Triple thick results

ManiN

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I've seen a ton of triple thick use threads, but my question still stands. If you have glass art, and the art is delaminating and not cracked, will the triple thick chemically 're-laminate' it eliminating the separated look? Or does it just make the raised areas flat with a separated look?
 
I've seen a video where they sprayed the triple thick on, then wrapped plastic wrap (Saran wrap) over the delaminating area. Then after it dried they peeled off the plastic wrap. I haven't tried it so i'm not so sure how well it would work.
 
I've used it a couple of times to put artwork back on glass in a jigsaw puzzle type way.

In one case most of the artwork was in the bottom of the cab where it fell after coming loose from the glass.

The other was not as bad, but it had several large pieces of art come loose and fall into the bottom.

In the first case it was a Pigskin 621 AD and the art is not the same as a pinball backglass, so it didn't turn out great. But it doesn't look bad and it is much better than a piece of glass with no artwork at all.

In the second case it was a pinball machine and it looks great with the lights in the head off. When you turn them on you can see a thin outline where the edges are on the pieces that were triple-thicked back on again.

Here are couple of things I noted from these large repair projects - first, put some weight on the larger pieces after spraying them and putting the cling wrap down. This is mainly for the non-pin artwork. I'm not sure what they used, but it tends to bubble if there's nothing keeping it down until completely dry.

If you have to do a lot of pieces side-by-side you will end up with overspray in the spot where the next piece needs to be attached. Use a single edge razor and clean off the overspray. If you don't you will end up with a thick buildup of the overspray in spots.


- JM
 
I've seen a video where they sprayed the triple thick on, then wrapped plastic wrap (Saran wrap) over the delaminating area. Then after it dried they peeled off the plastic wrap. I haven't tried it so i'm not so sure how well it would work.

You've got to get the triple-thick under the paint so that it glues it back down. It will hold for a while if you just spray along the back side of the artwork, but in the case of my pin the art finally delaminated to the point of having to redo some of the areas.

In those cases where I had to get it a second time, I made sure to get the triple-thick between the paint and the glass. It's held it 100% for several years since then.

-JM
 
You've got to get the triple-thick under the paint so that it glues it back down. It will hold for a while if you just spray along the back side of the artwork, but in the case of my pin the art finally delaminated to the point of having to redo some of the areas.

In those cases where I had to get it a second time, I made sure to get the triple-thick between the paint and the glass. It's held it 100% for several years since then.

-JM

Hi John! What about bubbled artwork where there are no cracks or anything so there's no way to get under the paint (short of cutting open the bubble)? Is there a decent way to handle that situation?
 
Hi John! What about bubbled artwork where there are no cracks or anything so there's no way to get under the paint (short of cutting open the bubble)? Is there a decent way to handle that situation?

This is exactly what I want to know. Reading a FAIL story, a guy got his tron marquee wet on the back side and some of the bubbles leveled out and looked nice where he touched it with water. From the sounds of it, the water hydrated the art and relaxed it to the glass. He soaked it thinking it would level it all out and dry nicely to the glass. It did in fact level out perfect, but when it dried there was nothing to bond the art and it curled and flaked. I'm hoping the triple thick will hydrate the art like the water, then actually glue it to the glass instead of evaporating and leaving nothing. I like you Shan, have bubbles that aren't broken, just delaminated.

I've seen a lot where folks just spray and let it do it's thing, but I think If I do this, I will wet it with triple thick then cover in saran wrap and use a roller to ensure the art is flat, then put a full weight over the entire surface to ensure bonding everywhere.
 
Here's an example of what my marquee looks like. It's not this bad, but bad enough. As you can see, the art is intact, but just delaminiated. Do you think the triple thick will soak though the art leveling it and bonding it back to the glass?
 

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I think what you could do is spray the clear over the back of the marquee and place the plastic wrap over it and press down. It will probably crack but you will have to touch up (mostly with black it looks like) those areas anyway.
 
I'm hoping the spray will hydrate and soften the art allowing it to relax to the surface. While relaxing it will dry and bond to the surface... I hope...
 
I'm hoping the spray will hydrate and soften the art allowing it to relax to the surface. While relaxing it will dry and bond to the surface... I hope...

Just my own experience, but I tried this with a pinball backglass and it didn't make a difference. The area of artwork that was delaminated from the glass but not cracked, did not "re-laminate" itself.
 
Just my own experience, but I tried this with a pinball backglass and it didn't make a difference. The area of artwork that was delaminated from the glass but not cracked, did not "re-laminate" itself.

When I did the bezel, I sprayed on the back of the bubbles, used the Saran wrap to push the bubbles down (effectively cracking them, and allowing the Triple Thick to work its way under.

One trick is to make sure the Triple Thick is COMPLETELY dry before trying to remove the Saran wrap. Trust me, the paint will stick to everything, and combined with the Triple Thick, it just makes a mess. When absolutely dry, the Saran wrap will almost fall off of the glass.

I stopped before I tried, but once it all dried and I removed the Saran wrap, I had assumed that a second-pass with the Triple Thick and another application of Saran wrap would have "sealed the deal" perfectly.

Edit: Read the link I posted above for PinRepair's tutorial, it's awesome and covers the entire process.
 
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I'm wondering if it's possible to soak the whole marquee in water to release the entire art onto another film in the bath, then clean and prep the glass aside with a thick coat of triple thick. After that you could lift the film out of the water and carefully position it on the class and then carefully squeegee the remaining water from between leaving just triple thick to bond the film to the glass? I think the water would squeeze out leaving the triple thick because I bet the triple thick is hydrophobic, meaning it will repel the water and cling to the art film. I wish I had a garbage marquee to try this with.
 
Hi John! What about bubbled artwork where there are no cracks or anything so there's no way to get under the paint (short of cutting open the bubble)? Is there a decent way to handle that situation?

Didn't work for me. The backglass is from a Playboy and has channels lifted throughout it that looks like the spots on a giraffe. Those didn't get any better, just the spots that had completely separated or lifted enough to get the triple-thick under it.

I have thought of using a needle to make a hole in it to try to get those areas glued down, but it doesn't look bad w/o light shining through it and it's no longer deteriorating so I'm leaving it alone instead of possibly making the situation worse.

-JM
 
Well, I noticed the marquee is starting to crack here and there. So I believe I will use the triple thick with saran wrap on this one. I want to work the triple thick into the separated areas through the cracks. How did that go for you John? At this point, I may crack other areas to make the triple thick go under evenly.
 
I used triple thick on two Spy Hunter marquees and I didn't notice a difference afterwards. It is holding the art in place from the backside. I also used it on my badly flaking Galaga bezel. Same results, it holds the artwork and chips in place from the back, but did not degrade or improve the look of the artwork from the front. If the artwork was flaking away at the touch before, it will still have a lot of fragility afterwards, but won't get any worse with careful handling.

After Galaga's bezel had dried, I masked and then spray painted the triple thick side with black spray paint. It looks great now!

Here's an example of what my marquee looks like. It's not this bad, but bad enough. As you can see, the art is intact, but just delaminiated. Do you think the triple thick will soak though the art leveling it and bonding it back to the glass?
 
I used triple thick on two Spy Hunter marquees and I didn't notice a difference afterwards. It is holding the art in place from the backside. I also used it on my badly flaking Galaga bezel. Same results, it holds the artwork and chips in place from the back, but did not degrade or improve the look of the artwork from the front. If the artwork was flaking away at the touch before, it will still have a lot of fragility afterwards, but won't get any worse with careful handling.

I think this is the intended purpose of using triple thick. To save what is there and keep it from getting worse. You can also use it as a preventative measure. I have never seen where someone actually "fixed" something with triple thick and nothing else.
 
thinking totally outloud here
but was wondering what about a surfboard fiberglass resign would do??
it will go on thicker and heavier maybe enough to weight down the bubbling.
just like when they do boards. the resigns might be hot enough to give the ink some relax
hopfully without attacking it.
Ive got a few glass pieces I can maybe experiment with
and if it works you cali guys could take your your bubbling edot glass to a local surf shop:D
 
I could see that leveling it, but you'd still see the separation between graphic and glass. Last night I experimented with a heat gun and it actually worked to lower the bubble and adhere the art to the glass, but it wasn't good enough to fully do it. It also made some of the art brittle, so I called it a fail and am not going further. I'm thinking the ultimate easiest would be to remove the art completely in a water bath and put a resin or something like mod podge down and then squeegee the art down to the glass again. Maybe in theory that's great, but I bet practice would be difficult. Maybe if you put tape on the back to reinforce it before the art was removed???
 
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