say. Good luck, it looks like a neat project.
 
If you get no satisfactory information I can get for you the name and number of the local glass shop guy here(Auburn) who does mine. I bought(through him) a whole box of molding, so I would have the right stuff.
 
I would see if I could find a glass shop that would be interested in doing it. I think you can cut glass with a diamond wheel. You would have to be careful and not overheat the glass or it would crack. Been a long time since I been in a glass shop and don't remember what all they told me about working with it.
 
One time I took and old piece of automotive glass over to a friends house, he was going to help me cut it. We scored both sides real well and then started tapping on it, pretty soon it exploded, there were pieces all over no bigger than a dime, what a mess!
 
I cut hundreds of flat laminated safety glass for the windshields of the 40's and 50's cars.
It 's so simple a 15 year old can do it (me)in 1955.
Use simple glass cutting tool and cut one side to transferred pattern.
Flip glass trace pattern and cut second side. Break glass on both sides.Use metal oil can with alcohol in it. spray some, burn some. The laminate will melt and you can pull off the scrap.
Grind and buff smooth with appropriate wheels.
Local shop cut and polished a windshield from tinted safety plate for my Suzuki Samurai in about 30 minutes.
 
Golrdo,
Sounds like the answer I am looking for. I still have some questions though. I have experience cutting iregular shapes in regular window glass, but not saftey glass.
My e-mail is open, and hope you could elaborate a bit more there.
Thanks, Loren
 
If it is safety glass or tempered glass you have to have the know how and the tools to do it or you will have some very small window glass on your hands since it will break into many small pieces
 
We have a local glass shop that cuts laminated glass for our cabs all the time. Never seen it done. the edges appear to be cut at the glass then the plastic middle cut. Some folks here are confusing laminated safety glass with tempered safety glass like side windows in cars. tempered glass is made to break into bits when messed with. Laminated glass can be cut. I'm in Mich. but I'm sure glass shops must be around in most big cities
 
Gordo has to right answer we cut some for a case cab that way score each side wet the mark with alcohol and move slowly work the glass and keep wet with alcohol as it will melt the plastic that is between the two layers of glass and it will eventually pop off. PATIENCE when cutting glass is the answer.
 
Years ago, I needed a piece of flat safety glass cut to replace a broken window in a tractor cab. I took the window frame to an old fellow in Norwich. He pulled out a piece of safety glass from his stock, figured the size to cut it, scored it on both sides, placed it over a yardstick, broke the glass on the line, cut the membrane with a razor blade. smoothed it a little with emery paper. The he put the rubber strip in the window put the glass in replaced the zip strip and DONE About 2 feet square, $50.
 
Yes, laminated glass or plain glass can be cut, tempered safety glass can not be cut , drilled ,ground.
As soon as you cut through that hard tempered outer layer, the whole thing shatters into a thousand grains of glass. All cutting or grinding on tempered glass must be done before it is tempered.
 
this I want to learn ,, hope you and loren will school us , fundamentally makes sense ,, details are a must ,..each time I tried I ended up with a million shattered pcs ,... I have cut a lot of glass in my time,,.kinda fun , when you get the hang of it ...
 
I think a lot of people confuse tempered glass and laminated glass. They are both technically safety glass but laminated is easily cut. I prefer laminated cause it will crack and you still have a window. Tempered glass just shatters. Special shops can cut and/or drill tempered glass but they aren't common. Most tempered glass is ordered for the original application. I'm not sure if they heat it up and then anneal it after or what they do but I know it's a specialty.
 

Glass is too cheap to bother with. Just call the glass company, there has to be one around. When I had a broken window in my 1982 Case window I faxed the diagram of it from the manual to my friend at the shop, they cut it out for me and when I picked it up they gave me the tool that they use so that I could install it myself.
 
Loren, here is a supplier of automotive glazing supplies, you may find it of interest, tooling, glazing gaskets, as well as technical advice.

I used to deal with them when I did curtainwall and high end custom windows on high rises in NYC, but knew the automotive guys used them as well.

The tooling for installation is critical once you get it cut. That is one type of glazing I am not familiar with, and I've had experience with most types over the years, do know glass can be a "funny" character sometimes by virtue of how it may break when cutting.

Hopefully some help !
CR Laurence
 
I built an operator's station for a sawmill. I called a glass contractor and told them the measurements of each window. they told me to make the frame with a 14 ga. lip all around and at the corners have 2" radii, They installed on the job with a rubber molding. Cost about 15 percent of the job. Customer was happy and I made a bit of $
 
If you ANNEAL the tempered safety glass first, you can cut it.

But, you need a kiln to bring the glass up to 900-1000 degrees. Not practical.

The second you break the surface tension of a piece of tempered safety glass, it will shatter, NO MATTER HOW CAREFUL YOU ARE.
 
Who would want to be in a tractor cab where the windows are made of standard window pan glass? That is why manufactures all use laminated glass, safety glass or one of the various plastics.
 
Knowone made reference to using houseold glass for cab windows. The salvaged glass I asked about came out of tractor and truck cabs.
Loren, the Acg.
 
I have friends that used to own a glass shop. They cut automotive safety glass all the time. I'm sure it was laminated glass and not tempered glass though. If you look at the edge of the glass, you can see a thin layer of plastic sandwiched between two layers of glass. I can't remember exactly how they cut it. Its been a long time. I remember that they would score or cut the top layer, then squirt some lighter fluid in the crack and light it to remove the middle layer.
 
I've heard of people cutting safety glass with a water jet. Not sure if it was laminated or tempered glass.
 
Loren:

Yes, you can, BUT . . . If it's "Tempered Glass" you cannot cut or drill holes in it after it has been tempered - it shatters. Anything that needs to be done to tempered glass is done BEFORE it is tempered. As for automotive safety glass (laminated), I wouldn't try to cut it with a grinder as you are liable to shatter one or both sides of the panel.

BTDT, I learned THE HARD WAY that you will be time & money ahead and with lots less aggravation to take your glass panels and the exact dimensions to a Glass Shop, where they have all of the tools & equipment, and most importantly the EXPERTISE to do the job properly.

Good Luck!

Doc
 

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