Improved Instrument for Making Ultra-sharp Glass Knives

Project Goal: Redesign a Glass Knife Maker to be more user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing, while maintaining the quality of the glass knives produced by the existing design.

Glass knives are widely used in universities and laboratories around the world as a viable and cost-effective alternative to diamond or tungsten knives. The Glass Knife Maker, or GKM ,is an RMC Boeckeler product that breaks strips of glass at precise angles to produce ultra-sharp glass knives. The knives are used for ultramicrotomy and cryo-ultramicrotomy methods for cutting specimens into extremely thin slices. Boeckeler's existing Glass Knife Maker is considered one of the best instruments in the world for producing ultra-sharp glass knives. However, design modifications will help maintain the GKM’s competitive pricing and performance.

The team used SolidWorks to develop a new design then integrated commercial off-the-shelf parts and fabricated components to create a ready-for-testing prototype.

This project resulted in a simple, durable and mechanically sound design. Areas of improvement include aesthetics, user-friendliness, safety, compactness, production consistency and efficiency of the glass knifemaking process. Most importantly, the new instrument maintains the quality of the glass knives produced.