ARCHITECTURAL & CNC FLAT GLASS PREPRESS
Flat Glass & Mirror Beveling Engineering & Vector DXF Prepress Guide
Glass beveling is the precision process of grinding and polishing an angled prismatic border along flat architectural glass or decorative mirrors. In modern automated processing centers (Bavelloni, Bottero, Schiatti, Intermac), achieving crisp miter corners and mirror-polish clarity requires exact spindle angle alignment and tangent-smooth CNC vector toolpaths.
🛠️ Interactive Prepress Calculator:
Calculate bevel tilt angles, face widths, and stock removal volume. Launch the free Glass Beveling Face Width & Polishing Angle Calculator →
1. Bevel Trigonometry & Geometry
Given a glass sheet of thickness $T$, a desired horizontal bevel width $L$, and a remaining edge thickness $T_r$, the ground depth $T_b$ and tilt angle $\alpha$ are determined by:
T_b = T - T_r
alpha = arctan(T_b / L)
W = T_b / sin(alpha) = sqrt(L^2 + T_b^2)
The true slanted bevel face width $W$ represents the actual ground diamond surface. Maintaining $T_r \ge 1.2\text{ mm}$ prevents razor-sharp micro-flaking during vacuum handling and post-tempering heat treatment.
2. Standard Glass Thicknesses & Bevel Capabilities
| Glass Nominal (T) | Min Bevel (L) | Max Standard Bevel (L) | Rec. Remaining Edge (T_r) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 mm Mirror | 10 mm | 25 mm | 1.0 – 1.2 mm |
| 6.0 mm Standard | 15 mm | 38 mm | 1.2 – 1.5 mm |
| 10.0 mm Partition | 20 mm | 45 mm | 1.8 – 2.5 mm |
| 12.0 mm Heavy Tabletop | 25 mm | 50 mm | 2.2 – 3.0 mm |
3. CNC Shaped Beveling Vector DXF CAM Rules
- Continuous G2/G3 Curvature: For curved mirror shapes (ovals, arches, organic mirrors), eliminate polylines with sharp micro-facets. Spindle tilt heads require smooth $C^2$ continuous spline or arc entities.
- Internal Corner Radii: CNC beveling diamond cup wheels (typically $\varnothing 100\text{mm} - \varnothing 150\text{mm}$) cannot enter internal sharp corners. Minimum internal radius must equal wheel radius $R_{tool} \ge 50\text{mm}$.
- Miter Corner Overlap: In square and rectangular shapes, straight-line bevelers grind overlapping miters. For CNC 5-axis work centers, program $45^\circ$ diagonal corner transition toolpaths to prevent edge burnishing.
Get Flawless CNC Glass & Mirror DXF Toolpaths
SpotItLive converts your sketches and architectural floor plans into machine-ready DXF and SVG files with zero open loops and calibrated grinder offsets.
Order Vector Conversion — From 29.00 DKK