Small cup wheels straight line edging machines
Small straight line edging machines means machines from 4 to 6 cup wheels (even seven for the machines with a felt in last position).
They have in general:
-4 Wheels : 1 diamond wheel + 1 polishing wheel + 2 stone wheels for the seams.
-5 Wheels: 1 diamond wheel + 1 polishing wheel + 1 Cérium wheels (white one) + 2 stone wheels for the seams.
-6 Wheels : 2 diamond wheels + 1 polishing wheel + 1 Cérium wheels (white one) + 2 stone wheels for the seams.
With this kind of machines we can have good results in certain conditions. The important thing is to understand where the limits are.
4 Wheels straight line edging machines
-With only one diamond wheel the limits are on the speed and on the thickness. The technical characteristics of the only one diamond wheel are a balance between speed and quality. The diamond grit size must be medium. This means the glass removal can’t be important and it remains on the edge small lines due to the grit size.
-Only one stone wheels for seams means to use a synthetic stone wheel which must both remove glass and polish it. With this kind of wheel it is not possible to have large seams (no important removal capacity). This means it will be difficult to have a good seam quality for thickness beyond 10 mm. If you want to work on thickness beyond 10 mm, you are going to have a very fast wheel wearing, small seams and a polishing difference with the edge polishing quality.
-With only one polishing wheel you must have a very abrasive polishing wheel (coarse grit size) to remove the diamond lines on the edge.
Baudin straight line edging machine 4 cup wheels
So these machines can be a solution for maximum 10 mm thickness glass, very small batches and no bright polishing.
Five wheels straight line edging machines
-The limits are the same than with the four wheels. The difference and advantage is that the fifth wheel is a cerium wheel. So you can have a bright polishing.
Six Wheels straight line edging machines
-We are here on the boundary with industrial straight line edging machines.
The single difference is on the arrises with the same remark than for the four wheels. Only one stone wheel to create and polish the arrises. This problem can be more important because the number for diamond and polishing wheels is proper to edge with a good speed and a good quality up to 19 mm. So for high thickness the seams are going to be too small.
This machines range is the one where there are important differences between the machines available on the market. These machines are small, so easier to build. There are big differences in prices, technical, quality and service between the competitors.
The comparaison include 9 suppliers, 21 machines and 23 different datas.
This machine is often the first one a company buys. So it is also interesting to consider, in case you want to grow and buy in the future a more important machine, the value of the trade mark in secondhand market.