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Transcript: Arched Top Window AP25 Tutorial
This is Brad with Riot Glass, and today we're going to cover how to install AP 25 on arched top windows. Today we're going to be working with our master installer, Craig, and what he's done here is he's laid outa template on a rectangular AP 25 panel and used the jigsaw to cut it to shape. He's laying it on a table that's protected to make sure that nothing underneath it would scratch the other side of the panel. And he's taped off the corners, and he's just tracing the thickness of the AP 25 wedges so that he can see where they line up. And you can see right now, he's going from the very corner there to where those two extrusions met on the inside, and that's going to create your miter. Mark going to do that on both sides. You can see the thickness of those wedges overlapping and then drawing a line from corner to corner, the inside of the miter to the outside of the miter. The extrusions are quite a bit longer than they need to be. You can see the ends are chewed up. That's from the machinery we use to bend the metal. So you're going to be trimming that off. But we want to be really careful to make sure you line up the arch to make sure that it follows the template of the panel all the way around. You need a carpenter square to be able to draw the line from the inside corner, up the thickness of the extrusion, and then use that same carpenter square to connect the outside of the miter to the inside of the miter and then draw a line there. That's a visual cue for where your saw is going to line up really strongly recommend that when you go to the saw that you cut this about an inch larger than you need to, take it back over to your window. Just make sure everything lines up the way that you like it, and then come back and then trim your final trim. Now you're really going to be lining up the direction of the angle of this miter by hand. That's another reason why I would cut it a little bit large, because you can always cut more, but if you cut it too short, you can't add any to that extrusion. Craig's been doing this for a really long time. He's a master craftsman, so he's very confident in his ability to cut correctly the first time. But any of you that haven't done these before, cut them about an inch big, put it back over on your window, make sure everything looks right, and then come back and do your final length. As always with the AP 25 surface mount system, your verticals are going to go all the way from, in this case, the miter, down to the very bottom of the panel. And then your horizontal is going to sit within the two verticals, and that's standard protocol for all the AP 25 systems. But because he's going to be cutting the miter and we want to make sure that we have extra extrusion just in case there's any issues with the miscut, he's going to leave it long on the bottom because we're going to come back and trim the bottom later anyway. So he did the same process for lining up the extrusion and checking the inside and outside edge of the miter. He's going to lay it back up here and just doublecheck and see how long this extrusion is on the bottom. That gives us a lot of playroom just incase we have any issues with a miter cut. You've already got your pre-marked lines there, and you're just doing the exact same thing you did on the radius section. You're just now cutting it the bottom part of the same miter. Now notice he double checks, and were commend that, especially on your first several windows, just double, triple check everything. Make sure your extrusion is facing the right direction. We've seen guys install all of their wedges only to find out that they had them on backwards. So again, on these first several, just double triple check because it's going to save you a lot of grief. So once you've got all your extrusion cut and you double check that they all lineup, go ahead and pull the tape off. And don't forget to pull back the liner. You don't want to trap the liner underneath the extrusion because it's really difficult to get it out. And you definitely don't want to trim the edge with an olfa knife because that would score the panel and you don't want to score the panel. So for the purposes of demonstration, we just left the liner on. But as always, when you're putting the wedge on, you want to pull the liner back just a little bit so that you've got clear panel underneath there. He's going to bore out the panel. And remember, we're only boring out the panel. It's really an important step.T he drill bit does not touch the window frame or door frame underneath the extrusion at all. It's just strictly making a hole so that the edges of the screw do not touch the panel. That's in the new rye glass fabrication guide. If you haven't received a digital copy of that yet, please reach out to us. We'll get one to you. Notice Craig is adding the holes at the end of the extrusion, which is what we always do. We need to screw at a quarter inch from the edge and also two inches from the edge, and then every pre drilled hole there after.And that's for every single wedge. Extrusion on both ends in both directions. Craig's doing the final miter cut here. Again, just really nuanced procedure. You want to make sure you cut it so it fits real nice and tight. And then we're leaving the edge long. There so he's going to come back. Now that he knows that his miter is cut perfectly, he's going to come back and just go ahead and trim off that bottom leg. The horizontal between the wedges is going to fit right inside of that, so you have to get your two verticals installed before you cut your horizontal. Once you have all your wedges laid down, it's time to install the caps. So start with the radius cap, and we're going to do the same thing we did before. We’re going to mark the inside and the outside edge, and then use your carpenter square to connect the dots, essentially, obviously, you're going to do this before you snap the cap down, so you might want to clamp it down if need be. Just make sure it doesn't move on you. You want to use your carpenter square to bring that vertical line up to make sure that it's exactly where it’s going to line up with the inside of that miter and the outside of that miter. And then just do that on both sides, and then you're going to connect those dots. Now you have your guide for your saw, but as before, I would cut it large and then go over and make sure everything looks good and lines up, and then come back and do your final cut. Craig’s been doing this for so long, he's really confident in his ability to cut the first time, so he’s not going to take it back over to the window. But if this is your first window, please take it over, cut long, and make sure that you double, triple check everything's right. And then come back and trim at the final, at least on the first few windows, just to avoid any potential disaster. Just take the time to get really familiar with this system. Before you get into high production mode, maybe do your first three or four windows. This way, once you're confident you have your radius cut correctly, it's time to cut the vertical. You can use the same technique, just lining up that outside corner and marking and using your carpenter square to bring that marking up to the top edge where you can see it clearly from the saw. Connect the dots from the corner to that inside miter. You're going to leave this extrusion long because you can always trim the bottom later. I'm going to show you the technique for cutting the bottom. Make sure you don't cut it too short. Make sure that your extrusion is all the way up against the fence, because on a long piece of extrusion ,it can drift off of the back fence a little bit, and that'll make your miter cut incorrect. So, again, just make sure that that extrusion is pushed tight all the way along the whole length of it against the fence on the back of your saw. When you're cutting the bottom piece, you want to put this little piece of cap on there to make sure that you're accounting for the thickness of the cap before you trim your verticals. We've seen guys that cut that to fit tight against he bottom of the wedge, but then when they snap, the bottom cap on the verticals are too short. So use that little piece just to make sure you're getting your length correct. Once you've got your verticals, you can go ahead and snap on the top extrusion, double checking as you go just to make sure it's staying in alignment. And as you add your verticals, you may need to tap them from the bottom up just to make sure that you get the joint really tight. If you guys have any questions while you're out in the field, please call the 800 number on your screen. We'd love to help you. Sometimes a quick call can avoid disaster. We're always here to help. Thanks for watching. We'll see you on the next video.
