I was setting up Arrakis 2.0 at my brother’s distillery tasting room and was going to clean the glass top when one of the stupid vacuum cup handles I was using let go. The glass hit the terrazzo floor and exploded! It took an hour to clean up all the “ghetto diamonds”.
I have ordered a new piece of glass (30 x 50 x 1/4"- $300) and will try again in about 2 weeks.
Do use tempered glass! Don’t use cheesy vacuum cup handles!
No, use tempered glass, just don’t use crap suction handles. If it wasn’t tempered, you’d be dealing with thousands of razor sharp daggers. Especially in a commercial setting, pretty sure tempered glass table tops are required. That’d be a hell of a lawsuit if someone tripped and fell on the table then required several hundred stitches.
Wow the things you don’t think about!!! after reading that would acrylic work?
The real answer is tempered glass with that bonded layer so when it does shatter all the bits stay in place
Acrylic would work, but tends to sag, as does polycarbonate. Both can be scratched easily compared to glass. Finally, I previously used PC for the top cover and found that sand kicked up by the ball would get stuck to the PC because of static electricity. It doesn’t seem to be a problem with glass.
Once the new glass arrives I’ll be siliconing it into the wood frame. That will increase weight but should prevent future mishaps because I won’t be handling the glass directly.
Oh that has to be heart breaking to witness. I get so nervous lifting my glass up as well. I typically only hinge mine but a 5’ top has a lot of flex in it.
Prior to the vacuum cup handles I was using gloves with rubber palms. I should have stayed with them.
The old glass was 3/16" thick. I ordered 1/4" glass for the new piece. It should be stronger (and heavier), and once it is permanently mounted in the oak frame, easier to handle without using vacuum cups.
