Cutting ultra-thick glass is a brutal process. If the glass is cold, your cutting wheel has to fight for every millimeter, forcing a deep, aggressive score just to get the crack started. It’s a slog. Your wheels wear out way too fast, and you end up with those annoying chip-outs that ruin a perfectly good piece. We found a better way. Instead of fighting the glass, we use shortwave infrared (IR) lamps to warm up the cutting path first. Here is why that works. Shortwave IR doesn’t just sit on the surface; it actually sinks deep into the glass. By hitting the cutting line with this heat, we lower the material’s viscosity. Now, I’m not saying we’re melting the glass—we’re just easing the internal tension. The result? The wheel just glides. It feels smoother. You get a clean score without having to put the machine through a beating. And your tools will thank you. When the glass is pre-heated, the diamond or tungsten carbide edge doesn’t take nearly as much abuse. It stays sharp. That means you spend way less time stopping the line to swap out worn-out wheels and more time actually getting work done. But you do have to be careful. These lamps pack a punch. If you leave the heat on too long or get too close, you’ll create hot spots. That creates thermal stress, and that’s when the glass starts cracking in places you don’t want it to. It’s a balancing act. To get it right, you need a tight control system. We suggest using a precise feed-rate controller. It keeps the heat steady and consistent across the whole plate, so you get that perfect cut every single time.