HagenKB

Glass Aquarium Manufacture

How does Hagen make its glass aquariums?

How does Hagen make its glass aquariums?
The manufacturing process is actually very simple and is composed of the following steps:

Three important raw materials are required for the manufacturing of aquariums:
1. Pre-cut glass, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10 or 12 mm thick.
2. Specially formulated silicone sealant.
3. Molded plastic frames.

Glass is received in large flat panels from local glass manufacturers and is cut to size on a fully automated numerically controlled two-axis horizontal cutting table.

Once cut, the individual panels are removed from the table and glass edges are either hand sanded in a belt sander to eliminate sharp edges or polished for the thicker glass sizes in a special high precision glass polishing machine using diamond polishing wheels, to give the superior looking finish.

Individual glass panels are then sent to a horizontal glass washer machine to remove some of the glass dust generated from the sanding or polishing process.

Silicone is not received in standard 300 ml tubes cartridges but in 45 G metal drums due to the high volume consumed on a weekly basis. These drums are mounted with specialized pneumatically operated powerful sealant pumps for driving the sealant from the drums to the guns. Then, an operator manually applies the silicone strips onto the flat glass panels, using the sealant guns. No force is required to operate these guns compared to the standard sealant guns commonly found in local hardware stores.

Silicone strips is also applied in the top & bottom plastic frame grooves.

Then, an operator manually inserts each individual piece of glass into the bottom frame, carefully aligning all four glass corners of the aquarium. Once completed, the top plastic frame is then inserted.

During the glass panel assembly process, silicone found between two matting surfaces, as an example, between one of the front corners and the side glass panels will squish out. The operator must then pull the interior seams with a special sealant pulling tool, to give it a nice and even finish.

The aquarium is now fully assembled!

However, it is not ready to be manipulated and placed into its master box since the silicone is still soft.

Silicone usually requires a 24 hr period to fully cure.

To get around this problem in order to be able to package the aquariums the same day that they have been assembled, aquariums are placed onto a belt conveyor and forwarded into a specially designed curing oven tunnel, which will accelerate the silicone curing process, taking roughly 2 hrs utilizing steam.

At the exit of the oven, the silicone is then dry enough so that the operator can trim the excess silicone found on both exterior and interior vertical seams.

When preparing aquarium kits, we add the light canopy and insert accessories such as the light bulbs (fluorescent or incandescent), the submersible heater, the power filter, fish food, fish net, thermometer, plastic plants and instruction DVD.

The box is then forwarded into a case taper machine, which automatically closes the box’s top flaps and applies tape on the top portion of the box.

Boxes are then palletized onto a wood pallet and sent to an automated large stretch wrapping machine using “stretch wrap film” which is needed to secure the boxes onto the pallet preventing them from moving or even falling off due to vibrations during transportation, and finally ready to be placed into the trailers with fork lift trucks, for delivery to the distribution centers and pet stores.

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