Exploding TG Panel

[DailyProcrastinator]

Not so much trouble shooting, more so just sharing my WTF experience.

 

So I was just in the process of cleaning out the dust from my front panel, but in order to do so I removed my TG side panel from my FD Meshify C. I placed the panel on my chair, when I went to pick it up it instantly exploded in my hand.... I have no idea how, it was super loud, but luckily only very minor cuts and my Dyson was within arms reach as I was cleaning my office. I had to vacuum a circle around myself in order to get to the bathroom and deal with my cuts, so yeah, good times!

 

Anyone else have something like this happen / hear about this happening?

 

The carnage:

 

Took me a solid hour to triple vacuum the floor, the glass went everywhere. And I'm sure more glass will magically appear in the coming days. 

 

I am going to contact Fractal Design and see what they say.

 

UPDATE (Mar.31): Contacted FD and their TG panels have 2 years of warranty, my case is only about 1yr 6months old so I will be getting a new panel! 

 

[Donut Dan]

I'm unsure why this was moved to displays, I think @JM21 was talking about his PC case's side glass panel. and as far as I understand it, this is basically how tempered glass is. Super hard, scratch resistant exterior, but constant strain of the glass's structure, so it can go pop. I think warranty covers it.

Edited March 29, 2020 by SansVarnic

[Constantin]

wow that is a first for me...

[Quadrum]

I have a friend with an nzxt case where his panel spontaneously exploded while he was across the room. Not even touching it. His incident ended up scratching every component of the build, and upon calling up nzxt support he got a new case. I wonder if I can get some photos to continue the “random glass of explosions” thread. Lol

[W-L]

2 hours ago, JM21 said:

-SNIP-

 

It's part of the nature of tempered glass, it's under a lot of stress from the tempering process and any flaws in the material can be a weak point for it to shatter, either immediately after tempering or potentially at a later date. Under strong lighting it is actually possible to see the stress in the glass. This also make it very sensitive if you bump the edges as a light tap will shatter the whole panel.

 

Contact the manufacture and they should be able to sort it out for you. 

[DailyProcrastinator]

2 hours ago, Donut Dan said:

I'm unsure why this was moved to displays, I think @JM21 was talking about his PC case's side glass panel. and as far as I understand it, this is basically how tempered glass is. Super hard, scratch resistant exterior, but constant strain of the glass's structure, so it can go pop. I think warranty covers it.

Yeah not a display panel @SansVarnic, this is my side TG panel from my case.

 

Yeah I remember watching a YouTube video years back from either ScienceStudio Or Bitwit a few years back and he was literally throwing a TG panel on concrete and it did not break, kinda surprised that just picking it up caused it to explode. But I actually am happy it happened when it was already off and not while removing it from the case.

 

2 hours ago, Constantin said:

wow that is a first for me...

You and I both! 

 

1 hour ago, Quadrum said:

I have a friend with an nzxt case where his panel spontaneously exploded while he was across the room. Not even touching it. His incident ended up scratching every component of the build, and upon calling up nzxt support he got a new case. I wonder if I can get some photos to continue the “random glass of explosions” thread. Lol

Seasoned veteran members only in that thread hahaha, I mean I know it happens just caught me off guard.

[DailyProcrastinator]

5 minutes ago, W-L said:

It's part of the nature of tempered glass, it's under a lot of stress from the tempering process and any flaws in the material can be a weak point for it to shatter, either immediately after tempering or potentially at a later date. Under strong lighting it is actually possible to see the stress in the glass. This also make it very sensitive if you bump the edges as a light tap will shatter the whole panel.

 

Contact the manufacture and they should be able to sort it out for you. 

I used to work in the automotive service industry and more than once we had cases of exploding windows or sunroofs, so I know it happens but in than case I always assumed a bit more of external force was involved, be it wind, a rock hitting it (even lightly), temperature etc. Thankfully I had just grabbed it with the tips of my fingers in one hand and not a full two hand grab, that would have hurt haha. 

 

Yeah I'm confident Fractal will sort it out in a fair way (fingers crossed).

[W-L]

5 minutes ago, JM21 said:

I used to work in the automotive service industry and more than once we had cases of exploding windows or sunroofs, so I know it happens but in than case I always assumed a bit more of external force was involved, be it wind, a rock hitting it (even lightly), temperature etc. Thankfully I had just grabbed it with the tips of my fingers in one hand and not a full two hand grab, that would have hurt haha. 

 

Yeah I'm confident Fractal will sort it out in a fair way (fingers crossed).

It's good that's it's tempered though small little shards will do minimal to no damaged compared to a large falling sheet of glass which is incredibly sharp and can cut all the way down to bone in the worst cases.

[Tech_Dreamer]

most probably it's the way you picked it up(the force & the speed you picked it up with), it probably put up a light bending stress & due to tempered glass nature , a tiny bit of crack already there or occurring then due to pressure can & will spread out to shatter the whole panel.  it can be due to manufacturing issues (while being cut to size or poor manufacturing method) or could've gotten those tiny cracks during careless shipping or while over tightening the case sides etc. anyways contact the manufactures. if you're lucky you could get a free replacement, but most probably you wont depending on the company policy.

[DailyProcrastinator]

1 hour ago, W-L said:

It's good that's it's tempered though small little shards will do minimal to no damaged compared to a large falling sheet of glass which is incredibly sharp and can cut all the way down to bone in the worst cases.

Yeah 100%, annoying to clean, but all things considered the ideal situation haha

[DailyProcrastinator]

UPDATE: Contacted FD and their TG panels have 2 years of warranty, my case is only about 1yr 6months old so I will be getting a new panel! 

[DailyProcrastinator]

UPDATE 2: Well it has been a month and I have been going back and forth with FD many times. Their warehouse is so bottlenecked because of covid that it could take months for me to get a new panel. I don't really care but an interesting update on things within different segments of the custom PC market. 

 

This is from one of the emails with FD:

[DailyProcrastinator]

UPDATE 3:

 

FINALLY got my new TG panel last week. Whole process took 2-months, no one to blame here, I knew it would take time, but it was a very long process.

 

[artuc]

Yeah had that happen in a car. Had just hopped in, went to wind the window down and just got covered in glass. Not sure if the window reg or seal got caught or something.

 

Fun times.

[DailyProcrastinator]

2 hours ago, artuc said:

Yeah had that happen in a car. Had just hopped in, went to wind the window down and just got covered in glass. Not sure if the window reg or seal got caught or something.

 

Fun times.

Yeah both my parents had sunroofs in there vehicles break, and I've seen it happen to many other people as well. In those cases I assumed more external force was involved, but I guess if there is even a slight defect that can do the trick with very little external force. 

[Joealex24]

On 3/29/2020 at 4:20 AM, TheDailyProcrastinator said:

Not so much trouble shooting, more so just sharing my WTF experience.

 

So I was just in the process of cleaning out the dust from my front panel, but in order to do so I removed my TG side panel from my FD Meshify C. I placed the panel on my chair, when I went to pick it up it instantly exploded in my hand.... I have no idea how, it was super loud, but luckily only very minor cuts and my Dyson was within arms reach as I was cleaning my office. I had to vacuum a circle around myself in order to get to the bathroom and deal with my cuts, so yeah, good times!

 

Anyone else have something like this happen / hear about this happening?

 

The carnage:

 

Took me a solid hour to triple vacuum the floor, the glass went everywhere. And I'm sure more glass will magically appear in the coming days. 

 

I am going to contact Fractal Design and see what they say.

 

UPDATE (Mar.31): Contacted FD and their TG panels have 2 years of warranty, my case is only about 1yr 6months old so I will be getting a new panel! 

 

Just wondering how you cleaned the front mesh panel. I've tried vacuuming mine but I'm struggling to get the dust out.

[DailyProcrastinator]

7 hours ago, Joealex24 said:

Just wondering how you cleaned the front mesh panel. I've tried vacuuming mine but I'm struggling to get the dust out.

The mesh part pop outs of the front panel, which I then use a can of compressed air to blow the dust out of.