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hack for re-assembling glass tops


Eric Newton
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Today I was doing some maintenance on my largest aquarium.  After scraping all the algae and dust off the glass lids, the glass worked its way out of the hinge.  Over time, the hinge has become stiffer and even after cleaning, it was hard to get the glass back in the hinge slot.  Push in one corner, and the other corner would pop out. Get the whole side in, and the other half of the glass would fall out.

But today I found out how to get the glass back in the hinge with very little effort!  Wood clamps!

Just start the glass into the hinge and clamp it down.  That is, the clamp has to stretch all the way across the glass to the side opposite the hinge.  In my case, the clamp was open about 8" for the smaller side of the glass.

If the instructions don't make sense, please don't try this.  

The clamps I used have a squeeze handle that tightens the clamp, a lot like the handle to a caulk gun.  A second clamp lets you gently push the hinge onto the glass farther down the glass.  I just kept moving the clamp down the hinge and used it to push the glass into the hinge completely.  The first clamp keeps the hinge/glass in place as you go.

This worked so well, was so easy and controlled.  It felt so much safer than trying to push hard on the glass to insert it into the hinge.

Be very gentle with your glass/hinge/clamp and be careful!  My clamps are padded and therefore don't push a hard edge into the glass.

This might be the first time in a year that all the glass tops have been fully inserted into their hinges.

I just had to tell someone.

Edited by Eric Newton
thumbnail, removed an extra word
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A quick 'hack' is to run the hinge under some hot water to make it more mailable. I pull apart my lids every so often to clean the glass fully as well as to get that ugly algae out of the hinge where you can't access it with everything assembled. Using hot water has always worked to assist reassembly. 

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On 8/30/2021 at 3:14 AM, Guppysnail said:

I also use aquarium silicone lubricant that I use on canister rings

Do you have a specific brand of silicone lubricant to use? I can't find a good one and I haven't lubricated mine in over a year 😬

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