Humble Suggestion for TruVue

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Framar

Framar

WOW Framer
Joined
Jul 24, 2001
Posts
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Loc
Buffalo, New York, USA/Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada
OK - here is my idea: those little stickers that say "Score Opposite Side" - this means they are on the inside side of the glass, the coated, scratchable side, and it might be an easy mistake for a framer to have a frame all fitted and papered and ready to go and spot the danged sticker on a nice white/gray area of the artwork.

So you would have to take everything apart, fish out the sticker, and then refit.

Would it not be just as easy to print up stickers that say "SCORE SIDE" - I have been doing that for years with a little bit of masking tape - I always place it on the score side and leave it on until the frame is finished completely - especially since I buy larger lites and cut them down, not all pieces end up with printing on them.

It is a LOT easier to peel a bit of tape or a sticker off of the FRONT of the glass than the inside of a frame package.

My 2¢.
 
I suspect that the printing and/or sticker side is realted to the orientation of the glass as it moves through production, just as with the packaging. It's probably asking for too much to change.
 
Those stickers might also stay put better on the coated side than the uncoated. Now Mar if you would simply clean your glass before assembly there would be no problem. Many framers have decided to not clean the prewashed glass and over time some ghosting appears as a result of the residue on the packing materials.

I have refit some pieces that were framed elsewhere where this is the case. I explain to the customer that if the original framer had simply cleaned the glass they wouldn't be paying me to fix it. I don't think any framer wants a customer to hear that. Just a warning for those who find it too time consuming to spend one minute cleaning their prewashed glass.
 
Mar, just went through Tru-Vue's plant here in Minnesota (wonderful plant) and the printing was one of the things that was asked about during the tour. Response was that they have now adjusted the print to be on the very bottom of the glass and the print is smaller.

The reason for the print to be on the side it is because it is one of the last things that is done before packaging and can only be printed on one side because of the conveyor. If you saw the operation it would really make sense, they are looking into a design change because of the complaints but who knows if they will and if the change would be economically feasible. Joe B
 
Joe she was referring to the vinyl cling labels that are stuck on the pieces that have no printing on them.
 
Are those "this side" sticky labels available for cut off pieces of CC or M glass that we all have? They come on some of the glass we receive. That would be a good idea to have for left over glass.
 
Ok....Am I the only one that has no idea of what labels/clings you are talking about?
 
Tim, they are normally on the smallest sizes since many of those are offcuts during quality control etc. I haven't seen many of them since I usually buy the 32x40.

I think I will call TV to see if I can get some to put on cut scrap. They are pretty good about giving us items that make using their product easier.
 
Jeff Rodier said:
Joe she was referring to the vinyl cling labels that are stuck on the pieces that have no printing on them.
Click to expand...

Jeff

I haven't seen those labels but like you I generally buy 32 X 40 too - oh well, live and learn, thanks for letting me know.

I would like to get some of those for the usable cut-offs too. I use post-its now and they fall off real easy. I would appreciate it if you would let us know what TV says.

Joe
 
I got a box of CC with the new, smaller printing. You probably could get away with leaving it in place, but it's so easy to remove that I'll probably still do so.
:cool: Rick
 
Can't you guys just use a poece of masking tape to indicate the right side to score? I do that with my leftover pieces. Doesn't seem to leave any residue.
 
How about those little teeny rectangle stickers used by people marking garage sale items? Or any small little colored sticker you buy at office supply stores?

We just take a matblade and "scritch" a corner.
 
I place the piece of masking tape on the outside score side of the glass, right after I clean it. I always clean the pre-cleaned glass. So there!

Lately I have bought 24x36, 26x32 and 32x40 sizes so i am not sure if the stickers were from any particular size or not. I have run into lites with two printed edges, in two sizes of type. LOL, as long as they are on the same side!
 
So Mar how is it that you don't discover the cling label while you are cleaning the glass. Just wondering.
 
I leave the label on until the last possible minute - that's why I would like them to be on the outside! Sometimes when you have a recalcitrant piece and either the matboard or the glass is picking up specks and flumbs and stuff, it is easy to lose track which side is which....... ;)
 
MerpsMom said:
How about those little teeny rectangle stickers used by people marking garage sale items? Or any small little colored sticker you buy at office supply stores?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I discovered that those "removable" stickers aren't as nice as you'd' like... I used them for some mirrors that I'd made up. Put the price sticker right on the glass. Some months later I sold a mirror and went to remove the sticker. The sticker itself came off just fine, but it left this nasty sticky residue that was hard to fully remove even with Goof-Off.

For glass offcuts (except Museum Glass), I take a Sharpie and mark it (on the score side) with the size and type (e.g. "13x24 CC"). The Sharpie ink comes off just fine with denatured alcohol (just like the TV markings).

Museum Glass offcuts get lovingly wrapped in paper, with the size and type marked on the paper.
 
We don't stick anything on our leftover pieces. If there's no
writing on them, we have done the pen or razor blade test
to see which side to cut. Now, it's even easier. Someone posted
a tip about breathing on the glass to see which side is which.
That works great, and is a lot faster than having to grab
a pen or blade.

The only time I put tape on is if someone is buying a pre-cut
piece of glass and doing a fitting themself. (We get this several
times a year). Then, I'll put blue tape on the outside and write,
'This side faces out'. But no need to at the shop.

Jeff, your comment about not cleaning glass interested me.
I clean every piece, no matter how good it looks. My co-worker
informed me last week that, unless she sees something, she
doesn't wash museum glass that she's just cut. I do it anyway,
even if the piece looks great. What you wrote about the finish
having an effect if unwashed has me wondering if it's so. If it
is, that would give me something useful to say to her about it.
 
There is an easy and fool-proof way to determine which side of the glass to cut, and you do not need any sort of markings to identify it.

As shown in these photos, one side of the cut edge is fairly smooth, and the other side has tiny serrations. Cut the side that has the tiny serrations.

If you look at the edges of the lites in your opened boxes of glass, you can determine the proper orientation for cutting.

For all types of glass, regardless of coatings, the serrated side is the side that has been cut previously.
 

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Yes but Jim, sometimes I have cut the WRONG side of coated glass (never noticed any difference, really, in its "cut-ability status") and without my little bits of masking tape, I might lose track of which side faces artwork.
 
BatesMotel said:
I'm with Shayla, there is no need to mark the glass. I just do the blade test in a corner. I need to know about this breath test though.
Click to expand...

Yes, more about the test. The only breath tests I'm familiar with are:

(1) where you suck on a tube to determine your lung capacity vs. expected capacity, and

(2)) where you blow into a tube to determine your alcohol / oxygen ratio.
 
I had a piece of UV glass here at home last night and I gave the breath test a whirl (plus using guidance from the edge of the glass).

When breathed upon the uncoated side looks like normal glass (remember when you were a kid and did this on the car windows?) and the coated side is ringed with long spidery arms.
 
shayla said:
Jeff, your comment about not cleaning glass interested me.
I clean every piece, no matter how good it looks. My co-worker
informed me last week that, unless she sees something, she
doesn't wash museum glass that she's just cut. I do it anyway,
even if the piece looks great. What you wrote about the finish
having an effect if unwashed has me wondering if it's so. If it
is, that would give me something useful to say to her about it.
Click to expand...

If it's a brand-new piece of glass straight out of the box, then I don't clean it. I've never had a problem, and it saves labor (I do, however, blow it off with compressed air prior to fitting). Offcuts and pieces of unknown provenance do get cleaned.
 
What Mar said. Somebody described this last week, and it works.
I used to do the pen test, then switched to the razor blade
test. That's so much more definitive in it's results, and less
messy. But this breathing thing is pretty nifty. On my con.clear,
it doesn't make long spidery arms, but it's definitely easy to
tell. The side that faces out (and gets cut) steams evenly, while
the side that faces inward has blotchy patterns in the steam.

I'm so happy with the new tiny lettering. I was getting peeved
to the core by how bit it was. And how lazy they seemed to be,
letting it drift so far into the sheet. This is way better.
 
I've never understood how people could use glass out of the box withoutcleaning first. I can always see wrinkley marks from the facing paper. Even if I couldn't, I've just never been that trusting. I like the breath test. I'll have to try it when I'm done being so dang germy.
 
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