Posted by Danny Baronian on March 20, 2004
Well, Dave Smith's been at it again. He's been glue chipping fairly regularly for the past few weeks, trying various ways to get a more consistent chip. His email is down, so I'll pass on what he's doing.
He says glue strength doesn't matter, that both 135 and 165 gram strength is the same for chipping purposes, the amount of water also doesn't matter since the water is eventually removed from the glue. He's tried a variety of strengths with his new method and sees no discernible differences.
His last method of chipping involved the light table, which to some degree still works. What made the difference was a dehumidifier. He was in the process of tearing down his chipping cabinet - similar to Ricks, then had to reassemble it to try the following. His unit is around 100 pounds - 150 us. Home Depot and Lowes both carry a similar unit.
Mix your glue as normal, 1:2 and apply in the normal fashion, but not thick. A medium to thin coat is best. Glue can be heated in the microwave, but never to the boiling point. The room your chipping in should be in the 70 - 80 degree range.
After the glue has set up and is just at the stage of not sagging, place in a cabinet with a dehumidifier and a heater. The heater should be set for 70 - 75 degrees. At the right stage in air drying in the open, the glue has an even content of water. Place the glass on edge in the cabinet. If the glue is allowed to dry too much, and get to a transparent state, that's the time he sees the largest amount of frosted areas. It seems that by putting the glass in the cabinet at the stage the glue is gelled firm and will not sag, the dehumidifier will then draw the water from the glue at an even rate over the entire surface, rather than areas that are dryer first.
Dave claims he's now chipping in cold weather while it's raining with an outside humidity of 80 percent. The glue is applied , allowed to dry, placed in the cabinet in the evening and is completely chipped in the morning with no frosted areas at all. He has also been able to control they type of chip. When he gets back online he can add to this and maybe post some pictures of his latest work.
Danny
Rick Sacks
Danny BaronianSounds like going full circle. Twenty years ago Glawson rigged a salvaged air conditioner as a dehumidifier and kept the heat range down.
Has it really gone full circle, or did Rick ever get a dehumidifier going?
Can an air conditioner be modified to function as a dehumidifier, removing moisture from the air as well as a dehumidifier does?
I don't know if Rick ever had a true working dehumidifier going in his shop. Two or three years ago Rick was thinking out loud of another project - of the thousands- he wanted to do someday, which was to build a small room and install a dehumidifier in it. I've heard accounts that Rick bought a large industrial air dehumidifier that needed work, but never got it working. Does that jog anyones memory?
Between the information Pat and Dave Smith have shared, adding a dehumidifier may well produce consistent results. Small units can be found in the $120 - 160 range, and are small enough to fit into existing cabinets.
Danny
Darryl Gomes
Raymond ChapmanI used to chip in a room that was about 14'x16'. We had 2 household de-humidifiers in it. 2 walls were all windows that let the sun in to help bake, we also ran a couple of ceramic heaters. That room would get to 100°F and about 20% humidity.
We would pour the glue with just the dehumidifiers running. After we cut the glue, turn up the heat. If we poured glue in the morning, we were usually cleaning it off late afternoon with a beautiful fern chip, almost guaranteed every time.
We would usually leave the glass laying flat.
Darryl
Danny BaronianDanny - is there any particular reason for standing the glass on edge rather than lying it flat? Or is the glass just too large for Dave to have it flat?
PatrickRaymond, I don't know, I had a lot of questions, but concentrated on writting down what he was saying. He did emphasize that it be stood up, he was also standing the glass on edge with the light box too.
He's been testing the chipping process 2-3 days a week for the last 3 weeks and keeping good notes. From a practical aspect his cabinet is 15" deep, 10' long and 8' high, so laying it flat isn't an option.
From the standpoint of drying painted panels, I find they dry faster standing up. Wether or not there's a correlation, I don't know.
When you see him positing again, ask him. If I find out sooner it will be posted.
The reason for chipping glass on edge (upright instead of flat) is mainly to save space, especially when employing a chipping cabinet. If you are flat chipping several sizable sheets of glass, it doesn't take long to realize it requires a lot of room. Also when chipping on edge the chips fall down and don't collect of the surface impeading the remaining glue from chipping freely.
Chipping on edge also allows more even passage of dry air to rise up across the vertical faces of the uprighted panels. The glass should be placed on a raised wooden rack and not be too near the floor. The warm dry air should be interduced below the rack were it will rise up across the glue. Allow vents in the top of the enclosed area so the moisture laiden rising air can escape easily.
Pat
Denver Chapter of the Letterheads