CNC machining centres can undertake a variety of operations on glass. Simon Manley, Sales Manager for machinery supplier Peter Hawkins Ltd, outlines some machinery types and applications

CNC machining centres are used throughout manufacturing industries to process materials as diverse as paper, wood, stone, metals, plastic and of course glass. While the technology is largely transferable from one industry to another the processes that machines carry out within these industries does vary.

With glass, these processes include shape and straight cutting, edge grinding with polishing, bevelling, brilliant cutting, drilling and routing.

The machines supplied to the glass industry to carry out these processes are normally specified according to the number of axes that are used. These are typically three, four and five axis machines, although some machines may offer as many as six or seven axes.

Three axis machines normally process glass on a flat bed and use the axes X, Y and Z. The X axis describes movement on the machine from front to back, the Y axis from left to right and the Z axis describes up and down movements. Such machines are capable of profiling and notching glasses with a routing tool, edge profiling and polishing including shape edging and polishing, engraving and drilling.

Four and five axes

Four axis machines normally add C axis movement. This allows the entire head to rotate through 360 degrees in the vertical plane. By using a 90° gearbox, drive is transferred to either saw blades for cutting multi laminates or alternatively brilliant cutting wheels for decorating the surface of the glass. These four axis machines may sometimes also be fitted with 5° gearboxes to allow bevelling with some limitations, i.e. a fixed angle only.

Five axis machines allow the spindle unit to be inclined between 0 and 90° to allow bevelling and mitring. Some machines will also allow peripheral grinding for high quality polished glass edges.

Six, and other functions

Six axis machines normally have a further lateral adjustment on the grinding head that allows the head, not only to rotate around its vertical access when bevelling, but ensures that the head is able to follow tight radiuses when bevelling.

Other functions, which operate as axes in their own right, include non-template bevelling of thin glasses. In this case, an arm is fitted to the bevelling grinding spindle which supports the glass during the bevelling operation to ensure no deflection and, therefore, maintain a parallel bevel at all times. This feature is sometimes called an axis, as the arm needs to respond to variations in tooling dimensions, as well as glass thickness of course.

Machinery briefing

Anders invests

Salford based glass processor T.A .Anders, well known for processing architectural glass and in particular fire resistant glasses, has recently installed a new CMS FT 2.18 CNC machining centre.

Managing Director, Simon Anders, explained that this machine has further increased their ability to produce high class glass products for architects and interior designers in both corporate and domestic applications.

‘In addition to AP doors, partitioning and balustrading we are being asked more and more for vanity units and splash backs as well as kitchen work tops. This new machine, supplied by Peter Hawkins Ltd, gives us the flexibility and capacity to produce some really exciting work’ says Mr Anders.

T.A. Anders, tel: 0161 736 2487/8, e-mail: enquiries@ andersglass.co.uk

Hollow Seal codes units with Domino lasers and ink jets

Hollow Seal has integrated a Domino S200 laser with its Ashton Industrial arrissing machine to code BS Kitemark and standard numbers onto toughened glass.

For IGU production, the Ely based processor runs a Domino A100 ink jet printer alongside its Lisec spacer bending machine. Yellow ink 261L was selected to give a good contrast on all the different colours of spacer bars, says Mark Jarrod, the company’s Operations Director.

Source

Glass Age