Window glazing in bulk

[deemery]

(Copied from the 2024 Winter Build thread to provide a permanent home.)

I've built a bunch of large factory or mill buildings with lots of the same window casting.  Newer packages of Tichy window castings come with pre-cut glazing, but so far San Juan Details (nee Grandt Line) does not, nor do my stash of older Tichy packages.  Short of buying an engraver (e.g. Cricut) or laser cutter, I've tried a bunch of techniques to cut out a lot of same-size glazing pieces.  Here's the way that has worked best so far.

• Measure the window opening/glazing size (digital calipers - a great investment for accurate modeling.) 
• In a program that can draw rectangles and let you set the size (I'm ashamed I'm using an old version of PowerPoint), draw the glazing rectangle to the correct size.  
• Then add more rectangles, so they share the long edge and are aligned along the top and bottom.  I did 20 windows for this project.
• Print that out, then tape a piece of clear styrene (I'm using .010), aligning to the top left corner of the row of windows on the printout.
• Scribe/cut along the long edges of the set of window castings, top to bottom.  I'm using a straightedge (taped into place) and a triangle to conveniently cut those vertical lines.
• Cut along the bottom of the window rectangles.  The result is a bunch of hopefully correctly sized rectangles held at the top by the tape.  I usually have to do a bit of sanding to get a tight fit.  That's OK (although on a large mill building that gets tedious!)

dave

[Vietnam Seabee]

Great tip, Dave...thanks
terry

[Bernd]

Not wanting to steal Dave's thunder on widow glazing. I had a similar challenge in building a Suydam 2 stall engine house. I had 12 windows with 16 individual panes for a total of 192 pieces of clear styrene to cut. I did that on my Robo router/engraver CNC.

Here's three pics on how I accomplished that.







Looks like I haven't transferred this build thread from the Railroad Line Forum to this forum yet.

Bernd 

[deemery]

Ah, to have Bernd's shop and Bernd's knowledge...   

I've been very tempted to buy a scribing machine (e.g. Cricut) just to do window glazing, although I'm sure once I learned how to use it, I'd find a lot of other uses.  

dave

[Bernd]

Ah, to have Bernd's shop and Bernd's knowledge...   

I've been very tempted to buy a scribing machine (e.g. Cricut) just to do window glazing, although I'm sure once I learned how to use it, I'd find a lot of other uses. 

dave

Thanks Dave. I looked at the Cricut's. I didn't like them. Proprietary software and cloud based. I was already used to using DraftSight as my 2D cad program for use on the Sherline CNC. If I were you, I'd look into the router/engraver machines available. Much more flexible in the material you want to cut. You can cut just about anything for modeling purposes. I have to admit I did modify the Robo. I made a cutter holding tool for it to hold a knife from the Cricut machine to score those windows.

Bernd

[deemery]

Ah, to have Bernd's shop and Bernd's knowledge...   

I've been very tempted to buy a scribing machine (e.g. Cricut) just to do window glazing, although I'm sure once I learned how to use it, I'd find a lot of other uses. 

dave

Thanks Dave. I looked at the Cricut's. I didn't like them. Proprietary software and cloud based. I was already used to using DraftSight as my 2D cad program for use on the Sherline CNC. If I were you, I'd look into the router/engraver machines available. Much more flexible in the material you want to cut. You can cut just about anything for modeling purposes. I have to admit I did modify the Robo. I made a cutter holding tool for it to hold a knife from the Cricut machine to score those windows.

Bernd

Actually, the line I was looking at are these:  https://silverbulletcutters.com/silver-bullet-professional.aspx  They have better cutting pressure, and they use an independent software package.  The alternative would be a combo box that can do laser cutting, engraving, etc.  

But the big problem would be the learning curve for the software.  Particularly after my experience with SketchUp (and its bugs), I'm loath to invest the substantial time and frustration into learning any design package.  

dave

[Bernd]

Ah, to have Bernd's shop and Bernd's knowledge...   

I've been very tempted to buy a scribing machine (e.g. Cricut) just to do window glazing, although I'm sure once I learned how to use it, I'd find a lot of other uses. 

dave

Thanks Dave. I looked at the Cricut's. I didn't like them. Proprietary software and cloud based. I was already used to using DraftSight as my 2D cad program for use on the Sherline CNC. If I were you, I'd look into the router/engraver machines available. Much more flexible in the material you want to cut. You can cut just about anything for modeling purposes. I have to admit I did modify the Robo. I made a cutter holding tool for it to hold a knife from the Cricut machine to score those windows.

Bernd

Actually, the line I was looking at are these:  https://silverbulletcutters.com/silver-bullet-professional.aspx  They have better cutting pressure, and they use an independent software package.  The alternative would be a combo box that can do laser cutting, engraving, etc. 

But the big problem would be the learning curve for the software.  Particularly after my experience with SketchUp (and its bugs), I'm loath to invest the substantial time and frustration into learning any design package. 

dave

If you only want to cut paper products or styrene they are fine. I use only 2D draft programs. I started many years ago when Autocad first came out. I had gotten a pirated copy from my friend. Taught myself to use by buying a book on how to use the program. No 3D for anything I do. I believe the Sherline CNC is capable of 3D milling. I haven't investigated if that's possible. I may not have the machine software for that capability. I did try Fusion 360 to see if I could design an auger to 3D resin print. Once I had it designed and a file to send to the printer I had lost interest in using 3D printing. The time it takes to learn 3D CAD and then if you don't use it every day you forget how to use it and have to relearn. No thanks.

Besides I like working with brass, aluminum, steel and nickel silver. Can't do that on a Cricut. To each there own.

Bernd