OT: Strange noises in the night!

On Thu, 12 Sep 2013 03:45:48 -0700 Charlie E. wrote in Message id: :

Maybe the glass was under stress for some reason?

Reminds me of the time when I was troubleshooting a Multibus processor board and found that a 2716 EPROM was hosed. I removed the chip (ceramic, natch) and flung it toward a nearby waste can. Unfortunately for me, I missed it by a bit, and located behind it was a sliding glass door. The same thing happened to the door that you observed. The door made crackling noises for over an hour as the cracks continued to multiply, then finally the whole mess collapsed by itself in the frame. Quite fascinating to watch, but an expensive way to learn a lesson.

As an aside: CLEANUP! Since someone is likely to walk barefoot in there. Vacuum, then take wide tape, rolled into a loop to protect your fingers, and PICK UP [using sticky side of course] residue glass pieces the vacuum missed - you'll be surprised the tiny pieces you get stuck to the tape. Go through a LOT of tape, it's worth it. If carpeted outside bathroom, continue doing this out along the carpet, too.

Reminds me of something that happened when I was likely not even a teenager yet. I took apart this old projector and saved the lenses from it. I was a very careful, deliberate kid, and since these lenses were in perfect con dition, I was very careful with them. I had one laying on a tissue, and it suddenly, for no apparent reason at all, went "poof" and broke into a pile of glass bits. I was totally shocked.

Probably unrelated, but here in Australia there have been a pile of "inexpensive" tempered glass topped outdoor tables spontaneously shatter/explode. They probably came from China (along with everything else!)

I think the problem was incorrect annealing or tempering in the glass toughening process.

! Exactly ! the same thing happened to me except I am not married and had no wife or anyone else next to me.

I heard a loud noise and then a crackling sound. I tracked it down and found the shower wall (not the door) had a bullet hole looking mark that slowly expanded until the whole side was "safety" cracked. The whole side!

But I remembered what had happened.

Several days before the event while showing I was washing my hair and turned in the shower and my elbow bumped that exact same spot on the glass. I was a hard bump but nothing broke (including my elbow). Nothing appeared damaged so I continued and finished my shower.

So it appears that the glass took some time to decide that it was going to fail. I had glass repair folks in to do the work but watched in amazement when they were able to get the glass side out then fold it up and bag it. That was really good safety glass.

So how do I solve such problems? I get my hair cut very short so the is very little head scrubbing needed or glass breaking these days. lol

Congratulations on the wife. But ask her if she bumped the glass in that location. At least you have someone to blame it on. In my case it must have been the gremlins (the one I see in the mirror every time I look).

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Yes, I see that it is, while not common, does happen all the time. My wife is now debating whether to replace the door, or just string a shower curtain across the opening!

A shower curtain will probably not shatter with a bullet hole in it. What was the caliber of the hole?

We use cats.

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com 

Precision electronic instrumentation 
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators 
Custom laser drivers and controllers 
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links 
VME thermocouple, LVDT, synchro   acquisition and simulation

Snail shower ;-) ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142   Skype: Contacts Only  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

When I was about 18, I worked in a video repair shop, the boss ask me to do some unremembered repair to HIS slide projector. I had some parts removed, not even in the area of the lens. I was not even touching the projector when I heard a snap, I looked and the lens had cracked. I swear I was not near the lens and it cracked. I am fully confident that no one in the shop believed I didn't break that lens. Mikek

Boy, the responses from Kohler sure pushed my "irony" button. Does anyone care to bet what they'd say if one of their toilets rose up from the floor and beat someone to death?

--

Tim Wescott 
Wescott Design Services 
http://www.wescottdesign.com

I imagine that they'd be concerned about the consumer reporting an unsatisfactory experience.

Our old tabby used to jump up on th piano and walk back and forth across the keys in the middle of the night ;) He liked to open cabinets too, I can still hear the latches snap open or closed in the middle of the night ;D

Cheers

We have two cats, Ajax and Comet. Very clean cats.

Comet opens cabinets. Every night, she opens my sock drawer, tosses out half of the socks, and nests down in what's left.

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com 

Precision electronic instrumentation 
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators 
Custom laser drivers and controllers 
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links 
VME thermocouple, LVDT, synchro   acquisition and simulation

This is informative:

Maybe look into that film he mentions, seems like everything about this glass, from sourcing materials, manufacture, installation and use requires too much precision and care to make it worth it.

Set up a camera and shoot a video of that then put it on youtube.

tm

Okay, that explains a LOT:

Great names, The local tool supply had two cats named Socket and Wrench roaming the store. I always thought they were clever names.

Cheers