Stop the Chips: Why We Preheat Glass with Infrared
Cutting glass is basically just a game of controlled breaking. But here’s the problem: when you hit a cold sheet of glass with a diamond wheel, the internal stress is through the roof. That’s why you get those annoying little Chips or full-on shatters right at the edges—and the corners are usually the worst. To fix this, we use infrared (IR) preheating. How it actually works Glass doesn’t move heat around very well. By using shortwave IR lamps, we can warm up the surface and relax that internal tension. We aren’t trying to melt anything here. We’re just shifting the state of the material to make it a bit more forgiving. When the cutting head finally hits, the crack just follows a straight line. You get a crisp, clean break. No jagged edges, no headaches. Setting it up on the line We put the IR heating arrays right in front of the cutting head. These lamps blast high-intensity energy that sinks into the surface fast. Speed is everything because the glass is moving. If your lamps aren’t powerful enough, the glass stays too cold, and you’re right back to square one with a high chip rate. The trade-offs (because nothing is free) Pumping that much energy into a tiny space comes with a price. Your conveyor supports and machine frames are going to feel that heat. If you aren’t careful, you’ll fry your electronics. You’ve got to use heat-resistant shielding or some active cooling to keep the gear from burning out. And you can’t just crank the heat to max. If you go too far, you’ll trigger thermal shock, and the glass will crack before it even reaches the cutter. It’s all about finding that sweet spot between the wattage and the distance from the glass. Usually, we’re looking for a bump of about 40°C to 80°C, depending on how thick the glass is.