--- title: Understanding Commercial Glass Fabrication Tolerances description: Check out our guide to understanding commercial glass fabrication tolerances and their impacts on your project. --- [Glass Installer and Manufacturer Resource ](https://blog.newanglebeveling.com) # [Understanding Commercial Glass Fabrication Tolerances ](https://blog.newanglebeveling.com/a-commercial-glass-companys-guide-to-tolerances) Written by [Greg Martell](https://blog.newanglebeveling.com/author/greg-martell) | Feb 8, 2022 11:00:00 AM Details matter when fabricating a piece of commercial glass.  Though tolerances are among the littlest elements of glass fabrication, they can significantly impact the quality of a finished piece.   Without discussing glass fabrication tolerances -- especially during the quoting stage of a project -- you risk receiving a glass piece that doesn't meet your specifications, on top of **wasted time and effort**, and **increased costs**.  Use this guide to understand how effectively communicate your project’s glass fabrication tolerances to a [commercial glass company](https://blog.newanglebeveling.com/partnering-with-commercial-glass-company).  ## What Are Tolerances in Commercial Glass Manufacturing? Tolerances are the minimum and maximum variations from a piece’s original measurements before it becomes unusable. In other words, **tolerances are the wiggle room a glass piece has so that it can still fit and function as intended. ** As there’s rarely a 100% perfect pane of glass, commercial glass manufacturers often need to make slight adjustments to a piece to remove imperfections.  For instance, a pane may have a surface blemish or chip along its edge. Working within manufacturing tolerances, a glass fabricator can remove the tiny defect with additional cutting or grinding and not jeopardize the piece’s ability to fit where it needs to. *Resource: Tolerances are just one thing your commercial glass manufacturer should know about your project. Download our guide to learn how to best partner with a commercial glass company:* * * ## What to Tell a Commercial Glass Manufacturer About Your Project’s Tolerances   When partnering with a commercial glass manufacturer for standard glass fabrication, there are several pieces of information you should always provide: - **Dimensions:** Length, width, and thickness. - [**Edgework**](https://blog.newanglebeveling.com/types-of-glass-edgework-guide): Thickness, piece size, width-to-height ratio. - **Holes and notches**: Hole or notch location, placement tolerances based on the width of glass, radius, diameter, chip tolerance. - [**Tempering**](https://blog.newanglebeveling.com/how-does-glass-tempering-work): Thickness, size, diagonal dimension, bow and warp allowances. Projects that need tempering near holes may require a relief cut. Relief cuts are only necessary in tempered glass applications where the holes are too close for our specs and cannot be moved.     It’s important to remember that **different commercial glass manufacturers have varying tolerance capabilities**. At New Angle Beveling, we always strive to produce exactly what the customers wants, and we keep tolerances to a minimum. This tolerance chart shows what our capabilities are:  | Dimensional Tolerance | + | - | | --- | --- | --- | | 1/4"  | 1/32" | 1/16" | | 3/8" | 1/32" | 5/23" | | 1/2" | 1/32" | 5/23 | | 3/4" | 1/8" | 1/4" |   ## Tolerance Information for Specialty Custom Fabricated Glass Intricately shaped pieces, such as [patterned ](https://newanglebeveling.com/product-category/all-products/patterned-glass/)and [shaped glass](https://newanglebeveling.com/shaped-glass/), may have tight or non-existent tolerances. **This information is critical to discuss with a glass manufacturer during the quoting process.** Creating glass pieces with little room for size deviation requires **additional planning and labor,** impacting final production costs.  ## Quality Renderings = Accurate Tolerances  Renderings can be a glass manufacturer’s best friend in both quoting and completing a project.  When drawings are required to highlight specific fabrication details, [submit **clear** and **detailed** sketches ](https://blog.newanglebeveling.com/commercial-glass-company-sketch-and-template-requirements)**that include all required tolerance information**. **This knowledge is especially critical when projects have tight or no tolerances. ** **Label every drawing submitted **to ensure the finished piece you receive is the same as the one you intended to order. For larger custom glass pieces or those requiring a template, it’s best to provide a **digital rendering, **though traditional renderings are acceptable.  Large patterns submitted on taped-together paper leave room for error -- if a piece comes off or moves slightly, a glass manufacturer will likely struggle to put it back together exactly as before. When it is time to finalize an order, **submit the most recent version of your project’s rendering**. That ensures a glass manufacturer is working with the most up-to-date information.  ## Communicating Glass Tolerances From the Beginning **Communicating with your glass manufacturer is key **to getting glass fabrication tolerances right the first time. **The best time to discuss tolerances is during the quoting process**. Without the necessary tolerance information upfront, a glass beveling company may not be able to provide you with an accurate quote or finished piece.  ### Ready to get started on your custom glass project? Use the button below, and we’ll be in touch soon.   *(Editor's note: This article was originally posted in July 2020 and was recently updated). * [View full post](https://blog.newanglebeveling.com/a-commercial-glass-companys-guide-to-tolerances) ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Greg Martell" }, "dateModified" : "2025-02-12T15:35:10.893Z", "datePublished" : "2022-02-08T11:00:00Z", "headline" : "A Guide to Commercial Glass Fabrication Tolerances", "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 483, "url" : "https://f.hubspotusercontent20.net/hubfs/4700076/Commercial%20glass%20tolerances.jpg", "width" : 724 }, "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://blog.newanglebeveling.com/a-commercial-glass-companys-guide-to-tolerances", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 60, "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png", "width" : 60 }, "name" : "Glass Installer and Manufacturer Resource" } } ```