Production Area
 The basic size requirements of the hall can be estimated at about 40 m2 per employee from 3 to 6, and about 30 m2 per employee for six and over. The headroom should not be less than 3m. All the usual types of workshop floor are acceptable, for example concrete, poured asphalt etc. It is however an advantage if the floor is colored (e.g. light green). Whenever possible, natural light should provide about 500Lux out of the total light required in the production hall. Skylights and rows of windows are therefore recommended. These allow maximum use of daylight and the greatest light penetration.  Electric lighting in halls up to a height of 6 m should be fluorescent tubes, arranged as rows of windows. Above a height of 6m, HQL-lamps can also be installed. The temperature in the production hall should not be less than 18ºC.
In addition, care should be taken that during the nights and non working days, the temperature does not fall excessively, so that PVC-profiles re-attain a temperature of 18ºC by production time. It can be assumed that the PVC-profiles warm up at a rate of 1º Per hour.
Storage of Profiles
On delivery, the profiles should be unloaded in such a way as to avoid excessive bending, twisting, scratching and soiling. For storage of the profiles the following points should be observed:
a) The profile must be supported in several places along their entire length. Furthermore, the profiles (depending on the type) should not be stacked to a height of more than 1.30m.
b) As regards stock holding, the profiles have the advantage that they are unaffected by damp and temperature: for processing,however, the following should be noted:
The production should be carried out at a minimum temperature of 18ºC. this means prestoring the profiles in preparation according to prevailing temperature differences. It may be assumed that the PVC-profiles warm up at a rate of about 1º Per hour. So for example, if an outside profile store has a temperature of 18ºC before being used.
In production, the profile store should wherever possible be organized so that the profile lengths can be easily carried/ offered to the saw without being twisted.
Sawing
Sawing of the plastic profiles should be carried out by using a fine toothed circular saw for plastic and aluminum profiles, with a tooth separation of 3 to 4 mm and a cutting speed of 50 m/sec. (if possible, Widia coated blades). Care should be taken that the cut is made not only at an angle of exactly 45º, but also vertically at 90º.
All equipment – saw blades etc. – must be free of dirt, oil, water, greases etc., since residues of this sort on the cut faces of the profile impair the quality of the welded joints. During cutting, and in setting the lengths stop, material burned off during welding must be allowed for.
These amounts to approximately 2.5 - 3 mm, i.e. 5 – 6mm must be added to each length. Trial welds should establish the exact difference, since this varies from machine to machine. A double length stop enables efficient cutting with a single miter box saw. It allows frame and casement to be cut in succession without having to reset the stop.
With parallel working double miter box saws it is possible using fixed distance pieces to go from a set casement size to the corresponding frame size. A further possibility is to use the type of machine, which includes a central drilling and milling attachment. This enables the drilling for the olives and the routing of the casement lock cases to be done at the same time as the sawing.
The V-cut on the frame or casement profile (for accepting an upright or a mullion/ transom) is made with a special rachet-cutting saw. Stiffening profiles made of steel must be cut to size on special machines. In order to make the work preparations – i.e. siting of materials, calculation etc. – Easier, some actual examples with the necessary measurements are given in section 4.
Milling and drilling
Manual finishing by paring or grinding of welding beads is also possible. Damage to the top surface of the profile through careless rubbing down should be avoided as far as possible.
This applies particularly to colored profile surfaces. High-speed milling aggregates from the timber and aluminum industries are suitable for working with plastic profiles. A large tooth separation ensures adequate removal of chips. High-speed machines should be used for drilling. Bits designed especially for plastic, or normal HSS bits can be used.
Drilling which meet or touch vertical internal webs should be done with the help of templates, and as far as possible with special bits whose edges also cut laterally. These bits are admittedly dearer than normal HSS bits, but because of their precision and longer working life, these are more economical.
Drainage
The frames and glass edges of all single and multi casement plastic windows and doors must be drained. The drain holes must have a minimum diameter of 8 mm, drainage channels a minimum width of 5 mm for lengths between 30 and 40 mm.
It is important that the combined size of the exit holes is greater than that of the entry holes. The entry holes are drilled sloping rearwards, about 20 mm from the right and left upper profile corners. As a rule, two grooves suffice for windows up to 1500 mm wide. Over 1500 mm, at least three channels are recommended.
Welding
As a rule, welds are made these days on fully or semi-automated machines. These control the individual steps automatically. The quality of the welding is thereby consistently maintained, assuming that the machines are kept free from dust, grease, chipping and oil.
When clamping the profile during insertion, care should be taken that it is clamped in the same direction as during sawing, and that the support fences are suitable for the profile. The welding temperature lies between 245ºC and 255ºC. The ideal temperature should be decided on the basis of trial welds, as it depends on the thickness of the profile walls, and on temperature variations of the welding mirror.
The optimum welding temperature is found as follows: increase the mirror temperature until the first yellowish “burn coloration” is visible in the area of the welding bead. The temperature indicated on the machine is then reduced by roughly 5ºC. Only the slightest coloration should now be visible - the ideal value has been found.
Finishing
Joints and visible surfaces are to be finished. The welding beads on the surfaces are ground down or pared off, the beads of the outside joints are ground away. The welding bead in the inside corners is pared. Care must be taken that no notches are cut in the profile, since the minutest nicks are the most frequent cause of corner cracks.
Nowadays, specialized semi-automated machines enable the fully automatic finishing of the faces and outside corners. This applies to the flush and sash frames, but the inside joints still have to be finished manuall. The machine should be installed so that the welding mirror is protected from draughts. The rigidity of the corners should be checked continuously, because, for example, differences in the Teflon coating might make a temperature adjustment necessary.
Closures
All current window and opening types can be produced with WINTEK-2000 profiles. The latch chamber is designed to take normal 16-mm latches [to Euronorm]. The size and weight of the sash should be kept within the recommendations of the latch manufacturer.
Sash and flush frames can be latched independently, depending on the type of latch. During cutting and welding, small dimensional inaccuracies can arise but these will be compensated for by the latch. As a result of the generous dimensions of joints and chambers, final tolerances will be easily absorbed and later will be invisible.
The respective manufacturers supply exact mounting diagrams for the various latches. In addition, most latch manufacturers offer on request free training, or a sample latch.
Rubber Seals
In principle, insertion of seals is simple. We have set the dimensions of the grooves for the seals on the WINTEK-2000 profiles so generously, that even when excessive tolerances occur, an even insertion is guaranteed.
Care must be taken that the seals are cut and inserted free of tension and with the correct additional length. If this precaution is observed, no damage will occur later. Use exclusively WINTEK standard seals; only in this way can a consistently high standard and permanent quality control be guaranteed.
Insertion of the seals can be made easier by using a hand roller. If seals are occasionally difficult to insert, a little soap or detergent may be used to help slide them in to place. The corners and impact points are fastened or reinforced with adhesive. Fast acting nitrile acrylate adhesive is preferred for this. The corners of the central seal and the corner areas of the outside glazing seals are best filled with silicone rubber sealant. Care should be taken during cutting that all areas, which are to be glued, are cut to fit together as exactly as possible. The glued surfaces should be free from dirt and oil. The cutting should always be done with an additional length of about 1 %.
Glazing
First-rate glazing is an important prerequisite for perfect performance of the window. WINTEK-2000 windows have the advantage of efficient, puttyless dry glazing. When properly fitted, the WINTEK-2000 seals allow secure glazing and are completely weather proof.
When using insulating stripes and sealing materials, the recommendations of the respective manufacturer should be observed. Glazing should never be carried out using plastic sealants. If the customer insists on having glazing done differently to the dry glazing recommended by us, exact specifications must be obtained from the sealant supplier. For blocking out, distance and load-bearing blocks of various width and thickness are used. On the basis of our experience, we recommend that the blocking out should be done by using plastic blocking materials instead of the normal wooden blocks.
A prerequisite for top quality dry glazing is drainage of the glass joins. Stipulation of the relevant technical association: All incompletely filled glass joins must be provided with humidity compensation ducts for dispersing condensation. It is essential to make sure that the drainage slits or holes remain free from grinding or drilling chips, and are not covered by blocking material.
Cleaning
Traces of dirt on plastic windows can normally be removed easily with household cleaners (Washing up liquid etc.). |
PVC Windows