Jeepwalker
'89 GMC RCSB 4x4
I've shared this story on other posts, but one of my industrial customers was a large glass manufacturer. They make the raw glass, and in another plant, cut it and put it into frames (and all the major home glass outfits put them in their frames).
They also do curved glass. Made to order. Essentially they put a piece of flat glass into a frame which is nothing more than some mild steel wire (maybe 3/8" diameter??) ...a couple bands that run below the glass. My do-it-all buddy at the plant would literally make these 'baskets' they called them ...but they were just bent wire welded into a frame. He had a work area in the corner of the large building. He'd figure the arc of the bend the customer ordered, tape some string to the concrete floor, and chalk-out the arc. Double-check the measurements. Then he'd bend a few pieces of wire with his foot ...to match the arc. And weld them and make a stand (so they would sit on the conveyor belt. He'd weld a couple lateral pieces too ...to hold the longitudinal sections straight. That's it...it wasn't high tech. I'd seen him make all kinds of baskets. He was an off-the-farm guy. Good head on his shoulders.
They set the flat glass on the curved wire frames, and send them on the steel conveyer belt through an electric heater oven about the length of a 24' shipping container (if there was such a size). And you can walk along and look through portholes as the glass heats up and melts down (like a piece of cheese) and rests into the frame. Then a short cool down and temper stage.
There's nothing high-tech about it. They didn't do laminated auto glass. But I can imagine there is variability in a process where you're doing curved glass all the time.
They also do curved glass. Made to order. Essentially they put a piece of flat glass into a frame which is nothing more than some mild steel wire (maybe 3/8" diameter??) ...a couple bands that run below the glass. My do-it-all buddy at the plant would literally make these 'baskets' they called them ...but they were just bent wire welded into a frame. He had a work area in the corner of the large building. He'd figure the arc of the bend the customer ordered, tape some string to the concrete floor, and chalk-out the arc. Double-check the measurements. Then he'd bend a few pieces of wire with his foot ...to match the arc. And weld them and make a stand (so they would sit on the conveyor belt. He'd weld a couple lateral pieces too ...to hold the longitudinal sections straight. That's it...it wasn't high tech. I'd seen him make all kinds of baskets. He was an off-the-farm guy. Good head on his shoulders.
They set the flat glass on the curved wire frames, and send them on the steel conveyer belt through an electric heater oven about the length of a 24' shipping container (if there was such a size). And you can walk along and look through portholes as the glass heats up and melts down (like a piece of cheese) and rests into the frame. Then a short cool down and temper stage.
There's nothing high-tech about it. They didn't do laminated auto glass. But I can imagine there is variability in a process where you're doing curved glass all the time.
Last edited:
. Not only that, when I went to put cowl on, it doesn’t line up with original screw holes, which means windshield is manufactured incorrectly.
