Sourcing glass for a side panel window?

[Pyroven]

Basically I have no money and I want to put a huge window on my define R4 so I can see inside it.

 

What do I need to look for in a piece of glass? where can I get a piece of glass? what sort of places should I go?

 

My girlfriend suggested finding an old oven door, which would work perfectly because they're usually slightly tinted, so going to a dump and seeing whether I could salvage one could be cool. Beyond that I was thinking about going to a builder's yard and seeing whether it's possible to just buy a big pane.

 

How difficult is it to cut glass down to size? How difficult is it to drill screw holes into one?

 

I'm really not worried about aesthetics. My idea is to buy one of the spare side panels fractal sells, cutting almost all of it away so it just be the outline, then getting nuts and bolts and just putting a piece of glass on the outside. Similar to what Paul's Hardware did with his "Arctic Panther" Define R5, but much less professional.

 

My concerns are how strong the glass would be, and whether I'd have to specificaly find glass which is heat resistant or anything.

 

Also as a side note if anyone knows whether a Define R5 or Define S side panel fitts on an R4 that would be really handy.

 

 

[Lord Nicoll]

3 minutes ago, Pyroven said:

Basically I have no money and I want to put a huge window on my define R4 so I can see inside it.

 

What do I need to look for in a piece of glass? where can I get a piece of glass? what sort of places should I go?

 

My girlfriend suggested finding an old oven door, which would work perfectly because they're usually slightly tinted, so going to a dump and seeing whether I could salvage one could be cool. Beyond that I was thinking about going to a builder's yard and seeing whether it's possible to just buy a big pane.

 

How difficult is it to cut glass down to size? How difficult is it to drill screw holes into one?

 

I'm really not worried about aesthetics. My idea is to buy one of the spare side panels fractal sells, cutting almost all of it away so it just be the outline, then getting nuts and bolts and just putting a piece of glass on the outside. Similar to what Paul's Hardware did with his "Arctic Panther" Define R5, but much less professional.

 

My concerns are how strong the glass would be, and whether I'd have to specificaly find glass which is heat resistant or anything.

 

Also as a side note if anyone knows whether a Define R5 or Define S side panel fitts on an R4 that would be really handy.

 

 

You would really want tempered glass, there are companies that make custom glass, it's not that difficult for them, but it can often cost over 100 pounds if you're not careful, however I've seen some bargains around the world, not that I'd travel to a factory in China for some glass. 

[Pyroven]

2 minutes ago, Lord Nicoll said:

You would really want tempered glass, there are companies that make custom glass, it's not that difficult for them, but it can often cost over 100 pounds if you're not careful, however I've seen some bargains around the world, not that I'd travel to a factory in China for some glass. 

What exactly is so special about tempered glass? Is it purely aesthetic?

[W-L]

1 minute ago, Pyroven said:

What exactly is so special about tempered glass? Is it purely aesthetic?

If you are planning on incompletely replacing the side panel for a sheet of glass your going to need to design a new mounting system since the original side panels use the common slide locks. As suggested tempered glass is ideal but your going to need to get it custom fabricated since you have to get it custom cut and drilled before tempering. 

 

Personally I've replaced acrylic side panels with glass and just use regular soda lime glass which work but extra caution must always be taken when moving it since if it breaks the shards can be very sharp. Tempered glass shatters into little cubes which won't readily slice you open. 

[Pyroven]

2 minutes ago, W-L said:

If you are planning on incompletely replacing the side panel for a sheet of glass your going to need to design a new mounting system since the original side panels use the common slide locks. As suggested tempered glass is ideal but your going to need to get it custom fabricated since you have to get it custom cut and drilled before tempering. 

 

Personally I've replaced acrylic side panels with glass and just use regular soda lime glass which work but extra caution must always be taken when moving it since if it breaks the shards can be very sharp. Tempered glass shatters into little cubes which won't readily slice you open. 

As I said, I intend to take a normal side panel and cut a big hole in it and then attaching the glass to it with nuts and bolts.

 

So I won't be able to use a larger piece of tempered glass and then cut it down to size?

[W-L]

Just now, Pyroven said:

As I said, I intend to take a normal side panel and cut a big hole in it and then attaching the glass to it with nuts and bolts.

 

So I won't be able to use a larger piece of tempered glass and then cut it down to size?

No you can't cut or drill tempered glass it will just shatter due to the stresses from the tempering process. You can in that case just get a sheet of standard sized glass that is larger than the opening and stick it to the side panel with double sided mounting tape or silicone adhesive and not use any fasteners at all. 

 

I have a guide with details on that under Window Mod: