ACCURATE DRAWINGS AND TRADITIONAL AND MODERN PROCESSES PRESERVE STEEL WINDOW BEAUTY

Skyrange’s process starts at the very beginning with high quality drawings produced in AutoCAD since 1990.

Detailed shop drawings help customize the product and boost the accuracy of the fit. Drawing content includes hardware items and fixings with precise proportions. Two experienced personnel are dedicated full time to the task.

Preparation and manufacture

Skyrange rescued original equipment and tooling from traditional Australian steel window manufacturers. The preservation of superior steel window manufacturing equipment gives us the foundation for our manufacturing process today. We have also restored or rebuilt some of the original tooling and equipment to safeguard the high standards of beauty and workmanship our clients enjoyed in the 20th century.

As a result, we’ve maintained the processes for shaping, cutting, and piercing that were essential for consistency in the past. We have also broadened our scope for material preparation with computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling, plus additional drilling, cutting, and folding equipment.

Steel window manufacturing from the early and mid 20th century was based on a mass production ideology. We have focused on custom manufacturing with each item undergoing individual assembly and testing. It promotes accountability and flexibility in maintaining the bespoke steel window environment that prevailed from the 1980s onwards.

Assembly

Highly experienced personnel have dedicated, ergonomically designed, and fully equipped work stations,. We assemble and test all items individually. The personal attention of each staff member imparts a sense of ownership and achievement in the workplace.

Finishing

Completed and tested items have all hardware removed in preparation for hot dip galvanizing or blast and prime painting.

All galvanised items require careful and accurate straightening. We use. a special purpose hydraulic straightening table designed and built at Skyrange. It ensures no compromise to the surface of the profiles or the galvanised coating. We then refit all hardware to the doors and windows prior to despatch. Door handles, if supplied are boxed separately.

Ex-works finishes

Hot dip galvanizing provides the best protection for steel doors and windows. The process involves immersing the product in molten zinc. Zinc gives overall protection, especially to areas never seen again after installation.

Our prime paint process involves in-house grit blasting and spray application of Dulux Metalshield primer. We provide the choice of dark grey or black Metalshield primer.

A galvanised finish gives superior protection. However, it can obscure some of the finer points of our workmanship due to zinc build up over welded areas and some light textural coating over all surfaces. Windows and doors often remain in their galvanised finish without any top coats (except in high corrosion environments.)

Prime paint highlights smooth joints and surfaces, and the quality of the workmanship is much more evident. Prime paint looks better but can’t be guaranteed to coat all hidden surfaces. It is a protective coating for the steel but it is not UV resistant.

We recommended you treat prime painted steel windows and doors with a paint top coat.

Sign-off and call to action: Experience Skyrange’s dedication to detail through process when we manufacture your exquisite windows and steel doors with a call to the Skyrange team on +61 3 9480 2066

TESTIMONIALS
Steve Marino is founder and CEO of Marino Construction, a high-end Melbourne-based residential and boutique commercial builder focusing on quality and service. He says ‘a funny way to describe us is we generally win the jobs that are too difficult for most other builders.’ He first used Skyrange steel windows and doors when he launched his own business in 1998. His project involved a substantial warehouse development with five or six warehouse shells each with four large Skyrange window panes and doors. ‘I’ve used them ever since and initially there were no other products; no one else could do it. In the last four or five years he [Kelvin Ryan at Skyrange] has had competitors but no one still has the attention to detail that Kelvin does, or the understanding of how to use the steel windows for all the different applications that people want now: sliding [requirements] and more complex mechanisms. Many have tried to copy and they can only partially copy and they certainly don’t have his level of understanding. ‘There was a really interesting project in Walsh St South Yarra. And again there were some sliders on that and it was really quite complex with some large panes, and there was quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with Kelvin to work out a system by which way they’d work. When the architects approached him he said: ‘No, it can’t be done.’ And then when he knew I was building it and we approached him, he said: “Let’s work out a way”, and he did. ‘I like them [Skyrange steel windows and frames] because as fashionable as they are I don’t consider them fashionable, I consider them quite timeless and I like industrial details. So in everything I’ve done for myself personally, I’ve always got Skyrange. I’m looking at them now in my office, I’ve got them at my other office around the corner, and I’ve got them at home. If ever I’ve got the choice of selecting a window for something I’m involved in then it’s always a Skyrange window. ‘Kelvin is also a gentleman which is always a nice thing in business. We can always just talk freely... And I’m not the builder who cries wolf when I ring him because I’m in a bind because of timing. ‘He’s holding his line, as we do as builders.’ Steve Marino Founder and CEO, Marino Construction Collingwood VIC 3066 March 2019
STEVE MARINO