The Framers Forum

I have a rugby shirt in for reglazing, whole piece will be around 1 metre by 1 metre. Will 2mm float be strong enough or should I be considering 3mm (or even thicker)?

ChrisG

I would think so. I do it all the time. Others will probably disagree though. I dont claim to a master framer Ive just done this for a living for 12years.

On a serious note though, give the customer all the price options and let them decide. How did it get broken would be a question to ask and assess the risk of it happening again. Prehaps a safety/perspex/acrylic glass is better suited.

1m x 1m would be a special order for me as I only stock 48x36" sheets in standard 2mm.

As for is it strong enough, well, the last bit wasn't was it One way to avoid it happening again is to use acrylic - 3mm would be fine on that size.

I wouldn't go larger than 1 sq m with 2mm glass and even on smaller (but still 'large') pieces, I look at how much of the area is unsupported - something supported only by a rebate spacer or a slip frame is more fragile than something with (e.g.) a 4" wide double mount.

I stock glass up to 40" x 60". It is however 2.5mm thick. Over that size - it only acrylic glazing.

2mm glass is tougher than you think. It will bend quite a long way. All long as there are no chips on the edge and it's not jammed tight in the frame it should be OK. Also make sure there are no lumps and bumps under the rebate that might cause a stress point when the frame is assembled.
3mm glass is stronger, but also 50% heavier. Heftier frame needed = even more extra weight. An impact on the front of a 3mm piece of glass is just as likely to smash it as 2mm. Maybe more in fact as the 2mm will give slightly.

I would use 3 or 4mm clear cast acrylic.

As Roboframer said already, it is different if there is a wide mount to support the glass but if it is straight in the rebate with little or no mount, I would go for acrylic; safer and lighter too.

A really BIG glazing job.....

[youtube]u7deClndzQw[/youtube]

I caught a bit of a doco about how they installed this big panel. It was made using 7 separate sections of cast acrylic 15m x 10m. Can't remember how thick but it looked at least a foot. Winching them into place without scratching them was a bit fraught. Each section weighed 20 tons I think. The cleverclever bit was how they joined them all together. They used some sort of special glue that apparently took 500 days to cure, but it formed the sections into one contiguous panel 15m high and 70m long.

Wonder who has the job of cleaning it?