Have some questions about tempered automotive glass. I've read that it can't be cut without breakage. Can it be untempered, cut, then retempered? What about being cut with a water jet? Any reason that wouldn't work? I'm going to need glass for the barn door project soon, would like to cut down the original rear window as obviously it fits the way it should, just needs to be cut into two smaller windows. Thanks in advance for any info! :twothumbs

 

Think a lot of us (or most of us) are waiting to see the completion of it.
Seems like there should a glass place around Youngstown that could help you out with that.

 

you cannot cut down the rear window of the chevy HHR GLASS . it will shatter into a thousand tiny fragments if you try. It is tempered glass...which means it was heat treated at a glass factory and designed to shatter on impact if hit/struck or in a collision. You could go to a local automitive glass shop..give them a pattern of your barn style doors and they can cut flat glass for you. Then they need to send it out to a glass manufacturing plant and heat treat it to be tempered. Or they can cut flat laminated glass for your pattern. You will not get any curvy type of windows . Only flat to the pattern you supply. IF you go to an autoglass shop..they can remove your rear backglass for you. Then if you take your rear hatch to a body shop..they can fill in the hole with metal. Your gonna ruin a rear hatch panel for no real good reason..i would leave the rear hatch glass alone.

 

From what I see in the picture that is in the Gallery from way back when, you cut the original hatch down the middle, right? Maybe you or one of the members that know how to post pictures could post the one in the gallery to this thread so everyone can see what you are dealing with. Sure hope to see the completion soon. This is one thing I wished Chevy did, I just don't understand why they did what they did. The barn door or even a split hatch like the old station wagons would of been nice.

 

What about going with two round or oval pieces of glass?

 

I'll probably just have to have custom curved glass made, just thought maybe someone out there knew if the tempered could be cut with a high tech water jet.

 

too much postin and not enough workin jeff!!!! stop your loligagging and get back to working already, i don't wanna see another post till that work is done!



im just kiddin' hows everything coming along?

 

Kinda slow, but it's getting there! Once I've mastered these lousy hidden hinges, It'll come together much faster. It's one thing or another all of the time... no money, no time, or working on the house. Will post pics when things have changed enough to see!

 

Too late for that now.......


Here ya go.......

 

I think this would probably be one of those questions for someone who actually uses a FlowJet or similar system. Why don't you just find one locally and call them up? FlowJets are well known for their ability to cut tempered and blown glass, so I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work for your application.