When we see a skyscraper with a glass facade, not many of us think about how many bent metal parts it contains. That is unless we’re in the sheet metal folding industry!
So of course when we heard how the Canadian company BVGlazing has specialised in this industry and bends the parts using a RAS Multibend Center panel bender as well as an XLTbend UpDown folding machine, we had to find out more.
Meet the Facade Folding Experts from Canada
BV Glazing specialises in glass facades for high-rise buildings. The Toronto-based factory focuses primarily on high-volume projects and simple glass facades. This in part is the reason for their great success.
To keep up with demand, they looked at solutions from sheet metal folding machine experts RAS.
First off, they have a fully automatic RAS Multibend Center is in operation. At their Niagara Falls plant, the focus is on bespoke and complex glass elements. These are designed as self-supporting modules to be placed in front of concrete or steel structures.
About 500 such modules leave the city of the world-famous Niagara Falls every week!
Next up is their XLTbend. With a bending length of 4060mm and a maximum sheet thickness of 2.5 mm, it handles the mild steel used by BV Glazing with ease.
Usually, either thinner galvanized steel sheets or aluminium cassettes up to 3mm thickness is bent on the XLTbend. In many cases, the parts are not necessarily large but require two tool setups due to the design of the workpiece.
A working example of this is when the short side of a facade cassette has to be bent flush with the long side. After importing a STEP file of the part, the Bendex software calculates the ideal bending sequence on the Office PC with ease.
Where do you actually find the bent parts on a glass facade?
Next time you’re wandering through a city, industrial estate or anywhere with high-rise buildings, look up.
You’ll see some vertical and horizontal profiles that are purely for show. These are holding glass facades in place based on the architect’s design. Other profiles covered support beams to ensure the building is structurally sound.
The use of these facades for concealment continues. Bent metal cassettes mounted behind the glass can conceal the view of the concrete floors and ceilings. Often they are isolated to help with thermal insulation. This can result in the familiar sandwich design with an inside and outside cassette. The window side extending into the building also comes with a variety of mostly slim profiles.
If you add up all these metal components to the size of a skyscraper, you get a feeling of why the machines at BV Glazing are working double shifts to keep up with the orders.
Quality is key and RAS delivers
Since many parts are visible on the building’s exterior, it is vital they are not scratched during bending. Another advantage of the RAS CNC folding machine technology over press brake bending is the clean finish.
The parts at BVGlazing are very different in character. Large metal cassettes alternate with slim profiles. The XLTbend masters these special challenges by being operated from the front side of the machine and from the rear. For large cassettes, the worker runs the machine from the gauging system side while moving to the front of the folding beam side for profiles and narrow parts.
How could RAS Folding Machines take your business to the next level?
Flexibility, innovative façade design, and precision work are characteristics that BV Glazing Systems has developed in its 60-year history.
Visible results are obvious when you look at the modern glass facades they produce, which can be admired on skyscrapers in Canada, the USA, and Australia.
Is it about time you upped your folding machine skills?
