| Polish automotive glass supplier Saint-Gobain Sekurit HanGlas Polska is claiming to gave made an advance in the production of cut-outs and other internal profiles used to mount handles, latches and light clusters.
Water jet cutting is used instead of the traditional methods of drilling and machining to enable more complex shapes to be produced and with greater efficiency. Water jet cutting also offers the benefits of clean edges and no heat affected zone.
Water at a pressure of 4,000 bar carries grit particles, 120 mesh garnet grade, and quietly and cleanly produces internal profiles in automotive glass. The table can accommodate sheet sizes up to 3x2m and all thicknesses can be processed.
There is the potential for improved productivity because the machine produces all shapes in one pass, whereas more conventional methods may require profiles and holes to be produced on separate machines. In some cases, Saint-Gobain has seen output of some windows increase by 300 per cent.
Supplied by Water Jet Sweden, the machine is NC controlled by a GE Fanuc system and receives profile data directly from CADCAM, enabling just-in-time production runs from a pan-European customer base.
The conventional wisdom is that water jet cutting can cause impaired surface quality of the finished glass because the jet can rebound during processing, marking the underside. Engineers at the facility solved this problem by positioning the glass above the water level on isolating spacers.
The machine works to a general tolerance of ±0.05mm and can produce radii of less than R1, offering greater design freedom when considering profile complexity or groups of closely pitched holes.
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