Choosing the right diamond wheel for your glass grinding

February 8, 2023

Choosing the right diamond wheel for your glass grinding

Have some questions about glass grinding? You are not alone.

Choosing the right diamond wheel for your glass grinding needs can be the difference between consistent high-quality parts or loss of production and decreased efficiency. Inefficient grinding wheels will result in hours of lost production time — something that comes in between you and your operational goals. Whether your glass grinding operations include beveling edges for automotive glass or cutting glass tubes, take a look at our “cheat sheet” for everything you ever wanted to know about glass grinding– and how PBLOG is staying ahead of the curve.

GENERAL INFORMATION

WHAT SHOULD MY WHEEL DO?

The goal of a high-performance glass grinding wheel is to cut freely with minimal chipping and to hold its profile for as long as possible. Correct wheel formulation is critical to the success of your operation.

INDUSTRIES

Glass grinding is used across multiple industries, but the most common include automotive, medical (tubes), construction (windows, glazing), optical glass, photovoltaic glass, electronic glass (cell phones, automotive touch displays).

TYPES OF GLASS

Annealed glass, heat-strengthened glass, tempered glass, laminated glass, leaded glass, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, armored glass, and more.

 
 
 

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS

 

COMMON MACHINES

Bavelloni, Bovone, Bystronic, Glaston, Benteler, Glassline, CMS, XHC.

MACHINE REQUIREMENTS

Depending on the process, rigid CNC machines are typically needed allowing minimal vibration to keep tolerances to a minimum. High power motors are needed to drive metal bond wheels.

WHEEL RIM TYPES

Segmented, semi-segmented, continuous (with or without coolant holes).

COMMON BONDS

Metal is the most common, used for long production runs for roughing and finishing. Resin is used for shorter runs. Rubber bonds are used for polishing.

WHEEL SHAPES

There are many wheel shapes used in glass processing. Typical shapes include, but are not limited to, 1FF6Y Pencil edge with three common profiles (VA, PE, FA). These are typically used for beveling auto glass. 1A1R are used for cutting or slotting.

TYPICAL GRIT SIZES

120, 150, and 180 mesh.

COOLANTS

Water-based. Typically filtered via centrifuge to remove grinding particles.

TYPICAL RUN TIMES BEFORE RE-PROFILING IS NEEDED

10,000 meters. Reprofiling is normally done with a wire EDM machine.

 

The most important point is:
Each glass is produced from a different thickness of glass, hardness or something different.
Each glass grinding wheel factory produces a different formula with different granularity, but we can solve it according to the customer's needs.