3mm glass should be tempered to increase its strength. If it's not tempered it could crack from the heat and/or water splash. Thinner glass is better so less light is filtered but if thinner glass is used it needs to be tempered. Glass supplied with reflectors is always tempered, as far as I know.

Most halide reflectors that come with shields such as the lumenmax 3 use low-emissivity glass. This is because such reflectors use DE bulbs which require a UV shield. SE bulbs do not require a UV shield so any glass can be used.

Tempering is not always offered by glass shops. Most glass shops will have to cut the glass and then send it out for tempering or order the tempered glass pre-cut. You cannot cut or drill glass once tempered. If you did not ask for tempered glass, you didn't get tempered glass. I would recommend either ordering new glass which is either thicker or tempered.

They probably do if you get the DE model, mine were SE so glass was "optional" I guess.

Yea, I suppose that would make sense..

I was just looking at Sunlight Supplies website, and you are right.. The Lumenmax Elite HQI's come with glass, the Lumenmax Elite Mogul's don't mention it being included in the description.

tempering makes the glass harder and more brittle but the upside is yes it is stronger but will still turn into big shards if broken, safety glass is the glass that turns into cubes if it is shattered it is simply laminated, it was invented by auto manufacturers to make windshields more safe for you to fly through if you hit a pole:onfire:

Actually this is not correct. Tempered glass will always shatter into small oval pebbles when broken. Tempered glass is often referred to as safety glass because of this reason.

When it comes to automotive glass all glass except the windshield is regular tempered glass. This however would not work for the windshield, instead it is made of laminated glass which is two pieces of glass sandwiched around a piece of plastic. Windshields are not tempered.

Hence why a crack can spread (or even spider) across the windshield... (like the one i have! right through my line of sight! :twised: )

I'm thinking of getting some Lumenarc's and was considering using glass to shield them. I have some Spider reflectors with no glass. They've been damaged from the the saltwater splashing on them. Seems to perminetly damage the chrome finish. Is this a problem with Lumenarc's ?

I've had my lumenarcs since 2006. Cleaning is when I notice/remember. I have no permanent damage. I'd say the splashing on mine is moderate (vs minimal or heavy) definite white spots covering 20-40% of each "panel" if that helps as a description :wink:

Which reminds me, I should probly clean them :razz:

Windshields are WORSE to go through. They are, like previous stated, Laminated and not tempered. So, they go into razar shards and still stay glued together so you have to RIP through it in an accident. The reason for laminating is so they to not fall in your lap when an object, like a rock, hits the windshield. And if they were tempered, said rock would Instantly completely shatter a tempered windshield.

tempering is acctually an act of making the "skin" of the glass shrink. It shrinks and in essence compresses the inside of the glass. Think of the tempering like a balloon. The air inside is being squeezed and compressed by the balloon. Now puncture the balloon, alll the air instantly escapes, because the "skin" is not there. Same thing happens with tempered. Deviate the "skin" and it just completely lets go

BTW, even the edges are tempered. Meaning, if you punctured or chipped the edge of say, a 1" thick sheet of tempered glass, the whole sheet is a goner.

thankyou for correcting me, my bad, however, i never stated that windsheilds were tempered only laminated i guess i was misunderstood i should have worded it better :neutral: