This is topic Cretors Popcorn Machine Shattered Glass in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Cody Martin (Member # 2523) on 01-16-2008, 10:41 PM:
 
Hey All,

Hope you are having a great night. Just want to post a not so pleasant event that happened tonight. We were cleaning out the machine as usual and when I went to pull it out from the wall the glass on the right side shattered. We figured I must have hit the counter or something, but I'm almost positive I didn't. We also thought that maybe the glass was cracked and I bumped it...something we'll never know. Looks like I'll be taking a trip to Lowe's in the morning to have a new piece cut. I believe I got the dimensions 25 1/2 by 29 1/2. It's a Cretors Headliner 32 oz.

Just thought I'd share that. Also, incase anyone didn't know, it's safety glass...and a pain in the rear end to get all the glass up. It was all over our concession stand.

Anyone else have any odd occurences like this?
 

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Posted by Scott McGuire (Member # 4508) on 01-17-2008, 01:43 AM:
 
I don't think you will be able to get a custom cut of saftey glass at Lowes. A peice of plexi may do that trick until you can get a peice ordered.
 

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Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 01-17-2008, 06:22 AM:
 
Cody,

What does the "shattered" glass look like?

Often glass is under stress from the way it is installed in the frame. Slightly twisting the frame by moving the machine could cause the stress to become catastrophic. The glass is also stressed by uneven heating and cooling that also causes stress. Perhaps the piece was just overly stressed and your movement set off the breaking series of events.

Safety glass still can fracture from stress. Many windshields have cracks that slowly move across the glass from fit related stress.

KEN
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 01-17-2008, 07:01 AM:
 
I had a rear window in my Saturn replaced. A few months later on a bitterly cold winter night, I had the heat turned up full blast in the car and without warning the entire window literally exploded -- shattered in millions of pieces. I was so scared I got out of the car, crouching in front of it -- first thing that came to mind was that someone shot at the car (this is Brooklyn you know). A cop car eventually came by and naturally pulled their guns yelling for me to get away from the car and lay on the ground with my hands and legs spread (the COLD, FREEZING GROUND!). They had assumed foul play and of course the assumption was that I was the culprit. After lots of reassuring them that I was the owner and that I thought someone had shot at ME, they checked it all out and said that it wasn't a bullet that hit the window -- a bullet would make a hole, but not shatter the entire glass. Somehow I don't think that is entirely true, but I didn't argue with them.

Seems like what Ken said -- it was stress. Evidently the window was not a perfect and forced into place, putting it under constant stress -- the stress was "built in" so to speak. When the temperatures on either side of the glass became extreme, BAM...glass confetti.

Be sure you use a very good vacuum cleaner on every knook and cranny of that popcorn machine, then wipe it down with wet cloths. Cody, those glass slivers can be nearly invisible and they migrate EVERYWHERE. All you need would be one of them to remain undetected and make its way into someone's popcorn; in such a case, replacing the glass will be the least of the theatre's problems.
 

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Posted by Cody Martin (Member # 2523) on 01-17-2008, 07:39 AM:
 
Thanks for your replies.

The piece that shattered had absolutely nothing left except for the pieces that are in the channel on the edges. There were no pieces bigger than 1cm cubed.

Thanks for the info on glass stress. I'm going to pass it on.

Also, I vacuumed the entire thing last night after I pulled the channels out and cleaned them up. I plan on doing the same thing today and then giving it a couple good wipedowns. You can see the powder around the machine, so I know theres still some on it. It'll receive many cleaning before we use it tomorrow evening.

Thank you again for your help. Time for Lowes to get some plexi for the time being until the glass shop can get me some safety glass.

Thanks,
Cody
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-17-2008, 10:36 AM:
 
Wouldn't it be easier and maybe cheaper to call your friendly theatre supply house and get the glass direct from Cretors? That way it's pre-cut and correctly sized.

Is this glass located where the public can touch it? If not, I would just put a few sheets of "plastic wrap" over the space temporarily rather than going to the expense of getting a piece of plexi.
 

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Posted by Cody Martin (Member # 2523) on 01-17-2008, 10:51 AM:
 
Hi again,

Got a piece of plexiglass today. Total cost was $9.00 for the piece of plexi. The sizes in the above post worked perfectly.

All in all, we are back in business!

Thanks for your help,
Cody
 

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Posted by Scott McGuire (Member # 4508) on 01-17-2008, 11:22 AM:
 
If the plexi works i don't think you really need to get a new peice of glass. At least you know the plexi won't shatter like the other real glass did.
 

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Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 01-17-2008, 03:11 PM:
 
Is Plexi Glass sanitary enough for use on food surfaces? The popcorn will be touching the glass. Glass can be kept sanitary.
 

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Posted by Scott McGuire (Member # 4508) on 01-18-2008, 12:29 AM:
 
Plexi is not a porus surface and i would imagine it cleaned properly can be just as sanitary as glass. I know that the doors on our machince are made of plexi, the rest is glass. I guess you would have to check healt code to make sure. I'll as a friend of mine that is a health inspector and get back on that.
 

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Posted by Andy Bergstrom (Member # 360) on 01-18-2008, 09:52 AM:
 
I think plexi is approved for food service areas. The problem with plexi is how it looks 3 months from now. Plexi tends to "cloud" and discolor with time and repeated cleanings giving it a worn unsanitary look. Although there are products that will shine it back up, I don't think they're approved for use around food prep areas. I think you should check the frame around the glass. If it is not very sturdy and can shift, it probably shifted when you moved the popper and broke the glass. This is a common problem with Cretors poppers. A good solution is silicone the glass into the frame instead of using Cretors mounting method. This allows the glass to have a little play in its' mounting preventing further breakage from movement.
 

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Posted by Floyd Justin Newton (Member # 1316) on 01-18-2008, 10:13 AM:
 
Both Mike B.and Andy B. have good solutions. It's good to keep
the machine closed as much as possible in order to keep the corn
fresh.
 

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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 01-18-2008, 10:28 AM:
 
Here in CA, plexiglass can only be used in certain circumstances in food prep areas. It depends on the exact nature
of how it's being used and what type of food it is coming in contact with. FYI> Andy Karkowski, Cretors' head service guy is a great resource of tech info and advice any time you have questions or problems with one of their machines. He's very helpful.
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 01-18-2008, 11:37 AM:
 
It's just too simple to order up the glass from Cretors, isn't it? You will not be satisfied with Plexi for the reasons stated above: crazing with repeated cleanup.

If you order I'll need the model and serial number. Louis
 

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Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 01-18-2008, 01:51 PM:
 
That plexi-glass can't be your longterm solutions! You will scare it when cleaning because of the salt used in the popping any cleaner not designed for it will cloud it. When you are popping and old maids are ejected it will pit it! It would a good short term solution and yes it is cheap but you get what you pay for!
 

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Posted by Cody Martin (Member # 2523) on 01-18-2008, 11:58 PM:
 
Hello again guys,

Thanks for the replies. Plexiglass will not be my long term solution for this. It was mainly a "we need it now" situation. We actually have a glass shop up here that can cut safety glass to the same size for a pretty low price. They also informed that they have something like what's used in cars that way if it happens again it would be help together instead of all over the concession stand.

The problems with plexi glass are abundant around our theatre due to switchouts over time. We are trying to get somethings back to glass, but a few things are horrible..such as a display case that was broken and then replaced with plexi glass. After the many cleanings it had it looked like . It's next on the list though. Just for future reference, Lowes/Home Depot both have an acrylic/plexi cleaner solution. This stuff works great on the doors and on Nacho machine doors.

Thanks again for your help!
Cody
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-20-2008, 12:26 AM:
 

quote: Frank Angel

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A cop car eventually came by and naturally pulled their guns yelling for me to get away from the car

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quote: Blake Zaugg

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millions of little pieces exploded everywhere...I saw what he meant.

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