length of glass panel
- Thread starter moray eel man
- Start date
What about having two 10 foot sections separated by a center support? I get one big open space is more impressive but I think safety is main concern. I think there is a monster 800 build turned into a 1500 that had two panels. It looked quite lovely when finished.
I did see a fish tank today that was made out of glass and it had a glass panel that was at least 10 or 12 feet and it was at least six to eight feet tall. The owner of the tank said that the panel would cost 8000 dollars for it though.
I'm not in this industry, but I worked a long time in related and sometimes competing industry (plastic packaging.) The problem is that plants and machines are designed for many things, but economics always dominates how they are ultimately built. If it's built optimally for the most common requirements, it oftentimes can't go beyond those limits, even if it seems it should be able to. In reality, it can't.
In my business for example. we had many plants, but some could only work with certain width's, styles or conditions. As a result, business was routed all over the country, but that was fine because transport cost, while not cheap, was low enough so that we were still competitive.
Glass, being more fragile and far heavier, just can't work that way.
My understanding is that the methods and equipment and expertise used to make common glass (windows, dishes, glassware, for example), is inappropriate to make 2 inch thick or 20 foot long sheets of glass. If we normally used glass like that (to build the proverbial glass houses for example), then industry would be designed that way. So assuming that there are relatively few places that can make glass like that, then it's still insanely expensive to ship.
(Keep in mind, that it's not just making the glass.) A 2 inch thich, 4 foot by 20 foot pane of glass would present problems for the plant: how to move it, where to store it, how to pack it, how to price it, how to do quality control, how to insure against injuries or death. Special equipment could never be used since the orders for it would occur perhaps.....never!
One of the reasons certain military planes are so expensive is that a lot of the cost can't be used for anything else. Buying just a few planes means a handful of items have to cover all that cost.
If one wants glass (as I do) the better bet then is to build a tank with smaller panels which will (being smaller) be able to be thinner and in that case fit more in line with what local glass makers can supply.
In my business for example. we had many plants, but some could only work with certain width's, styles or conditions. As a result, business was routed all over the country, but that was fine because transport cost, while not cheap, was low enough so that we were still competitive.
Glass, being more fragile and far heavier, just can't work that way.
My understanding is that the methods and equipment and expertise used to make common glass (windows, dishes, glassware, for example), is inappropriate to make 2 inch thick or 20 foot long sheets of glass. If we normally used glass like that (to build the proverbial glass houses for example), then industry would be designed that way. So assuming that there are relatively few places that can make glass like that, then it's still insanely expensive to ship.
(Keep in mind, that it's not just making the glass.) A 2 inch thich, 4 foot by 20 foot pane of glass would present problems for the plant: how to move it, where to store it, how to pack it, how to price it, how to do quality control, how to insure against injuries or death. Special equipment could never be used since the orders for it would occur perhaps.....never!
One of the reasons certain military planes are so expensive is that a lot of the cost can't be used for anything else. Buying just a few planes means a handful of items have to cover all that cost.
If one wants glass (as I do) the better bet then is to build a tank with smaller panels which will (being smaller) be able to be thinner and in that case fit more in line with what local glass makers can supply.
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