I was quoted about $500 per sliding glass door panel to do this work. And I think that was a very fair price based on your video!! 😀😀😀

I love that you’re showing that you don’t have to throw out a window necessarily.

Really impressed with the custom nozzles and clamping brackets you 3dprinted. No matter how you look at it this is a very time consuming job but those items really help save hours spent reclamping and make the job of applying the butyl rubber much easier. If you can find a company that supplies sealed units in your area the replacement price will be the best. Buying sealed units from a window company will be most expensive since they will double the price they pay for the units. If you have many units to replace, some companies will do delivery as well but you will need to custom fabricate a glass skid to keep the remaining units standing upright while you install them. Leaning them up against a wall may allow heavy glass to shift and break the seal.

just one point to add. The desiccant can be reactivated by heating in a 250F degree oven for a couple hours and reused, if you don't have replacement molecular sieve or silica gel.

I've tried separating units before. It was a hell of a lot of work.

I appreciate the effort you put into this video but the title is misleading. No, it's not a project for those with "little or no experience". The 3D jigs you made were what allowed you to avoid the problems anyone else would have trying to do this project (like holding panes properly for resealing). Also some of your captions flash on the screen for a split second and I had to rewind frame-by-frame to read them.

Just tried this in the UK, not sure where this was filmed. Big differences: 1) 3:01 - he slices through the sealant like butter, but the butyl sealant I was slicing through was much tougher, definitely blunting my Stanley knife, took 3-5 passes each side with the knife. 4:46 - absolutely no chance of this, had to use an oscillating tool and scraper attachment to get the butyl sealant off of mine (also the tool heated the sealant and made it messy). 5:20 - the sealant I was dealing with was not solid so the wire brush got none of it off. Also I learned the calcified stains are extremely difficult to remove... glass polish only got some off. I'm currently in the process to see if Zep or formic acid will remove the stains. In conclusion, if you're in UK, definitely do not recommend doing this. Going to do it once then just buy new units.

I have just telephoned my local area trying to find someone that will rebuild my units after I have stripped them to bare glass and no one wants to do it. They all want to sell me glass again and when mine is perfectly good. I will be carrying this out it will only cost me some silica gel thanks! All the negatives are from people in the trade, the emperor has no clothes.😉👍

Fundamentally it would be impossible to hermetically seal the air between the panes because atmospheric PSI fluctuations would exert extreme forces over the large pane area, so the D.G industry has given us the desiccant solution to the problem that creates more work/profit for itself, a theoretical solution would be to have a tube leading from the gap through a renewable desiccant container.

Little to no experience required??? Not!

I have a 30 year old home and this has happened to a few windows already and I am sure there will be more to follow. I thought the video was very informative for someone like myself who has the time to DIY. However, since I do not have access to a 3D printer I wonder if this or the refilling with argon makes it out of my expertise. Alex, I have seen several good questions that haven't received a reply from you. I can understand why but there are those of us out there that value this info.

How not to remove glazing beads, start from centre where you get maximum flex for the corners to pop out, sides first then bottom and top last so it does not fall out.

Hello, would you be interested in selling a set of your 3D printed stuff you used to do this? Or even the files I would need to print my own?

Great tutorial, thanks. I have 4 smaller convo panels to start! So this has been helpful

Good luck in the UK ... I've split units over the years but only to re-cut the glass for greenhouse repairs. It's more hassle than it's worth, and the watermarks are totally etched in....

I can imagine myself doing this and then abandoning it half way because I got bored. Then I start a new project and then also abandon it before I could finish, only to come back to this original project a year and half later. Believe me, It’s true, that’s how my brain works. I’ve done that, my husband is my witness 😅

Top work! Quite a lot of work and know how of 3D printing and having a spare window or I suppose you could board up the hole. Thanks for sharing 😊

Thanks for shoing the process, but abit byond my level of DIY... having seen this it makes me feel a bit better about paying a glazier to replace the glass!

You could advise filling or purging the inside with argon, for new insulation properties

Brilliant! Insulated glass is one of the biggest eco-scams out there, my 72x90" slider glass is $650 for just the replacement glass, not installation! There's no way it's saved that much energy... Building failure prone products to be thrown away when they fail and replaced with another failure prone product is not 'sustainable' or 'green'...

Okay this can be done and it's not difficult but if you break the glass, damage the ally spacer between the glass or anythingelse then you are going to have to get a new unit. I removed the fillets to measure the double glazed unit and after refitting them went to Highland Glass in Inverness....new double glazed unit supplied for £200. Take old unit out and refit new one took 10 minutes....job done. Took 2 weeks for the new unit to arrive but hey....a lot less hassle. If you are broke and good with your hands then by all means go for it but replacement doubled glazed units in the UK are cheaper than you might think.

Brilliant job! Two questions. The first is your use of cerium oxide polish. If this was a "low-E" pane, I think that would have destroyed the coating. Second, I wonder why you didn't flush with argon. You have done such a terrific job resealing these two panes, why not add argon gas? Thanks for showing your work. Would you provide the stl files for the 3D printed applicators?

Thanks for this! Not that I'm actually going to do it but I know for sure I'll never buy a double pane window again. Since we now know how the window is constructed, I'm thinking that maybe it would work to just only use one of the panes, and then replace the unit...both sides of that one pane will be cleanable then, and you won't have to go through all the rigmarole put the sealant removal, 3D printing, and resealing. Maybe I could get a handyman to try my proposal, I certainly wouldn't try it myself haha:-)

I am sticking with my single pain windows and using honey comb blinds over them for night time.

so basically make a new double glaze unit!!!!!

Why did I think that this type of window was under vacuum or filled with nitrogen?

I swear the comments is just a bunch of a windows salesmen getting annoyed that he's showing people how to fix their windows without buying new ones

This is a really good tutorial but way beyond my skill set. I just got 1st quote on replacement glass for 3 windows and am now looking for another solution.

Interesting video. But an awful lot of work when a replacement unit that size from a local glass supplier would probably cost about £25. (A couple of years ago I got a new unit made for one of my windows, approx 15" X 25", it cost £13).

It's a fun video. It's about £50 for a brand new unit, twice the size, delivered. By the end of this job you have spent a rather a lot on a 3D printer and god knows how much on other materials. A glazer will come to your house, with the unit, and fit it for less than £100 as it's a 10 min job

“Easy” foggy window fix. “Easy” is clearly subjective here. Still great process and video. Going to buy a $1000 3D printer to fix my one window. Brb

I wish I could do this but it would take me a month to do one small window. I do not have all those items. And my luck the glass would not be able to be cleaned on the inside.

Respect for you working out how the unit should work and how you've taken the time to restore the unit to a functioning window. We do like to throw stuff away, I've just changed 2 misty units for a customer without even thinking about if the old ones could be saved, I liked the polishing of the glass, would that work on my cateracts?

I just replaced 3 double glazing units in the uk had them made at a local glazers and the total cost was 75 pounds why would you go to so much trouble fir something that is so cheap.

When the condensation inside of the insulated glass unit has been trapped in there for awhile with the sun beating on it the minerals in the water(condensation) etch themselves into the glass giving you that white milky look and it does not clean off even with a razor blade. The cerium oxide that he uses to polish the glass has the consistency of all-purpose flour as it cannot scratch the glass so the actual cleaning of the glass would take many hours in itself if it is even possible at all. You must also remember that the moisture that has been trapped inside of this glass unit has saturated the desiccant inside of the metal glass spacers and corroded them. Cleaning up the glass spacers is not usually a viable option.

Dude! You say almost no experience needed? I have been in the replacement glass business for 18 years and would not attempt this at all. Chance of breaking the glass when separating with a knife is huge.

What do you mean after the sealant dries remove the old panel and replace with the new ? You have just removed the old panel, cleaned it up, polished the glass and resealed so I assume you had to board up the missing panel until the next day. Not much help to those of us who don't have a 3D printer and skills in 3D CAD design.

Novice can do it my arse.

Nice fix for Foggy Windows. I have a sliding glass window, which is in an aluminum frame. The corner of the aluminum frame broke. Is there anyway to DIY fix it, without having to have a new frame made? Any guidance would be most appreciated. Kind regards.

I'm thinking you'd want to be in a zero humidity environment. Buying the units factory sealed and covered by warranty seems the more efficient route, especially if this is a business venture. Any moisture that gets in there is going to show up as foggy with the first temperature change. I would never put this much effort into a rebuild for a customer only to have them call me back within a change of season. But, hey, if just doing a DIY at home, this might be an interesting project. Again, though, a lot of effort only to have it fog up in a year. Perhaps if you live in Arizona, you don't need to worry about humidity

Great video. I wanted to do this for a long time. Now i have to get a 3D printer :). Thank you.

Where can we buy those blue corner pieces????

Guys I've just ordered a new double glazed glass unit because of internal fogging. It's costing me £30. Just buy a new unit and fit it yourself!!!

Do the new silicone beads create the new gas in the window or how does that happen?

DIYers dream video right here

I'm going to try this on a curved double pane glass that doesn't have a frame. It's for a car but I haven't been able to find one that was good in a yard and they are no longer available.

Step One: Buy a 3-D printer Excellent video on restoring IGU without any waste

There is nothing easy in this video

Looks like a good video but couldn’t watch all of it the music drove me away sorry

Can I put diatomaceous earth instead of silica? I have a whole bag of it 😅

Hang on a minute you didn't finish the video you just cut it off before the window was all back together shoddy.

Great craftmanship 💕

Simple, do it yourself! little to no experience required, just need all these specialist tools, oh, and a 3-D printer

Beautiful job Alex, just surprised you didn't fill the panel with Argon gas for better insulation value.

Im a general contractor, with 34 yrs experience. I learned a long time ago to let the pro do the work. DIY double pane window work? Polishing to perfection, then re-assembling with argon gas etc? Brother please. I can see maybe taking out the glass, then having a dual pane glass pro doing the rest- but i would NEVER attempt this- not when my time is better spent doing what i do best, and then paying an experienced dual pane glass pro to do what he does best. If you are retired, have nothing to do , and have a shop full of tools and a nice flat, carpeted work bench- then have at it. But if you think for one second that you can watch this video and then “do it yourself”…..youre nuts. Lol. Good luck.

stop the music

Easiest fix : clean with a dish washing soap.

Holy a lot of work.....

What a bodge never seen nothing like it , leave it to the professionals

Looks easy but dont have confidence do u fancy doing my bathroom really bad

I have a 3d printer... have you got the .STL files for me to download? I have several to do.... mine are in steel Crittall frames. Getting glazing out is my main concern, how do I do that?

This is alot of work. Just buy a new one already

Just buy another glass panel , Jeeeez. They’re cheap as chips, takes about 30 mins to swap if you’ve not done it before.

Interesting Video ! , thankyou

Not!!!!wow labor cost about same as replacing?

This is not feasible at all, especially in cold climate, since you would have removed the apparatus and repair it and in the meantime the house is open to air for until you get it done.....and that could take many hours and if you happen to break the glass you would be in trouble...

That song is catchy..who is it??

Is it cheaper to higher a pro to do this rather than replace the entire window?

Great video thank you! Will give this a try… minus the awesome 3D bits :-)

What is the first song? Also thanks for the video, may attempt it but it seems 1 notch out of my league

In the time it took to watch this video I’ve made enough to just buy a replacement and get someone to fit it.

Where are the 3D files for the little doo dabs?

Alex, Thank you for this Thoughtful demo! ! !

Oh I have to take the window apart I can't do that I'll have to live with it

Now all I need is a 3D printer 🙄..... I’ll just buy a new damn window I guess.

Almost??

Look this guy just showed you all how to do it, if you cannot be bothered to do it, just go and buy new sealed unit, I found it interesting as I would like to start a hanyman service, if it was my windowns I would do the repair, but clients paying want you in and out in a fash, so that mean 2 things1, buy new sealed units or make new sealed units.

why are the frames filled with silica?

Hi I’m looking to this to my windows. Are you selling the 3D printed parts.

Thank you

This video is a joke. I would like to see the time lapse. Must have taken 8 - 10 hours polishing the contaminants off of the two pcs of glass with cerium oxide. I wonder how many pieces of glass he broke trying to cut the unit apart. Its only single strength lol.

I am wondering if I can do this myself?

Thank you♥️♥️✌️

DYI for those with 3D printer capability otherwise an excellent video. Not one I can do!

Brilliantly ✔done

Link to files for 3d printed parts?

Whoops I broke mine putting the glazing beads on. Both sides at that. The shit you told me to use is so hard to get off. I've sliced my arm so bad I'm in the hospital. Looking at about 19 stitches so far. I didn't have a spare IG so my house is wide open, hopefully no one robs me and jacks my new 3d printer. Great video though.

you made love to that window and it became like new

So...you just left regular air in there that is just going to condense again?

When you have wooden panes🙃

nope not for me .. i buy one instead x

uhh...i think i'm just gonna buy a new window...

yo Alex I would seriously like to talk to you! I am interested in the 3D printed stuff

i cant do that

You have got to be joking.

You might need to look up the definitions of "simple" lol You guys will need to have an extra window lying around to cover the whole while you repair the original window

Awesome

Yeah they're just gonna stay fogged in my house. Oh well lol.

A little less floor-sweeping would make for a lot shorter video. Also, What's the point of watching your video as who owns a 3d printer. Very boring. I didn't learn anything helpful at all.

Will pay