Mig welding around stained glass

[earthman]

The wife done a one day stained glass course the other week and brought home a 12 X 7 inch pane that she made, it is only 3/4mm thick.

I bought a length of U shaped steel to make a frame/stand for it, I've welded the 'feet' to the bottom part and the two uprights to that, the glass now slides in beautifully, I'm just worried about fitting the top piece with the glass in situ.

Do you guys think the heat will crack the glass? My first thought was to make tiny L brackets and use tiny machine screws to hold that top piece to the uprights, there's not much room around there though.

Any other ideas?

 

[madkayaker]

could you not get away with metal glue as splatter will make a mess of glass

 

[earthman]

could you not get away with metal glue as splatter will make a mess of glass

Good thinking, I could cover the glass though, to stop an splatter.

I did try very hard to make all the cuts at 45 degrees but I doubt they are spot on, that and the fact that the wife's piece is not perfectly square I'm not sure that glue would work??

 

[madkayaker]

it can be filed o if there was any gap use it like boddy filler and file it down

 

[the snooper]

use glazing silicone to fix it into the frame it would also hold the last piece in place

 

[earthman]

use glazing silicone to fix it into the frame it would also hold the last piece in place

Another good idea, I've never heard of it, is it just clear like some bathroom silicone sealants are?

 

[rkde]

My other half does stained glass and when she asked me to weld a frame it went wrong. More of an issue due to the lead and the copper etc than the temperature. Now we bond it in like on PVC or spot on the corner of the U section on a mitre corner

 

[brightspark]

use glazing silicone to fix it into the frame it would also hold the last piece in place

best idea i wouldnt go anywhere near the glass with heat especialy in one spot

 

[the artfull-codger]

When you say she made a ''stained glass'' panel, is it just a piece of coloured glass or is it surrounded with a lead cam as in a stained glass church window??, if it's just the glass you can put it in with some flat rubber gasket pressing it in & cutting the surplus off with a stanley knife & it'll look neat, if it's leaded you can use silicone but it's messy or just get some putty & glaze it in all round,packing the sides to keep it firm till the putty goes off.



slan go fol

 

[earthman]

The panel is made up of a couple of different colours of glass, I think its more like a lead silver that holds it all together???

 

[chunkolini]

could you solder the frame together?
I will follow this with interest as I may have some stained glass in piece of work soon.

Chunko'.

 

[Andy from Workshopshed]

In Monty Don's crafty programme on the TV recently they used solder to hold all their bars together.

 

[rkde]

The leading or copper foil holds it together but then the lead channel section is cemented to ensure that the glass is environment stable ie water tight, this also helps to make the unit stronger.

The easiest way we have used in the past is a copper frame and then just soldered the joints as this keeps the temperature down. Currently She is in the process of making some windows for my shed, for this I am going to create a angle iron frame then once done I will bead it with either a steel bar or just window adhesive.

I have used U section before, build the 3 sides and you can bond the top one in after sliding the glass. you can get away with a weld only if she has about a 5mm lead channel section around the side

Normally we use wood to frame the windows though. If you need pictures or want me to try something for you we have tones of glass, lead, and other stained glass

 

[earthman]

Thanks guy's for all the suggestions, wife don't want to take the risk in me welding it so it will be a glue/bond method.

Thankfully it don't need to be water tight, it's just a frame/stand so she can admire it inside the house, it will probably sit on the window sill.

 

[madkayaker]

Put some pics up when its finished

 

[outofthefire]

I'd bin the U channel for the top and just weld in a piece of flat bar in its place, that way you can just slide the pane in and out and the hole lot still looks welded.

 

[earthman]

Sorry for the delay, here's the finished item, I did want to tidy up the welds a bit more and paint the whole frame but the wife thought the rustic look were great.