I removed two. One from Catacomb and one from Star trek.

I went very slow, worked the trim up the edge. It's a pressure fit.

The new ones went on the same...no tape

Get a few more opinions.
faz

it's the gummy tape they use that locks them on. I use a putty knife and gently tap it down the line. Keep working it off, little by little.

I went with hot hair drier . Razor blade Go slow

No on the Xacto you don't want to fracture the ink.
Hang the glass upside down by the lift channel an inch from the floor with padding underneath on the edge of a wooden box or frame with another one behind it.
Let it sit in a warm place overnight and the glass should fall out of it.
The idea is to create a slot to catch the glass when it falls free.
Sometimes it takes a couple days but eventually it will fall free of the lift channel.
I use a small electric space heater to warm the glass slowly placed a couple feet away from it.

Bend and snap!

Wow! I had no tape on mine...both. Maybe after 30 years it had no grab left.

I did not add any tape. Should I? The pressure fit seemed good enough to me.
faz

I wouldn't add heat to it. Just from setting a glass on concrete it will burst from the temp change. Heat could do the same thing. Instant burst.

This is actually the correct way to do it.

I'd add that you only need to hang it an 1/8" off of a carpeted floor, so when it drops, it won't have far to go.

It may take a day or two to finally slip out. No heat required or desired.

You are suspending the glass upside down by the front edge of the lift channel and gravity does the work.
Any prying or direct rapid heating can pop the glass.
You just want to make sure when the glass drops out it can't fall forward or backwards and drops down on a padded surface.
Most of the time it works overnight sometimes a day or two but it will fall right out.

You can make a frame, 2 Ts out of 2x6 upside down with 2 2X2 nailed to the end with a slot between them wide enough for the glass.
Like this.

CIMG5209.JPG

They are supposed to have tape in the channel to act as a shock absorber so when you lift the glass out of the backbox it doesn't break. That's why the grooves in the lift channels are designed to be slightly wider than the thickness of the glass. So there is room for the tape.

The factory used black friction tape which you can still get from Home Depot but I prefer to use regular black plastic electrical tape because it works just as good for cushioning but also is less adhesive which helps if you ever try to remove it without damaging the backglass artwork.

I have attached a PDF copy of my lift channel installation instructions I provide on request for those who purchase one of my reproduction backglass lift channels.

Hello...I tried to remove the metal lift frame by suspension and after 5 days it is still attached. Before I squirt some sort of oil/lube in the channer (on the mirror side, of course) can someone else offer an idea. Thanks...

I would try to clean up and restore the old lift-up channel attached to the backglass. You may damage the rear of the backglass in the process of separation, especially if it is already flaking.

Yves

Restore the old lift channel while it's attached to the backglass?

Not hardly.

The original lift channels were stamped from cold-rolled sheet metal and had cheap nickel plating. Once they rust that's it unless you were to remove it and possible re-polish and re-plate it.

I make reproductions out of pre-polished stainless steel that will never rust.

It's best to remove the old one even if you lose some paint from the backglass. Afterwards you can touch the backglass up and then I mask off about an inch up (or however high up I need to go to cover the damaged area) and spray a stripe of Triple-Thick over the touch up. After you install the new lift channel it is usually hard to see and the repair is permanent. The lift channel usually hides the areas that might be damaged and the area that fits in the lift channel groove is reinforced.

Always use the tape when installing a lift channel. It keeps the glass from cracking and acts like a shock absorber cushioning the glass. Never put a bare metal lift channel on the glass unless you don't care if it's ruined.

The groove in the lift channel is larger than the glass thickness to allow for the use of tape.

Here's what a typical original lift channel looks like. They rusted-out because when the glass is cleaned the Windex or whatever was used just lays in the groove. It's also a contributing factor as to why the bottom area tends to flake before the top does.

IMG_7588 (resized).jpg

IMG_7801 (resized).JPG

Here's one of my new lift channels next to the crappy original:

IMG_7813 (resized).JPG

Afterwards the backglass and trim are like new:

IMG_7829 (resized).JPG

I also make the plastic edge trim:

IMG_7822 (resized).jpg

I have several machines with touched-up bottom areas and a stripe of Triple-Thick across the bottom. It stops the paint separation in it's tracks and preserves the backglass from further damage.

Happy 2018, Gate! Are you still making these?