Bends to suit your needs: Huddersfield's Novaglaze offers 21st century bending

Glass bending is a specialised process, and there aren't very many processors with the skill and equipment to be in the game. Novaglaze Ltd has been active since 1985, supplying bends and other processed glass for a growing number of applications and projects. Founder Ken Woodcock's original two man operation is now over 20 strong, and recently moved to new 46,000ft2 premises in Huddersfield.

The big news at Novaglaze is the firm's new bending and tempering furnace. This impressive machine can temper flat glass and undertake glass bending to variable radii, from shallow to tight. Unusually, the furnace is fed from both ends, depending on the tightness of the bend required. It boasts comprehensive control and monitoring features, and extensive insulation to minimise wasted energy.

Bigger bends
All this means Novaglaze can now offer glass bends measuring up to 6 metres x 2.5m and 4 to 19mm thick. Low-E glasses with pyrolytic coatings are not a problem. The company also offers a popular toughening service for customers supplying their own glass. Typically, Novaglaze might temper and bend glass for a single project in one batch. Alternatively Novaglaze has the capability to produce glass at either end of the furnace to deliver bends at high speed. So now bends, which traditionally could take eight hours to perform, are bent and tempered in minutes.

Valued traditions
Traditional sag bending remains in operation at Novaglaze. With this method, bends are produced when glass 'sags' into a precisely built mould when heated in one of the company's four kilns, which resemble small containers. Time taken for building the mould, heating, and cooling makes it a slow process, but a valuable one. Techniques perfected in-house allow Novaglaze to bend Pilkington Activ and other special performance glasses without burning and de-activating the coating.

The majority of Novaglaze's business is working with aluminium fabricators to supply the commercial market. A popular request is curved laminated glass, produced with two or more identical pieces of curved glass, which are bonded together using a liquid resin interlayer.

Curved sealed units are also a popular request. Novaglaze has recently completed a large order for the Channel Islands, and publicised its ability to supply units made with Activ self-cleaning glass some time ago. Access to a variety of processes, including drilling, edging, sandblasting and acid-etching, satisfies many demands for interiors and furniture applications.

Scope for expansion
Novaglaze already ships to the UK, Ireland, and continental Europe on a regular basis, and is the only UK company able to produce in-house annealed, laminated, and toughened bends.

Key points of contact at the new site are Ken Woodcock, Chris Auld, Business Development Manager, Nikola Woodcock, Ken's daughter and Office and Quality Manager, and General Manager Geoff Kleu.

The website www.novaglaze.co.uk gives extensive details of the company's accreditations and processes, and is definitely worth visiting if you want to find out more about Novaglaze and the art of glass bending.