Peterborough-based Clearview Glaziers has risen to become one of the UK’s leading and most comprehensive replacement window and door specialists, manufacturing a range of aluminium and PVC-U products and offering installation services to home improvers, local authorities, commercial clients and increasingly, operating as a trade fabricator to local installers. Recently, the company’s expansion has included fabrication of the highly successful R9 window and door system from Residence Collection, a product that has done much to popularise the flush sash window in the UK in recent years.
Designed to replicate 19th Century timber designs whilst providing the performance of modern windows, R9 windows and doors are manufactured from often large and complex PVC-U profiles for which specialist machining and tooling solutions are required. To provide these, Residence Collection turned to tooling and machinery specialist Jade Engineering, who worked with the designers of R9 to produce the authentic mechanical jointing effect that is a key part of the aesthetic of the system. The Jade machinery and tooling package has now been the recommended package for fabricators, since the window was launched in 2011.
Jade therefore supplied seven end millers fitted with interchangeable tooling to Clearview Glaziers, as part of the recommended production package. These have been installed in a dedicated R9 fabrication facility at Clearview Glazier’s 60,000 feet2 production, showroom and administration site. The Jade machines have been specifically developed for the purpose of providing an elegant solution to the increasingly popular ‘mechanical’ joint applied to Heritage style replacement windows, with each of those supplied to Clearview Glaziers tooled to process specific profiles in a logical sequence. Key features of the units include an automatic pneumatic system for clamping and driving the cutter feed; milling to =/- 45 degrees and full height adjustment for the cutter stack.
Robin Squibb, Managing Director of Clearview Glaziers said that he is excited to be able to offer R9: “We decided to offer R9 to our retail and trade customers as a premium, Heritage product; it’s a terrific addition to our range. It was essential that we offered the window with an authentic mechanically-jointed finish, for which Jade provided the machinery package recommended by Residence Collection,” explained Robin.
“The installation has been faultless, including the training of our operatives to use the kit. Compared to our usual casement windows, the R9 profiles are large and with complex multi-chambers and as a premium product they require precise and perfect finishing. Using the Jade end millers we are consistently achieving excellent results.”
