Tubular Glassware Manufacturing: Crafting Quality Drinkware

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Blown Tubing/Tubular glassware manufacturing

From 2019, we started tubular glassware manufacturing for glass drinkware products, cups, mugs, tea pots, coffee pots, jugs, and glass canisters.

Introduction

The tube glass processes typically involves two methods: manual blowing and mechanized production. SHULOPAL produces 105,000 machine-made products and 15,000 hand-blown products daily.

Following we provide a detailed overview of SHULOPAL’s artisanal production process for exquisite glass items like tumblers, cups, double-wall glassware, and hand-blown teapots, coffee pourers, coffee pots, jugs and carafe.

Porduciton lines

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Daily production by pieces

109000

Number of workers

89

How to make tubular glass products step by step

step1-glass tubes

Step 1: Glass tubes

Glass tubes/tubular manufactured from own borosilciate glass factory, therefore, our tube blown glass products have significant cost advantages, which is around 10%.

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step1-glass tubes

step 2 Tube drawing

Step 2: Tube drawing

Depending on the product specifications, the glass tubing undergoes a wire-drawing process on a drawbench with sizing dies and is cut to specified lengths.

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step 2 Tube drawing

step 3 Glass blowing

Step 3: Glass blowing(For open mould)

SHULOPAL glass masters heat the cut glass tubing segments and place them into molds, where the glass is blown into the desired shape and size using an open-mold process. They can control the product's dimensional tolerance within 2mm.

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step 3 Glass blowing

step 3A Glass blowing

Step 3A: Glass blowing (For open-close mould)

For products with textured surfaces or irregular shapes—such as items with special surface designs or containers like kettles—an open-and-close mold is typically used.

3A

step 3A Glass blowing

Step4B Liner punching

Step 4: Liner punching (For double-wall only)

SHULOPAL glass craftsmen use high-temperature flame cutting to remove excess material from the tubing while simultaneously increasing the thickness of the softened glass layer at the cut edge. An inward-pressing mold punch is then used to form double-layered cup liners. Skilled operators ensure the liner thickness is at least 0.7 mm, with a height tolerance of ±2 mm across production batches.

Usually we call this process "PRESS" in short.

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Step4B Liner punching

step 4A double-wall glass

Step 4A: Mouth thermal fusion (For double-wall only)

We also utilize an alternative manufacturing process for producing double-walled cups. The inner and outer tubes with different diameters are joined by thermal fusion at the joint using a linear flame.

4A

step 4A double-wall glass

step 5B Bottom close

Step 5: Bottom cutting close ( For double-wall only)

Use a high-temperature flame wire to draw and cut off the excess tubing at the bottom. After perforating the bottom, place it on a graphite plate at a set temperature and let it rest until the bottom becomes flat.

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step 5B Bottom close

step4A mouth cutting

Step 6: Mouth cutting(For single layer products)

The tube is drawn and cut along a high-temperature flame line to form the rim of a single-layer cup or pot. This step usually works for products from open-close mould such as tea pot, special shape single later items.

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step4A mouth cutting

step 5A Make pot pourer

Step 7: Make pour(For pots only)

A single-wall teapot or cup can also have a compressed or pulled spout, or feature a long spout extending from the body.

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step 5A Make pot pourer

step6 Stick handle

Step 8: Stick handle

Heat both the glass handle and the joint on the mug/pot body, then attach the handle to the body.

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step6 Stick handle

Step 9: Annealing

After being heated at a constant temperature in the annealing furnace for a designated period, the glass undergoes controlled, gradual cooling. This process minimizes or eliminates thermal stresses caused by uneven temperature variations during production, thereby improving its thermal shock resistance and impact strength.

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step8 Bottom Sealing

Step 10: Bottom Sealing (For double-wall only)

After annealing and cooling, the bottom vents of the double-walled cup need to be sealed.

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step8 Bottom Sealing

step9 Finished product QC

Step 11: Finished product QC

The quality inspection team will conduct quality checks on finished products according to inspection standards.

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step9 Finished product QC

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