Pebbled Glass

[mantamatt]

Hi Timegirl,

Great job so far on your tardis!

I'm rebuilding my box after a move and am planning to do a proper job this time and want some proper glass for the panes. I went to the website you got your glass from.

It seems the price may have gone up! They quoted over 10 quid per pane, each piece 7.5 x 15.5 cm. This was for cutting VAT and delivery. Which is a good deal more than 4.50 per pane!

Would you mind telling me if the size of your glass varied much from what I'm asking? Am I being stung?!

Cheers, Matt

Edit: Also, how many did you order? Was it the 'regular' sixteen? I asked for 8 as I thought it would cut down on the cost if I tried to cast some copies from the real ones to fill in the back of the box!

 

[TG]

Hi Matt

Sounds far too much
I dealt with Clive Watson at the place and I told him I would post their details here - if they didn’t put their prices up!

I did get uncut panes of about 10cm x 19cm (And I’m just going to make them fit!). But I’ve checked the invoice and it was 16 panes at £4.50 +vat and delivery so it worked out at £5 each in total.
I don’t know what they charge for cutting the glass but £5 a pane sound silly! Can you just buy four – and cast the rest?

EEK! I think I probably shouldn’t total up the cost of this build, I might get a nasty fright.

Thank you for your comment about my TARDIS 
TG

 

[scarfwearer]

I ended up getting my glass at Alpine Glass (they stock the bigger pieces).
They're in the US, but will ship internationally and you can buy online with a credit card.
I bought 2 16"x24" pieces at $11 each (that's about £7-8), with $11 shipping (in the US), so I had all my glass for $36! The catch was that I had to cut it myself.
We have shops around here that will cut glass for you though... for a price.
Shipping to the UK would probably cost a little more and take a little longer, but probably not that much.

Crispin

 

[mantamatt]

Still umming and ahhing about what to do about this glass. Uncut is cheaper so might go that way. How easy is it to cut this glass safely? I have a jigsaw and I imagine there are certain types of blades for this job but the glass is so expensive I don't want to break any.  Scarfwearer, do you or anyone else (timegirl?) have any tips for cutting glass safely? Do I need another tool?

Edit: Am considering getting 4  panes and then casting the rest from them. Am a complete novice in this area though. The idea of making a rubber mould from the original panes and then using this mould to cast copies in resin sounds easy enough but I wonder if anyone has any specific techniques they could share that could help. Found this interesting  link on basic resin casting http://www.childofmecha.com/Modeling/Resin/Basics/BasicResin.html
I think the shape of a glass pane would be difficult to do with this method. Anyone have any ideas on this?
cheers Matt

 

[scarfwearer]

To cut glass you need one of these:

(about £2 in a DIY shop) and also some work gloves to protect your fingers and some preferably eye-wear.
My wife found this great website with glass cutting tips whilst I was in the midst of this. This was my first experience with glass cutting, and I managed to waste quite a bit of the glass I was using, but got better at it in time to get all the 16 pieces I needed.
If you don't fancy trying this, a local glazier or picture framing shop may cut the glass for you either for free or a small charge. Personally I think it's always useful to pick up new skills like this...

Crispin

 

[ironageman]

It's amazing that people are asking so much for a type of glass that is still seen in innumerable buildings. Perhaps your local architectural salvage yard may have some?  That said... mine hasn't.

Those are good glass-cutting tips. Straight lines in glass are usually OK - but the more textured the glass, the more likely the crack is to go off in the wrong direction. The tapping-from-the-other-side method is probably the safest, though it does take longer and doesn't have much nonchalant flair to it.

 

[mark]

A good place to fin this type of glass is old warehouses/factories (as in where I got mine!0.

If you ask somebody, I don't think they're that bothered as long as it's replaced, after all, the workers are hardly there for the decoration or view!

One thing I did notice when I was removing the glass, was that when the glas broke (as it did on one attempt) the 'buble' part of it sort of popped off!

 

[mantamatt]

It is amazing that the real deal costs so much. I suppose it's in short supply, but I was surprised. Never mind, I must have it! I have decided to scale down my order to 4 panes and try to cast from that to save as much as I can.  This particular supplier has increased the price since Timegirl contacted them! > Rubber moulds and resin seems to be a cheaper way of doing it and maybe that way I can, if I want choose to have five pebbled panes per window like at Crich.
I did contact several salvage yards but with no luck. Actually, I did find some but it was in an antique door which was worth more than the glass! I asked my builder if he knew where I could get hold of some and he told me that he had just thrown a load of it out!  :-X I have been keeping my eyes open for derelict buildings and the like but am now losing patience a bit and since I haven't spent any money on my box for a while, have decided just to do it and get it over with!
Should I be succesful in getting a good mould and casting some copies I will post pictures etc. up here on how to do it. If anyone has any tips for me in this area I would be very happy to hear!
Cheers all
Matt

Edit:Scarfwearer thanks for tip on tool for glass cutting, this may come in handy. I think I would cry if I shattered the glass after all the trouble of getting it!

 

[retfordlad]

I found mine on Ebay - seller getting rid of their offcuts of project glass - emailed them and they were only too happy to supply - and precut - all my glass at a VERY reasonable price too !

Well worth it ! Just had no chance to do anything to TARDIS for a while - too hot out there and now there is a cool spell got backlog of yardwork - - PLUS the Landrover to work on - refitting the radio rack in the back to finish best get it done before the Brig gets upset !

Steve 

 

[mantamatt]

I received my pebbled glass through the post (thanks for the tip Timegirl) and have been spending some time recently making up a rubber mould so to be able to cast copies using resin, as has been mentioned. This is going to be old hat to a lot of you but in case someone might want to do this, here's what I did:

Nailed wooden strips to a plastic covered board to create the frame to keep the rubber in as it sets. Later it turned out the plastic board was a smart move since the rubber came away from it smoothly when set. I bluetacked the the glass panes down to stop them from moving..


Then poured the mouldmaster rubber in until it covered the glass to a depth. Immediately some liquid rubber oozed out under the wooden strips, I guess this was inevitable but this was easily stopped by stuffing newspaper  around the frame and fixing it there with weights, the paper mixed with the liquid rubber and gummed it all up stopping it leaking.

On reflection I shouldn't have put all the rubber in at once! It would have been better to pour thin layers at a time and wait for each layer to set. Instead of taking the 24hours it  was supposed to take I have been waiting for this to set for four days! Finally today it looked set and I removed it and was pleased with the results:



It is all solid but still needs to go more of an orange colour according to the instructions so will wait until the weekend and then, time permitting, will use the mould to make some pebbled glass!

 

[mark]

That is looking great Manta, can't wait to see how the moulded 'glass' turns out.

Out of interest, whats the TARDIS model on your second picture, is it a self built?

Either way, it looks good.

 

[scarfwearer]

Looking good, and much more pebbley than the stuff I used...

How strong is clear resin? I suppose it depends on thickness.  Would it make sense to bond it to some perspex for strength or is it really strong enough already?

Just curious....

Crispin

 

[cyberleader1991]

That Moldmaster stuff looks fun to play with... can you tell us anything about it? Who makes it? Is it neoprene or silicone? Do you need a catalyst or does it air cure?

Tom

 

[mantamatt]

Thanks all for your postings of encouragement..

Mark: Self built - I wish! The model is the new 2005 money box toy, I for one am really impressed by it.

Scarfwearer: I'm not sure how strong the resin will be, and bonding to clear perspex is a good idea if turns out to be too brittle. I have some spare from previous windows, so it's a possibility. I am hoping it will be alright. The resin I bought has a picture of leaf like structures made from the resin on the front - these are wafer thin. I reasoned that this might be an indication of the strength of the stuff but we shall see! I think the thickness of the panes will be around 5mm, so it will need to be quite strong stuff.
(BTW I'll take this opportunity also to say how great your roundels look!)

Hi Tom, I'm at work so can't check the label, all I can tell you right now is that  it cures through contact with the air and heat speeds the process up considerably. I left it out in the cold shed for a night and virtually nothing happened! Since then it has been living in the airing cupboard or above the boiler! It takes a while to solidify.

After taking the pictures last night I noticed to my alarm that without the glass inside the rubber started to contract a bit, so I stuck the glass back in quick! I think it wasn't quite cured. I was worried that if I left the glass out then it would continue to contract and I would be left with moulds for smaller panes than I wanted! So then, best tip is patience!

 

[purpleblancmange]

Hey that's looking good, keep us posted on how your endeavours go because as you may know, this is the route I decided to go down with my windows.  My question is, how thick is each pane of glass, are they really 5mm?  I'll probably go with 3mm as that's more than ample, no pressure will ever be put on the windows, so that shouldn't be a problem.

The good thing about going down the casting route is that if you ever do break a pane, you just have to cast up another to replace it!

 

[TG]

Nice looking pebbled glass  Matt 

I’m really looking forward to seeing the moulded ones. Is the rubber and resin expensive? because I bet I break some of mine.
TG

 

[mantamatt]

Right,  the first  lot  has set and the pebbled detail has come out nicely  :-



The four on the left are the the originals, resin cast on the right...  I'm pretty pleased with them! The resin is strong and although still a bit bendy does seem to be hardening slowly.  Certainly no need to worry about the stuff breaking.

The materials I used..
Mouldmaster rubber latex by Hobbey Craft ~£9
GEDEO Crystal Resin £13

Not all the resin was used up, I reckon out of the 300ml of resin you could probably get about 6 panes (mine are 150mm by 65mm).  Now I kind of know what I'm doing I will buy enough resin to do the rest of the panes which should hopefully make it all cheaper. I'm fairly certain you can get cheaper stuff online, this was just what my local hobby shop had in stock.

Purple: Thanks for comments, I did indeed get the idea from yours and retfordlads postings. I am pleasantly surprised at how easy it really is!
And to answer your question, the panes are more like 3mm in depth, some of the cast ones even thinner.

 

[TG]

They look absolutely brilliant and just like glass. You’ve done a great job!

I’m tempted to have a go at moulding some myself now.

TG

 

[dematerialiser]

They look spot-on, Manta! I'll be interested to know how strong they are (in the nicest possible way of course - I hope you don't get to find that out, especially after all the effort you've put in.  )


cheers
Chris

 

[mark]

They are good, bet they're even better 'in the flesh' so to speak.

Any likely hood of a mail order item, no copyright issues?