Drawing to Delivery

Four to seven days, drawing to dock.

Every order runs through the same disciplined sequence — cut, edge, temper, deliver — whether it’s a single shower panel or a full facade package. We quote within 24 hours and typically ship four to seven days after drawings are approved, racked and scheduled to your site.

01 — The fabrication sequence

What actually happens to your glass

From raw stock to a certified pane.

Four stages, in a fixed order. Each one closes off options for the next — which is why accurate drawings up front matter more with tempered glass than with almost any other building material.

Cut to size

Raw annealed stock is CNC-cut to your shop drawings — length, width, holes, and notches all programmed from the file, not marked up by hand. Standoff holes, lock cutouts, and corner notches are cut at this stage, before any heat treatment, because tempered glass cannot be drilled, cut, or ground afterward without shattering it. Thickness runs 4–19mm depending on the application — a 6mm shower panel and a 19mm structural fin are cut on the same logic, to the same tolerance discipline.

Edge work

Every cut edge is ground and polished before tempering — a rough or "seamed" edge is a stress-riser that a tempering furnace will find. Standard options are flat polish, pencil (rounded) polish, or beveled polish, chosen for how the edge will be seen and handled: exposed railing caps usually take a pencil edge, framed partitions can run a flat seam. Any surface treatment — acid-etch, sandblast pattern, or colour interlayer — is also applied at this stage, before heat, so the finish survives the furnace intact.

Temper & soak

Panes are heated to their softening point and rapidly quenched, putting the surface into compression per CSA B54 and ASTM C1048 — this is what turns a fragile pane into safety glass that breaks into small, blunt fragments instead of shards. Glass destined for high-rise facades and other overhead or elevated glazing goes through an additional heat-soak cycle to EN 14179, which bakes out nickel-sulfide inclusions that could otherwise cause a rare spontaneous breakage months or years after install — the extra step that separates facade-grade tempered glass from everyday storefront stock.

02 — Why the order matters

A one-way process

Once it's tempered, it's final.

Before temper

Surface treatment happens first.

Acid-etching and sandblasting are applied to annealed stock, then the pane is tempered. That sequence is not a preference — it's the only way the finish survives the furnace and the pane still reaches full CSA B54 / ASTM C1048 safety-glazing strength.

After temper

Nothing can be cut, drilled, or trimmed.

Tempered glass is glass under permanent internal stress. Any attempt to cut, drill, or grind it after tempering causes it to shatter on the spot. Every hole, notch, and dimension has to be exactly right in the drawing — there is no field trim once it leaves our furnace.

This is why we ask for final, dimensioned drawings before we cut — not after. It’s also why a 24-hour quote still depends on getting those drawings right the first time: the fabrication itself gives us exactly one pass.

Delivery scheduled to your site·CA / USA·Quote 24 hours·Fabrication typically 4–7 days·

03 — What we need from you

To quote and cut correctly, first pass

Six things speed up every quote.

Drawings & dimensions

Final, dimensioned shop drawings — length, width, and any radii or angles.

Thickness

4–19mm depending on span, load, and code requirement.

Edge finish

Flat, pencil, or beveled polish, and whether edges are seamed.

Holes & notches

Exact locations for standoffs, locks, and hardware — final before cutting.

Tempering & treatment

Tempered, heat-soaked, laminated, or a surface finish — and any applicable code.

Delivery site

Site address and install window so racking and freight are scheduled to match.