I glue the pieces down first, so you can position and lay the loose/delaminating pieces flat. Then use plastic wrap to press the pieces down flat and eliminate air bubbles. You only have a few seconds to do this before the glue starts to set.

It takes some practice, and the results won't always be perfect, but it's worked well for me so far on a number of backglasses I needed to put back together.

After that, triple thick the backglass. You can use it to even out any small ridges that may have formed from pressing down on the glue with the plastic.

I would recommend first trying this on a junk backglass that you might not care too much about.

I would never go to the extent of trying 'to glue' the delaminated components mainly because I have never seen the need & it introduces an additional complication. I have found spraying the triple thick after masking score reels etc then glad wrapping and tampering the glad wrapping to push down any lifted sections does the trick. Remove the glad wrap in 24 hours & all good. I have never experienced any subsequent lifting. I have sealed approx. 12 backglasses using this method.

I started out with just the triple thick and plastic wrap method, and loose pieces tended to shift from the spray, or from trying to seal the whole backglass at once with plastic wrap.

Gluing down small areas at a time works much better.

For the area concerned Bruce I place a gladwrap strip across the bg & to the sides-that way you can get some evenness/ tension on the gladwrap. As ForceFlow indicates small/loose pieces are not in my experience satisfactory. No weights necessary. I place the gladwrap on straight after the spraying when the triple thick is still wet & tamp down the gladwrap/delam sections with either my finger or a soft tip blunt object. Again in my experience not too much to go wrong. One other issue I rarely 'clean' the bg side to be triple cleared particularly in delam areas. Any tampering to clean can make a bad situation worse! I am sure you will accomplish it successfully.

I would not recommend that unless there is a large gap of at least 2mm. Otherwise, you will likely damage the paint during the process of cutting. I can't speak to what would happen if you tried to pry something off the glass if it has already been triple thicked.

Yes, that is why I don't use that technique. It's difficult to both hold things in place and lay down plastic wrap across the entire backglass.

It only takes a couple minutes to start setting. If you smudge the triple thick too much when that starts to happen, it will disturb/smudge/remove the masking layer where you smudged it. Also, if you start trying to shift pieces around, they will break apart very easily.

It is best not to disturb anything after a minute or two.

It's a judgement call depending on how bad it is. Sometimes, I will start carefully cleaning with a damp q-tip to avoid additional damage. That approach takes time and patience.

Question: Does this whole process of applying Triple Thick onto a backglass that has delaminated areas of artwork (but artwork is still in one piece and attached), allow the delaminated areas to re-attach to the glass? i.e. does Triple Thick wet through the artwork to 'glue' it back to the glass?

Not really. The artwork is not porous. Some triple thick can leak/flow in around the edges of the lifted areas, which helps secure it, but that's about it.

You're mostly just securing the back side.

From the front, you will likely see air pockets in lifted areas.

With the superglue technique, the idea is to get some glue into those air pockets, then press down to spread it.

Ah, ok thanks. I tried the old simple re-laminating car tint solution of using clear nail polish to reattach a small area of artwork on a backglass and it seemed to work well. But the slow drying time of nail polish meant I needed to press the artwork often over a 20 minute period to make sure it finally set attached. I have back glasses with large irregular lifted areas and was hoping there was an easier way.

I have sealed about 8 or 10 glasses with TT. Results are usually good to excellent. Longevity varies. You are still not protected from wild temp swings as I had 3 glasses blister when the heat went out in my shop. Now I generally spot seal glasses with TT. The plastic wrap method works but the result on the back side of glass has never been smooth

How cold did the backglasses get to cause damage? I've sealed many backglasses with Triple Thick, and it works really well in the majority of cases. You never want to use it on a humid day however. I spray it in direct sunlight, and it will dry to the touch within 20 minutes or so. I've never exposed a TT sealed glass to extreme cold. I've seen glasses sealed with CYG disintegrate in extreme cold, but that stuff is much thicker.

Bruce-I have set out my method over which I have had no problems. ForceFlow has a different approach & that is fine. It is all about the gladwrap stretch & dexterity of placing the gladwrap over the delam sections. I just cannot conceive the use of superglue as a forerunner but 'each to their own'. I do not propose to change my approach.

In this case, I'd consider it closer flaking, rather than delaminating (which usually implies larger pieces about the size of a coin or bigger). So yes, spraying would probably be easier here. Obviously, start with a gentle misting, so as not to blow the flakes out of place.

Use pieces of mylar cut to size. Easiest and most effective method for me.

The reason for the plastic wrap is that it pretty much stays put when laid down, and comes off easily from the triple thick after it has cured. Plus it's cheap and easy to obtain. I haven't really thought about experimenting another material for flattening when using triple thick. I certainly wouldn't use something with an adhesive backing, though.

FYI, you don't necessarily have to use glad wrap. I use the cheaper walmart "great value" brand instead.

Once you remove the plastic wrap, you can even out the ridges left by the wrinkles in the plastic wrap by spraying down some more triple thick and let it dry flat for about a half hour.

It was freakin' cold.
There was a cold snap here in New England and I would guess my shop got to between 0*F and 5*F.
The glasses peeled in sheets.
Too bad, the reason I got the games was that the glasses were nice.

HOWEVER, they would have likely peeled anyway, TT or not.

Bruce
I have never found time is an issue with the gladwrap-just work promptly & precisely.

If the flaking is in defined areas yes more than one sheet is ok.

I tamp with my finger or a prod but just a gentle tamp.

A can in my experience goes a long way. If its one bg & a full can no second needed.

I bought some games that were sitting in a guys shed here for years before I got them. The day I picked them up it was -40 Celsius. Didn't have any issues with backglass delamination...

It usually is solid enough to move after about 2 hours....it will still be sticky though.

I usually move it inside after about 15 minutes when it starts to set.

When I covered windows, I only pulled up the tape after the triple thick cured, and used an xacto knife to cut it free after. However, you're still left with somewhat of a ragged/visible edge.

I changed to just spraying triple thick over the score windows. The trick is to spray it very thick in order to get a glass-like smooth surface. It still won't be 100% level, though. You can use novus to knock it down a bit if you need to. It looks fine for digital displays, which are mostly dark, so I'm not sure if the triple thick would be to wavy and noticable when backed by white reels.

I have sprayed both as display windows and em score display windows rather than masking. I think it is unnoticable.

I keep my games in the basement at a lakeside property. It is not heated in the winter and I remove the backglasses and store them at my house.
I have noticed that the glasses are beginning to lift after they are at my house. I suspect the change in humidity is the issue. I am back to full triple thick instead of spot spraying.

No. However, I have noticed that disturbing the triple thick while it's curing with mess with the masking layer of paint.

Concerned about what? I don't see a problem with laying down plastic wrap over the tape. It won't adhere unless there is enough triple thick over the tape.

Yep.

I haven't heard of anyone trying that before, so I have no idea what affect that may have.

I have sprayed the Triple Thick right over the clear openings for the score reels many times. If you spray the TT in the right conditions most people would not notice the TT on the Score openings. You have to get real close, like to with in a foot, to notice the layer of the clear coating.

Also like to make sure that the edges of the glass are also coated with TT, to help seal the artwork to the glass.

I normally put the glass down on some 2x4's, spray it, let it sit for 15 minutes or so, then lift it up (like a pizza) on the glass side, rather than the edges.

Then I have some 2x4's inside that I put the backglass on. This prevents any newspaper or cardboard from sticking to sprayed areas after putting it down to cure.

I'm not the expert on back glass repair but if you leave a bubble underneath the lifting paint and the TT you still have an area with no paint or ink adhesion so you are left with a bubble which can spread. I just sold a Bally that someone had done TT to a long time ago. There was a bubbled area that was completely blown out.

Where exactly are these bubbles? between the glass and the paint, or embedded in the triple thick?

I wouldn't advise flexing the triple thick after it's cured. It may crack and damage paint.