Curved Glass

Have found a company that can do one offs off curved glass and only in safety glass and you have to supply a sample or pattern of the glass.

Glass Benders , Unit 18/46 Mileham st, Windsor NSW 2756.
Contacts Peter Williams 0408284327 or Chris Williams 0412971799. Ph 0245774822.

www.glassbenders.com.au

Very timely Dave. Only 10 minutes from me at the moment.
I am just having trouble locating anyone with a windscreen for a 1968 MAN (slight curve) and the split windscreen on a 1966 ERF MV (again a slight curve).

1 question to double check I'm sure you all know but me;
Are the safety glass windscreens acceptable for NSW road rego? If so, will be fine for current & future historic rego standards. I was hoping the rules didn't require laminated despite it's dangers, or that safety glass with tye untempered strip up the centre so it only breaks one side of the window at a time.
Thanks,

"safety glass" I'm guessing is laminated as that is what all the building regs specify.The glass that shatters to bits is called "tempered".
If you get a rego inspector who is a real jobsworth he will want to see an Aus standards logo etched onto every panel of glass and for most suppliers this falls into a too hard basket. I have used 6mm laminate from my local store without logo with no problems.

Thanks Mammoth,
I will talk to them & take my window out as a sample to copy off. No hurry. Fortunately, they are cracked badly but still hold their shapes, so can be copied . I'll just cut out the rubber rather than pressure the glass, & buy new rubbers matching their profile. Thanks,

Any news on the glass Steve?

Good timing with the Post Deadly.
I just broke the Transtar right windscreen getting it out > :'( :-[

Basil

Hi mammoth & all,
I went to their factory unit last Wednesday, but the y are closed as the owner is in NZ on holiday (as told to me by the engine workshop next door).
haven't rung yet. I'll call next week and apparrently it diverts to their mobile.
Glass Benders , Unit 18/46 Mileham st, Windsor NSW 2756.
Contacts Peter Williams 0408284327 or Chris Williams 0412971799. Ph 0245774822.

Steve & Baz it will be ok when you catch them the fella who had them done was Frank " L" he owns that yellow and green Foden twin steer boggie drive think you know who I mean and he is over the top with them and there already back in the truck and he can now see again . Dave

OK, Dropped by today as part of a work visit nearby. In short, if you cannot get a windscreen anywhere else in the world, go to Peter Williams 0408 284 327 & he can do it but you will pay by the hour, it's his work & he sems to do it well.
Peter is an artisan in his craft. There are not many companies (big or small) making windscreens in Australia. He made his own gas fired ovens as big as king sized beds with lids that lifts right off. Gave me a short tour & a 'have a chat'. Does Hearse windows, one off boat & hotrod windows, or anything you want that you cannot get imported. I hadn't realised, but when you 'chop top' a car to lower a hotrod roof, the curve at the top is different than 4 inches down, so you cannot just cut 4 inches off the old windscreen.
Each windscreen he makes is made from scratch to make the patterns, & mould frames to hold the glass in the oven & let it sag to just the right shape. He does both layers at once, then puts them in a vacuum bag & lower range oven to cook them slowly so the plastic layer between them will bond, be clear, stress relieved, & he even puts the ceremic etched AS logo in their so they are compliant.
If you have a windscreen you cannot possibly get anywhere else, he can make it but prefers to use the original as a copy, or take the impression himself, as us 'customers' have been stuffing up the measurements & moulds on him for years. That's the good news. The bad news is this, as you'd expect, all takes his time & that costs money. You can keep the moulds after he makes your window but budget a few grand. Even after the mould is made, it would still be $900/window to have him make another using the mould again. If your shape has a sharp bend in it, then he needs to make the mould with movable ends to bend the ends up during heating, even more time involved. Expensive but fair from what i saw as this is his business. I will use him if I cannot get my ERF windscreens from New Zealand wreckers, who had a lot more MV ERFs. My MAN 650 is as rare as rocking horse poo but 'Dutchy' from Windsor told me the windscreen & cab was the same as the later H8 MAN trucks so I still have hope.
Just ring Peter, Chris his son doesn't work there anymore. Getting the pattern right before he starts is the hard bit, our trucks are big & maybe on the other side of Oz, so best save the original cracked one & gingerly ship it to him. If you have no original, in future he is tossing up whether to rent space to have a truck parked there to mould off, or make his whole set up portable, or just visiting & making light weight accurate patterns onsite & making back in his factory.
I will be now be treating my Scammell windscreens very gently when I'm restoring it, that's for sure.