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One very disheartening event that can occur when driving your
Lamborghini is the windscreen gets struck by a stone. Small
stones are not too serious and are really just an eye sore. A
large stone can create a situation where the crack expands and
spreads over time. There is little that can be done is these
situations. Your choice is either replace the whole window or
put up with the crack. In the latter case it is important
to stop the crack from spreading When a crack occurs it
is important to treat it right away. Any heating and cooling of
the glass will potentially cause the crack to elongate.
Fortunately there are a number of commercial products available
at auto stores that allow you to quickly halt the spread of a
crack. Essentially these products are epoxy liquids that
are activated by sunlight. First they are allowed to seep into the
crack before polymerization begins. It is often helpful to attach
a small mirror on the other side of the glass as you apply
sealant. |
Figure 1. Cracked
Windscreen |
Fig. 2 shows such a mirror. Fig. 3 shows the sealant being
applied to the glass surface. After it has polymerized (~30 minutes in
sunlight) a razor blade can be applied to remove excess epoxy.
In cases where the crack is much larger you may want to consider
calling in a professional. Most cities have individuals that do "house
calls" to fix car window cracks. They use essentially the same
process. However it is a bit more sophisticated. They use a device
to hold a syringe type chamber over the glass crack. The epoxy liquid is
then forced in under pressure. Figures 4,5 and 6 show such
an approach being used.
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Fig 2.
Place mirror behind crack |
Fig 3. Add
epoxy sealant on crack |
Fig 4. Device
to add epoxy under pressure |
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Fig 5.
Adding epoxy under pressure |
Fig 6. Close-up
of epoxy addition |
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