MTFCA Forum

I've been calling around for a piece of 14 1/2" round 1/4" thick laminated glass with 1/2 of it having a polished edge for the monocle windshield for the speedster I'm building..... I only found 2 places that would do it, one wanted $325.00 the other $430.00. I know it's a tricky piece to cut, but does anyone know of an economical place to get a round piece of glass cut?

The local glass shop here was able to cut the curved corners of my windshield glass, and they were able to cut the circular glass for my 1915 headlamps, and they didn't charge a fortune for either. They smooth edges with a large belt sander, which I can't imagine an auto glass shop not having. That too should not be expensive. You might have to go as far as Queens or Brooklyn, but I expect there are several auto glass shops in your area that can handle the job reasonably. Maybe you should just give them specs for what you want and not tell them what it's for.

I agree with you Steve about keeping the model of the car (or application) quiet.
A piece of toughened glass is exactly that.
When I’m buying parts for my 1966 Mustang I say it’s off a “old Falcon” and generally the price is much lower!
Alan In Western Australia

The late Ralph Ricks posted a pic of his speedster monocle safety plate glass busted over in line with the bracket, hit rough roads pot holes and it broke.

Glass is heavy too, once did a monocle on my 15 speedster and used plexiglass. Cut a cardboard template then cut the plexi and sanded smooth the edges and glued it in place. Windshields in cars need safety plate by state laws, but an antique car monocle to me is an exception. Anyway the plastic worked out great.

If you are using an original monocle frame/bracket this comment may not apply. If you are using a "new" frame/bracket please sight it for curvature. I helped a friend install a new laminated safety glass into the frame. All went well and the end result was perfect. The car was in storage for about a couple of weeks, conditioned storage, and when looked at to take the car out the glass had cracked. Sighting the frame carefully, we saw the real problem. The frame was not straight and the pressure on the glass caused the crack. Another piece of glass was cut but this time "tempered glass" was used. No problem after several months. Tempered glass is much stronger and can withstand the pressure apparently. The only problem is that with tempered glass if it cracks, it breaks. The result is a million pieces all over the dash/floor. Just my 2 cents.

Our local shops are very fair to us. If I drive an old car there they come out and look at it and seem to enjoy cutting my glass. Shops in a bigger city may be different.
FWIW, a Mercer owner complained to me years ago. He informed me that the original monocles were not round but oval. He was perturbed that the new frames weren't right. I suppose that's one more thing for us to fret about although if we have a monocle on a T maybe we aren't as concerned.
Rich

The story I'm getting is the way they cut the laminated glass, it has to be scored on both sides and it's hard to get both circle scores exactly on top of each other. So they figure it's going to take a few attempts to get the round cut without scraping a few. Also, once the score is run they heat the area so they can open up the break to cut the vinyl between the 2 sheets of glass, harder to do with a circle. Then, I guess the edge polishing has to be done manually, the strait pieces can be polished by a machine......... What is the feeling of using tempered? I'm just afraid of getting binged by a stone and the thing explodes! There is a local shop that actually builds shower doors that would be willing to make one tempered for me.

DanTreace wrote: ↑

Wed May 25, 2022 7:32 am

The late Ralph Ricks posted a pic of his speedster monocle safety plate glass busted over in line with the bracket, hit rough roads pot holes and it broke.

Glass is heavy too, once did a monocle on my 15 speedster and used plexiglass. Cut a cardboard template then cut the plexi and sanded smooth the edges and glued it in place. Windshields in cars need safety plate by state laws, but an antique car monocle to me is an exception. Anyway the plastic worked out great.




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OUCH!
I have that same cast aluminum bracket on my speedster. I think an Elvin Townsend was selling them in the 60s. Some dealers sell a brass one that might be made from the same mold.
"Just Sayin'"

David

regarding your question regarding the use of tempered glass: Look at the laminated safety glass monocle in the picture above...compare that to having tempered glass there, which is far easier to break, with splinters of glass flying at your face and eyes in just a split-second. You won't have large slashing pieces filleting you like plate glass, it is safer than plate glass, but it is not without it's very tiny splinters at each cleavage.

So, is it still a question?

My experience with tempered glass is it blasts into a million little BB's. The side glass on today's cars use tempered glass. Sure would like to use laminated, but $400.00 for basically a square foot of glass?? I don't need it quite yet, so I'll keep looking. I was just hoping someone here would say "I got mine for $75.00 last month from Fred's Monocle Glass Emporium.... great guy to deal with!"

It looks like flat windshield glass for trucks is pretty reasonable...perhaps something like this: https://www.finditparts.com/products/79 ... 73669-L119

Another reason I went with Plexiglas was the lightweight . My monocle frame was the repro light alum. frame, that I painted black instead of polishing. It used a simple bolt and nut arrangement for the hinge adjustment, the bolt shared the same duty as clamping the frame to the column.

Even with the Plexiglas, at road speed of 25mph or so, had to really tighten down on that hinge nut to keep the monocle from coming back due to wind force and hitting my hand and the steering wheel.

Can't imagine that flimsy frame holding a heavy circle of glass without some sort of engineering to the hinge.


Now with a real original type, those monocle frames come in lots of designs, and safety plate glass is used as they are designed for old time plate glass....different animal.

Wouldn't this be cheaper? Plus you could have some spares.