Leading Dry Vacuum Technology
Helpful Tips
This page is for those who are looking for tips to get better repairs. These tips are especially for those using our Annihilator or Super Cinch tools. These methods will improve repairs for those using wet vacuum injectors but best results are always when air pressure is removed from the damage first.
Tip #1 Cool or warm the windshield using the auto or truck's defroster every time. You will also want to open a window to get hot air out and to prevent locking keys in the vehicle. Cooling the glass in the summer time is essential because this stabilizes the glass. Hot glass will crack out very easily. Even if the air temperature is only 70 degrees, the glass will be near 100 degrees. You may also cover damage with a paper towel to reflect direct sunlight to aid in cooling glass in conjunction with using autos defroster.
Tip #2 Any damage that has a cone break or cracks in the damage directly below the impact point is a break you will want to drill. Drill shallow, (Dremil) (tm) at low speed for a count of seven to eight seconds. Use the mini bulls-eye maker and tappet to strike damage to open up the tight cracks. You will also want to use the drill anytime you are going to use a dry star (tm) to heat damage. This drilling before and striking the damage with cone breaks will relieve tension on the break and make it more unlikely the damage will spread. The drilling opens a passageway for evaporating moisture to get out instead of building up pressure within the damage.
Tip#3 In cold weather heating the break from the outside with a dry star (tm) isn't enough heating. Heat up damage with dry star then place unit on glass under vacuum, then go inside car or truck and heat damage from inside of vehicle with a lighter for an additional five seconds. Now turn on auto's defroster to start cooling glass. Allow four or five minutes to allow glass to cool before injecting resin. Cooling glass will prevent a halo. A halo is caused by using too much pressure on injection of resin especially when glass is too warm. Annihilator is designed to use light pressure only. The tool is capable of high pressure but high pressure is rarely needed.
Tip #4 Always drill angel wing breaks seven seconds and strike with tappet and make sure damage opens up before doing repair process. If you don't drill and open this type of damage odds are good damage will spread when attempting to inject resin. Refer to tip one as well. Other types of damage to drill is any damage that has a cone break like stars, combination, angel wing or bat wing breaks. The glass substrate tends to push back together and this is why striking glass when cooled off produces much better repairs. The damage opens up and and allows air pressure to be removed and helps injection of resin.
Tip # 5 Do not listen to other people who are seasoned wet vacuum users. They tend to do repairs contrary to our methods and do not fully understand the dry vacuum concept. You are much better off following the instructions we have provided to you.
Tip # 6 When doing double stars or double bulls-eyes that are connected, place a small piece of electricians tape over one of the impact points after you drill and strike each of the impact points. Blocking off one impact point will eliminate any vacuum leakage when doing the repair. This type of damage is where you may want to slide the bridge from one impact point to the other so use a petroleum jelly on the suction cups to allow bridge to slide. Fill one of the impact points well and then slide bridge to second impact point and lay a mylar square over the first impact point and finish injection. Do this type of repair under cover of a ultra violet shade for better control of resin curing.
Tip# 7 Use the star resin for most repairs. Our star resin is 20-25 cps which is thicker than some competitors star resin but this resin sets up very strong. Relieving the air pressure first is the reason the damage fills so quickly. On bulls-eyes without cone breaks using our multi purpose resin works well.
Tip #8 If any damage you are working on doesn't fill there is a blockage in the impact point. If damage has a passageway to the air pocket the damage will fill in quickly. You can try drilling out the blockage and applying vacuum if a break didn't fill on first attempt. Blockage could be anything from wax to fingernail polish. Some self help books tell people to apply fingernail polish to a damaged windshield to keep it from cracking when all this does is ruin the windshield permanently. Usually picking at an impact point with a pocket scribe will detect any "soft" plastic or wax.
Tip #9 Resin can be loaded easily and totally airless by simply placing a small piece of tubing 1/4 O.D. with .170 inside diameter, natural polypropylene, length 1.250 long. This fits onto the tip of the injector snugly. Fill tube 3/4 full with piston in the full forward position, back resin into injector then all the way forward and back 3.5 turns. Resin column will now be totally airless. Tube can be rinsed with 91% rubbing alcohol. This tubing is found in almost any hardware store or Farm and Fleet Stores. Use the needle cap on resin bottle for precise filling of tube.
Tip #1 Cool or warm the windshield using the auto or truck's defroster every time. You will also want to open a window to get hot air out and to prevent locking keys in the vehicle. Cooling the glass in the summer time is essential because this stabilizes the glass. Hot glass will crack out very easily. Even if the air temperature is only 70 degrees, the glass will be near 100 degrees. You may also cover damage with a paper towel to reflect direct sunlight to aid in cooling glass in conjunction with using autos defroster.
Tip #2 Any damage that has a cone break or cracks in the damage directly below the impact point is a break you will want to drill. Drill shallow, (Dremil) (tm) at low speed for a count of seven to eight seconds. Use the mini bulls-eye maker and tappet to strike damage to open up the tight cracks. You will also want to use the drill anytime you are going to use a dry star (tm) to heat damage. This drilling before and striking the damage with cone breaks will relieve tension on the break and make it more unlikely the damage will spread. The drilling opens a passageway for evaporating moisture to get out instead of building up pressure within the damage.
Tip#3 In cold weather heating the break from the outside with a dry star (tm) isn't enough heating. Heat up damage with dry star then place unit on glass under vacuum, then go inside car or truck and heat damage from inside of vehicle with a lighter for an additional five seconds. Now turn on auto's defroster to start cooling glass. Allow four or five minutes to allow glass to cool before injecting resin. Cooling glass will prevent a halo. A halo is caused by using too much pressure on injection of resin especially when glass is too warm. Annihilator is designed to use light pressure only. The tool is capable of high pressure but high pressure is rarely needed.
Tip #4 Always drill angel wing breaks seven seconds and strike with tappet and make sure damage opens up before doing repair process. If you don't drill and open this type of damage odds are good damage will spread when attempting to inject resin. Refer to tip one as well. Other types of damage to drill is any damage that has a cone break like stars, combination, angel wing or bat wing breaks. The glass substrate tends to push back together and this is why striking glass when cooled off produces much better repairs. The damage opens up and and allows air pressure to be removed and helps injection of resin.
Tip # 5 Do not listen to other people who are seasoned wet vacuum users. They tend to do repairs contrary to our methods and do not fully understand the dry vacuum concept. You are much better off following the instructions we have provided to you.
Tip # 6 When doing double stars or double bulls-eyes that are connected, place a small piece of electricians tape over one of the impact points after you drill and strike each of the impact points. Blocking off one impact point will eliminate any vacuum leakage when doing the repair. This type of damage is where you may want to slide the bridge from one impact point to the other so use a petroleum jelly on the suction cups to allow bridge to slide. Fill one of the impact points well and then slide bridge to second impact point and lay a mylar square over the first impact point and finish injection. Do this type of repair under cover of a ultra violet shade for better control of resin curing.
Tip# 7 Use the star resin for most repairs. Our star resin is 20-25 cps which is thicker than some competitors star resin but this resin sets up very strong. Relieving the air pressure first is the reason the damage fills so quickly. On bulls-eyes without cone breaks using our multi purpose resin works well.
Tip #8 If any damage you are working on doesn't fill there is a blockage in the impact point. If damage has a passageway to the air pocket the damage will fill in quickly. You can try drilling out the blockage and applying vacuum if a break didn't fill on first attempt. Blockage could be anything from wax to fingernail polish. Some self help books tell people to apply fingernail polish to a damaged windshield to keep it from cracking when all this does is ruin the windshield permanently. Usually picking at an impact point with a pocket scribe will detect any "soft" plastic or wax.
Tip #9 Resin can be loaded easily and totally airless by simply placing a small piece of tubing 1/4 O.D. with .170 inside diameter, natural polypropylene, length 1.250 long. This fits onto the tip of the injector snugly. Fill tube 3/4 full with piston in the full forward position, back resin into injector then all the way forward and back 3.5 turns. Resin column will now be totally airless. Tube can be rinsed with 91% rubbing alcohol. This tubing is found in almost any hardware store or Farm and Fleet Stores. Use the needle cap on resin bottle for precise filling of tube.
