Installing new glass in aluminum sliding window.

Hi, I can't find my info with google as usual so perhaps someone will help.

I'm building a couple of cabin and have bought 9 windows from various second hand places. One has fogged - one out of nine is fine - so I have had new double panes made and am ready to install them. The window is not installed yet so is on the bench.

Question is:

" What is the trick to releasing double sided glue tape the pane is stuck in with?"

I did another window like this about ten years ago and I think I used a razor knife and maybe some heat but can't remember exactly. I wonder if there is an standard trick I should know.

Many thanks,
Pete

 

If it's double sided foam glazing tape, a utility knife should cut through it. Sometmes a solvent like Naptha helps release the adhesive.

 

Thanks for the reply - it's not the foam tape, it's the tough sticky tar like black stuff.

 

Sorry to hear you have the black goop around your windows. That stuff can be a bear. A little heat will make it more pliable, but too much will make it quite sticky! You could try a pizza cutter (bend the handle of the pizza cutter away from the glass) or you might try a linoleum knife. Years ago we heated up the blade of a linoleum knife and bent it in a vise a little bit so that it would be at an angle and would work better. It still comes in handy from time to time for deglazing glass.

There are better tools for the job, but unless you're going to go out and buy the right tool, one of the above might work for you. Even a bent dinner knife might do the trick. If you break the glass, put some wide scotch package tape over the glass breaks so that you don't cut your knuckles or get glass splinters in your eyes.

 

The job's done but that black goop was horrible. I tried heating my lino knife but then it stuck everywhere! I ended up breaking out the panes, scraping off the goop with no heat, and cleaning the rest off with mineral spirits.

I used foam tape with the new panes!

Pete