Tonight we go where no Jason has gone before. I hope to hell my kiln will hit 2100! I've got the cheapest chinese white crucible loaded with some 104COE green sheet glass and the bronze mold done and a tamper is at the ready. WTF I'm going to do with it if it works is beyond me. I don't really have a plan for annealing around 482C and not sure what will happen to the crucible of left over glass. This might be a one way trip for it's 20dollar ass. Kinda winging it here folks! That last big captain and coke might have something to do with this. I'll be piss happy if I can hit the mold with a blob on the end of a SS pipe and get it pressed into shape. If it removes cleanly and holds it's shape, I'll count it as a win! Annealing can be sorted out later. Yes, it's heading toward 1150C.
Maybe I should have bought one of these!!!! Honestly, WTF are these idiots thinking? And you don't get a crucible? At this price, the man at least DESERVES a reach around! https://www.mobileglassblowingstudios.com/freestandinglittledragon.html#/
Whomp whomp wahhh... 974 is all I got out of the old Neycraft. The glass twirled easily on the stainless rod and I was able to build up a healthy 2inch blob. I pressed it into the mold and got stuck. The cold bronze sucked the heat out of the glass with a quickness. About 15seconds later, the glass split twice on me. I think because of the small size and lower than needed temperature, it rapidly lost heat. Maybe if I preheat the bronze with a torch and keep the flame on the glass, I might be able to detach the punty from the blob in the mold. This would put the glass in limbo while I break it off and reattach just enough to relocate it to the kiln. It was worth a try and more lessons learned. I did end up with a couple of ruperts drop thingies fwiw. It might be best to ditch the punty BS and just grab the crucible and pour the glass into the mold. Keep a flame on it and THEN use the punty to remove the glass from the mold to be placed back in the kiln for anneal. The 104coe was VERY runny even at just 974c. It took several dips and many twists to keep it from falling off the stick.
How hot does the bronze mould have to be?, can you heat both, whip the bronze mould out of the furnace and then press the still hot glass into it after the bronze cools a bit....may oxidize the bronze surface by doing so.
No idea... I would think 1000 should be plenty. ??? If it was in with the glass, the bronze would likely melt.
Ahh yes...for some reason I thought you'd be using Fahrenheit not Celsius, you could even make a set of tongs with the bronze mould as one jaw and a flat square plate as the other jaw and heat the jaws before your squeeze the glass blob with the tongs. Maybe graphite onto the mould surface as a release agent?.
yeah it didnt exactly stick to the mold, I described that kinda wrong. It was stuck to my stick and I couldnt get it off so I had to wiggle the lump off the stick by holding the tamper on the blob in the mold. Not the correct method by a longshot. I am going to try again by picking up the crucible. The glass was very fluid even at 974. First time handling glass at these temps. baby steps.
F it, I'm going for it again!.. I'm going to try pouring into the preheated bronze mold. This did show a lot of promise. Look at a chunk I found halfway across the garage. It fit here. Now let's see the other side. Nice and shiny!!! Brilliant color!
I did a seminar a few years back and the shaper blowers used Oxy-propane. They were doing turning well adding a filler rod. Sometimes three small torches. I compared this to the instructor like welding, he came back at me it’s more like hot glue Gun. His hint was, Maintain the heat everywhere until you’re ready to freeze.
Yeah Mark it blasted pretty good. The bronze just sucked the heat out of the glass REALLY FAST! Preheating the mold should give me more time. I'm also going to keep a torch on the glass at the same time next go around. Matt, I'm trying not to buy a 500dollar oxy propane glass torch. I've got enough toys at the moment. The glass workers use rod and make a blob and "glue" other colors and crap on to make their beads. It is a lot like gluing from what I've seen. You can actually rapidly drop the temp of glass to around 500c, after that, you have to watch rates really close as you anneal and cool slowly through strain point. I don't even know if this amount of glass could be worked with a desktop torch. The old ladies that make beads told me it's more glass than they usually work.
FAIL again.... I just cannot get enough heat from this kiln..... I even tried hitting the glass with an acetylene turbo torch and it wasn't enough to keep the crucible flowing. I've been told they don't use acetylene on glass because it's a dirty fuel. Might be time to pull out the propane weed burner I guess? It's got a much bigger flame. Tomorrow is another day. I'm getting sick of kicking my own ass on this one.
I know you need a controlled heat but would a furnace pre-heat help, I know it's a pain to set up the rig but a hot crucible of glass might gee the kiln along. Not sure what else to add unless there is a solution to getting the kiln up to temp, I somehow doubt the weed burner will get it there but I could (and often) be wrong
That's kinda what I'm thinking Peedee. Get it as hot as I can with the kiln, pull it and keep it in the weedburner on full blast to get it the rest of the way. Pour, press, keep the flame on it and back into the kiln. I'll need three hands at a minimum. Dare I say it's time to look at a "GLORYHOLE" furnace setup? (I can hear it now, here comes the jokes!) If you don't know what a gloryhole is, I cannot be held responsible if you google it! Where do these people get these insane numbers for this stuff? https://www.fusionheadquarters.com/Murphy-Fire-Bucket-p/firbuc.htm Why do I think I just found another use for my forge? DUH!!! Boy do I feel dumb!
I'm impressed. David gave me a thumbs up and not a single d**k joke from the peanut gallery..... YET! lol
