clear bubbler seals help

[eternalfrost]

so i havent been able to do hardly any torching at all for the past few months because being away at school.

getting back into it a little again this thanksgiving break. i usually do more of the more 'sloppy' organic asymmetrical type styles focusing more on colors and such. but id like to work more on my 'technical' skills now. i want to be able to make something sweet looking using only clear for example.

ive been messing around with some double bubblers. ive done multi-section pieces before but always with color. ive noticed now using only clear as practice that my seals between sections arent as nice as i thought they were.

i can get the outsides all nice and smooth and even just fine but now with the clear im noticing the inside ring is still 'V' shaped and i cant seem to get it melted in flat on the inside surface to save my life!

my technique is basically popping and reaming two holes, getting the rims nearly white hot and pressing together then spot heating with a needle flame to fuse together. is this even the right way to go?ive never had anyone tell me just always kind of winged it. they always looked fine on colored pieces but are horrendous looking on clear

[skip]

Use bridges and work the seals.

[β]

ya, bridges changed the way i work larger pieces. Especially with clear, seals are a bitch. You just need to be patient while blowing and condensing. It's slow work but worth it.

[e-jipt]

Yea a really kick ass trick I just recently learned with bridges, great for prodo.
I used to bridge from can to the other part (what's that called anyway?)
but then I'd have to put a little magnifier there or something else to cover up where I messed up the pattern, Unless it's i/o
anyway, a friend i was watching just took some punty, like 6 mil or less does'nt really matter. and stuck it from the blowtube near the mouth peice to the blowtube on the bottom of the can. that way it doesn't fuck with the actual peice at all but still provides support. Best trick I've learned in a while and it takes like 10 seconds to tack down a bridge on those blowtubes.
goodluck!!

[Glacier_Arts_Studio]

yeah e-jet, that is call a brace in my world...
there is a tech to make it stable and useful...

well, i hate to be the noob that believes he knows something because,
the explanation is so damn complex but, have you heard of using a
brace...??? same as a bridge but, it's a hole lot longer and it's temporary...
it is something i learned as "brace shaping" in the case of a single section
but, the tech is very useful in joining sections as well... i haven't been
doing as much (if any) of this as i should... but, when i have used it,
the results are fabulous... it does require some knowledge to apply
this temporary brace i am talking about... if need be, i will explain
this with a tutorial and pix or, maybe even a vid... i will say that the
use of bracing and bridges will add a hole new level to your work...

:beatnik: :pimp: :smokin: :chainsmk: :chilling:
:pimp: :smokin: :chainsmk: :chilling: :beatnik:
:smokin: :chainsmk: :chilling: :beatnik: :pimp:
:chainsmk: :chilling: :beatnik: :pimp: :smokin:
:chilling: :beatnik: :pimp: :smokin: :chainsmk: :tiphat:

[skip]

bridge ...brace it's all the same. Some may be temporary some may be permanent . No need to make it confusing lol....

[Greymatter Glass]

I call them all silica based mechanical support structures.

[somberbear]

seals are normaly very stressfull in the first place....

if you putt a "magnifier" oh after the seal as been made your asking for a crack and snap.... your transitions should be smooth and even and clear if your doing proto just rip it back till the patern starts and you downt have clear condense it till it meets....... just saying just smacking crap on a joint is kinda inviting it to cracking even if it is a cool effect or something.....

Shelving is bad .... learn to work it as little as possible. heat , stick puff and pull....


peace
rob

[eternalfrost]

thanks for the help.

what ive been trying to get down is basically two 2-inch long bubbler sections connected parallel then a cruved sherlockish mouth piece.

so should i connect the joint first then add a bridge then get the joint all ripping hot with a little puffing to keep from collapsing and fused together?

is that all there is to getting the inner wall flush? just getting it really hot all the way through to the inside? or is there some better trick when first connecting them then just smushing the two holes together to avoid the inner nastiness all together?

[HOSS]

If you get both parts you are welding matched up really nice as far as hole size and wall thickness, get them both really ripping hot (without losing the hole shape) and join them while still in the flame, then pull apart a little while blowing, you can sometimes get that inner wall smooth without needing to bridge and remelt the whole thing. It can be done very cleanly with enough practice but it doesn't work out perfectly like that very often for me. But my shopmate has it down slick as snot, I agree with Somber that the less you need to work it the better, especially with clear.

[Glacier_Arts_Studio]

If you get both parts you are welding matched up really nice as far as hole size and wall thickness, get them both really ripping hot (without losing the hole shape) and join them while still in the flame, then pull apart a little while blowing, you can sometimes get that inner wall smooth without needing to bridge and remelt the whole thing. It can be done very cleanly with enough practice but it doesn't work out perfectly like that very often for me. But my shopmate has it down slick as snot, I agree with Somber that the less you need to work it the better, especially with clear.

that is what and how my teacher did things... everything he did in front of me
was done with ease... on the things i watched rod do nightly, it was rare that
it wasn't done with ease... leading to my giving it a try...

the way i was shown to do a brace is,

blow a thin spot, on you handle or blow tube, just off of the piece
and keep warm, while gathering a small marb on some 7mm and
just outside the flame, drop the hot gather onto the thin spot while
giving it a slight blow... you have done it right if the gather has melted
the thin spot and allowed you to blow air into the gather... this transition
in the weld will allow it to be quite strong... then it's just a matter of
heating the brace and bending it in the right direction and joining it to
the puntty at the other end or to the other brace on the second piece
if that is the case... without doing it this way, i have experienced bad
results...

[eternalfrost]

alright so i spent a few more hours on this and got some nice results.

messing with the braces and all just got me into more problems with stress cracks and deforming the cans etc.

what ended up working really well for me was firstly starting with holes that were much more thin walled and 'popped-out' with vertical walls (what i was using before was more like a finished carb hole, thick and almost flush with the tube). then getting the rims yellow and while still in the flame 'zippering' them together. i even got a few spots that fused perfect the first time! most needed some extra melting in tho. just used a needle flame to spot heat no more then 1/4 of the seal at a time. got it really ripping hot, almost white and some puffs out. then gently heating the entire seal and very gently puffing out to get an even circle around the whole rim

ended up with some realy nice seals with that nice arched gap look. my problems before was starting out eith much to thick walls on the rims that just couldnt possibly get enough heat through to the inside surface.