Stained Glass Transom - Advice?

Greetings, All -

I've just taken a commission on a stained glass transom, about 12' by 2', and I'm wondering if any of you have any thoughts on its "installability" if I build it all in one piece. Transportation is no big deal - I can build a custom "carrier" for the glass rack on my truck. The client's home is only about a mile and a half from my studio.

The piece will be mounted inside a piece of tempered glass that's permanently installed over their 6'-8" sliding glass doors. I'll be adding new trim strips to hold it in place.

With a few helpers and a few ladders, how do you all like my odds of being able to lift the piece into place without breaking it? I hate to ruin a good flowing design with the lines that would be required to divide the panel into two or three separate pieces...but I'd also hate to have to haul a broken panel back to the studio. It'll be copper foil in 1/2" zinc. I'll bring it into the house on the truck rack carrier.

Am I crazy? Is this something that's just not do-able? Or is it an idea that's workable with eough care?

TIA-

~s

Reply to
Scribble
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50/50 chance, with in enough care, possible, will it give you a heart attack with every step, probable. Why do you have to join the panels at straight lines? By using different lead widths in the design you can build in the spots to join with a wider line, and they needn't be straight . Just a thought
Reply to
Javahut

You have a 12' long work table? Cool. I could never do that. I lose my tools all the time in the mess on an 8' one. 50% more clutter would be unmanageable...;>)

Maybe you could build a plywood "stretcher" to carry it on? a pc of plywood

18-20" wide with a cleat along the bottom edge and then tape the glass work to the plywood? YOu could hoist it up to the opening on the stretcher, slide the bottom edge in place, and then tilt the plywood upward, tilting the glass into the opening. A few well placed holes in the stretcher would help you maneuver and position the artwork.
Reply to
Moonraker

"installability"

Reply to
Michele Blank

i'd use 1/2" H lead instead. it's easier to shave down to get an exact match on the window shape. put a dowel in the bottom piece to prevent it from sagging under the weight.

make a 12'x2.5' of 3/4" plywood carrier. put a series of 1/4" wooden pegs down one long side each being the height of the thickness of the panel. put the glass on the carrier. get three people on ladders up there. lift by the ends of the carrier. tilt up to the window and it should just slide right off onto the bottom of the transom. you could use double sided tape to attach a thin piece of styrofoam on the bottom of the transom to cushion the panel as it slides off.

regards, charlie cave creek, az

Reply to
Charles Spitzer

A transom this size will need rebars. You can divide the window in 3 sections, put together with vertical "meeting joints". Then put rebar (needed anyway) over the meeting joints. It will look like 1 piece, but easier and stronger.

Reply to
vic

Thanks for all your ideas -

To address a few:

Moon, I use 8' work tables in the studio, but one is on locking wheels, so I can move it against the others when I need extra length or width. Losing stuff isn't really an issue at my age - even if I used a 2' table, most days I still can't find my buttocks with both hands and a copy of Gray's Anatomy.

I wonder if some sort of toolbelt would help. Maybe something like Batman's utility belt, with an imprint of Saint Fletcher (patron saint of glassworkers) on the buckle.

Just a thought.

Anyhow, Charles and Moon's plywood "stretcher" is along the idea I was considering, building something like the TJI things they're using instead of 2x10s under the flooring in some new stick-house construction. They have

2x2 "rails" at the top and bottom of a 1/2" plywood core. Real secure (even in Florida's hurricane season). The panel could sit on the bottom rail, and the holes you mentioned would help us get the panel off the carrier when it was near position.

Michelle, yours' is probably the most sensible advice. If I used lead instead of foil, I could build the beast as a triptich (haven't used that term since we studied the "Garden of Earthy Delights") leaving raw glass on each end of the middle piece, butt everything tight on install, and use a few small blobs of black calk to simulate the missing solder joints. The pattern is especially good for this, as well as for combining 1/8, 1/4, and

3/8 inch lead. I'm not wild about the idea of leading this one, but that sure would help me sidestep Java's Cardiac Arrest prediction, which is probably totally correct. I could use that brass-core 1/4" lead, eliminating the (also probably sensible) requirement for rebar.

~s

~s

Reply to
Scribble

well, actually, i was referring to foil. just use thin wood mullions between and make each piece individually framed with the zinc. m

Reply to
Michele Blank

Vic's note on the rebar on a 2 foot tall panel is not without merit considering the length,

Were it me I would never consider a raw glass joint, build it properly(something all around, but I don't automatically go zinc), and allow the leads to interlock, smaller into wider and put the bar over the joint, and it does not have to be straight either, use some ingenuity to solve the panels connecting and bent the rebar as needed. If the design can stand

3/8" and it is 2 foot high above a door, you should be able to put an accent of 1/2" here and there, or simply use a 5/32" lead, shave the leaf off one side and slide it into the other panel where you have left a piece of 3/8" at that edge. I don't ever count on the brass reinforced lead to take the place of good structural re-enforcement, it works "with" not in place of. Of course, this is all my opinion, and done without seeing the design, so it doesn't mean much, the design would tell the story, for the most part.
Reply to
Javahut

Where can one find brass-core lead?

Reply to
C Ryman

I'm thinking about enclosing my front porch, part of which will include removable glass panels that can be taken out in the warmer weather and put back to fight the cold. I have decided on using decorative wood trim with reclaimed glass cut from old windows and some stained glass accents. If you go with a wood and glass design, you can bolster the strength of the panels.

Using this design, you could have the wood custom-milled to specifications, cut your glass to shape, and pack it like a "kit". You could always pre-assemble everything prior to being at the customer's site to ensure the quality of construction...then take it apart and rebuild it on your client's site. As a kit, it is simple and easy...like working a puzzle.

K-

Scribble wrote:

Reply to
Kringle

Reply to
John

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