Glass is a raw commodity and is procured nationally and internationally, we source our glass from the USA, Mexico, China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia amongst others. Depending on the type of glass, we seek the best available commodity from different parts of the world. Glass comes in crates inside large containers and is emptied in our fabrication facility. The following are the types of glass we stock on a regular basis: clear, HD, bronze, gray, fireplace, neoceram, tempered, polycarbonate, plexiglass, and more. 
 

These varieties of glass come in different thicknesses including 1/8", 3/16”, 1/4", 3/8”, 1/2”, and 3/4” requiring us to carry hundreds of thousands of square feet of glass at any given time. 

Raw glass comes in large sheets and panels and is kept in crates. When a  glass order is placed online, all the information about the product is communicated to an optimizing software that sorts the glass based on type and thickness. Using robotics our crew retrieves the glass from the crates and loads it into an automatic cutting machine that optimizes and scores the glass panel into shapes communicated. Glass is broken along the lines where the machine has scored the glass. This leaves the glass with sharp edges that need extreme care in the handling process. 

The next destination for glass is the edging station where the cut glass edges are grinded into the edge shape on the order. The most popular edge types are flat polish, pencil edge, seamed edge, and beveled edge (in various sizes). Glass is normally cut 1/8" larger in size to accommodate for the polishing grind and this is the stage that causes most machinery to have a plus or minus 1/8” tolerance. Edging glass is required to make it safe to handle otherwise it would be sharp and dangerous. 

The next step is processing the glass. Vertical and horizontal CNC machines are used to create the needed shapes, holes, notches, cutouts for shower doors and mirrors, Mickey Mouse cutouts for hinges, and processes needed to create irregular shapes. 

Tempering is the last step after all processes on the glass are completed. Once the glass is tempered, it can not be cut,  ground, or manipulated in any way because this will cause the glass to blow into shards. The tempering process does not change the look and feel of the glass. Glass is washed and inspected before its placed in the tempering oven. As the glass moves on the temper oven rollers, extreme heat is applied to the glass from the top and bottom — almost to the melting point of the glass! Once the glass reaches its heat threshold, it is rolled over to a quenching chamber, where cold air is blown onto the glass to cool it off rapidly. This process hardens the glass 5-6 times, but the edges of the glass are still vulnerable, and a pointed impact to the edge of the tempered glass would cause it to break into little shards. 

The glass fabrication process is the same for the majority of custom glass products made for use in bathrooms, kitchens, glass shelving, glass table tops, art glass, architectural and interior glass projects or wherever light transmittance can influence the aesthetics of the project.