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Mac Maestro
06-20-2005, 02:23 PM
Did anyone ever have any success in building a boro furnace??

A while ago there was a bunch of interest and people talking about it, but I never heard if anyone actually pulled it off. I would give my left nut for a clear dip, so it's time to try.

I would enjoy hearing what happened if someone did it. Where they failed and where they succeded.
Does it take a special crucible or is a standard soft glass crucible sufficient?
Does it scuzz or bubble or just not stay hot?
Do you use boro cullet? Who sells that?

RCglass
06-20-2005, 02:37 PM
Have you seen the articles with Marcel in The Flow?

Abe Fleishman
06-20-2005, 03:26 PM
We sell Boro Cullet. The cullet selles for about $3-4 dollers per pound We also have volume order discounts.

Contact Abe at Precision color glass for info at 360-734-8012

Abe Fleishman
06-20-2005, 03:45 PM
Here is a little info for your mind. If you guys want to make crystal clear borosilicate glass to dip out of a furnace you may have to buy a furnace that is run on Moly or silicone carbide elements. A small unit my range in price from $6,000-20,000 depending on what you are willing to spend. Borosilicate glass needs to be melted at around 2,600F to 3,000F If you want crystal clear glass. This also depends on what type of glass you are using, if you use cullet you may have some problems finning out all air bubbles, if you use batch you will have less air if any. Hope this helps a little. Just to let you guys know it is all possible with glass just go for it.

Peace abe

Greymatter Glass
06-20-2005, 09:04 PM
Also, unless you spend big bucks on a platnium crucible, you'll be lucky to get more than one firing out of a pot...that's what I've heard anyways.

Obviously people batch Boro, but I don't think it's very practical on a small scale ... yet...

And what form is your boro cullet? All the broken tubing you cant sell? or do you get real large chunks of cullet? Might be interested in a few for bases.

hum dee dum....

just thinking outloud now... but what about a gas fired oxygen enriched furnace? You'd probably only need the oxy bleed to fine and gather... otherwise on "off" days you could just keep it warm with fuel/air... dunno, phase separation might be a major problem.

It is all possible, that's a given... but I'm sure more research could be done on the small scale boro batching systems.

Still, I'd probably pay $10k for a 50# boro furnace if I had an extra 10G laying around.

Probably buy a lathe first tho.

-Doug

J Howard
06-20-2005, 09:21 PM
abe, that high temp glass you're melting is pimp, moly elements all the way. love your version of DAP. hope you keep it going and it all works out

jeffbuchs
06-20-2005, 10:43 PM
I had a chance to check one out a few years ago in NJ. I know the kid had a special crucible.
He just remelted clear scrap. It was super hot to gather out of(but still not hot enough to make the boro super fluid) and the glory hole wasn't rigged right. The end result was stiff, bubbly,ugly, almost unworkable gathers.
Unfortunatly the kid left town before dailing the whole set-up in.
I guess its been figured out though, cant wait to see it done right!

$$$$$$$
06-20-2005, 10:45 PM
no shit, we have to work so hard to encase stuff in clear, while those soft glass bastards just add it on by the inch... that pisses me off, anyone else?

Mac Maestro
06-21-2005, 07:50 AM
Yes, adam, exactly.
Abe thanks for the temperatures and info.

So one route is the molybdenum element kiln to reach the 3000 mark.
Is another way to achieve this to come up with a torch that will not melt in that kind of heat? Maybe with a moly head, titanium head, rhenium head, chromium?
http://www.omega.com/temperature/Z/pdf/z048.pdf

I always looked at those quartz torches Dean made as the missing link with the boro funace. I was thinking those could withstand enough heat to get the boro up to temp. 3000 degrees tho? Maybe not.

Also, a platinum crucible seems rather excessive. I'd like to do some research on some of the new high temperature ceramics and see if any could reach our goals....

Julian
06-21-2005, 08:01 AM
That was my dream for the first month of blowing...
fume a point with gold and silver, then dip it in a big gloppy vat of clear.
In my imagination at the time, it was like dipping a piece of cheese in batter, or a corn dog like those people at the mall wearing striped shirts in the freaky little fried-cheese-on-a-stick booth.

FredLight
06-21-2005, 08:09 AM
Oh yea, the lemonade dance people. I go to the mall and get a spot where we can see them mashing lemons. I'm fascinated by workers who have to wear uniforms and perform strange rituals out in the open.

Did you end up reading that article in the Flow? I read all I needed to know, just wrote it off as impractical and WAY expensive. Helluva commitment just to get some clear dips.

kbinkster
06-21-2005, 08:13 AM
no shit, we have to work so hard to encase stuff in clear, while those soft glass bastards just add it on by the inch... that pisses me off, anyone else?

"Luke, come to the dark side..." :rollin
Just kidding. Don't become a soft glass bastard.

If your goal is to get huge gathers for encasing (or anything else for that matter), maybe you should think outside of the box... literally. A glory hole is not the only way to get a huge gather of boro and dipping is not the only method of encasing. ;)

Mac Maestro
06-21-2005, 08:34 AM
You couldn't be more right, Bink.
(except for the soft glass bastard part. I know, it was a joke)

What issue of the FLOW was that in? Yes, I missed it.
Thanks for the help and suggestions so far.

jiminyrootkit
06-21-2005, 11:02 AM
no shit, we have to work so hard to encase stuff in clear, while those soft glass bastards just add it on by the inch... that pisses me off, anyone else?
yep, that pretty much sums it up.
i hate painting on clear more than anything else in glass.
-f

FredLight
06-21-2005, 11:05 AM
Vol 1 issue 3 of The Flow.

Mac Maestro
06-21-2005, 02:10 PM
http://www.theflowmagazine.com/cover3so.jpg
DOH!

broken glass
06-22-2005, 07:41 AM
I just bought a killer fondu system,and decided to put some trash glass in there....What do you know IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!! No more wasted time encasing, just dip and go.

Julian
06-22-2005, 12:42 PM
It would be nice if the Flow sold pdf bundles of back issues or something... they have some articles up, but I'm missing issue #4 and it looks like a good one.

VinE
06-22-2005, 03:35 PM
DRacO is a glory hole, we puntied up to pre-heated blank rods/tubes in the kiln instead of using a furnace/batch.There were some issues with divit/hazing in some of the peices, but we were able to pull off some pretty neat stuff using the furnace. Most of which would not have been possible/practical at the torch. I have some pics of the project in my gallery at glassartists.org---->

http://www.glassartists.org/Gal7519_project_33_2004.asp

p.s. for those of you who say that a boro-glory hole is impractical ....think about how much cane/tubing/ you could prep in a day.

FredLight
06-22-2005, 04:03 PM
Let me re-phrase that:
This would be impractical for ME to do.
I wish anyone luck that wishes to attempt this. Just don't ask me to pitch in for Oxy. :lol

Loïc
06-23-2005, 08:47 AM
i need 1

JANKYglass
11-25-2010, 10:16 PM
hey doug,this bumps for you.

bc
11-26-2010, 08:46 AM
hahahahaha

Groundjoints.com
11-26-2010, 09:30 AM
I think the Eigenschaft furnace is for sale.

Albino Sasquatch
11-26-2010, 10:19 AM
hey abe i heard someone say you were maknig boro crusivals(sp). i was wondering as to if you were and are you marketing them im looking for a boro hotshop set up one day in the hopfully not so distant future.lol the furnace i think is where the real future of boro is! so many things you can create and all of the prep you can make up for the torch is amazing!

somewhere
11-26-2010, 10:27 AM
Abe buys his pots (crucibles) here:
http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/crucibleconnection/StoreFront.bok

Greymatter Glass
11-26-2010, 11:02 AM
also, Hi-Temp in portland

Mac Maestro
11-26-2010, 11:57 AM
Wow, Janky. You brought it back from 2005. Never did get that clear dip...

Abe Fleishman
11-26-2010, 12:19 PM
We do not buy our crucibles from Pete, we are one of the biggest users of high Alo2 crucibles in the states. We buy direct from 3 different manufactures and we make sure they are using our custom mix unless they have already got something good.
If any one wants info on crucibles or furnaces let me know cause I am your guy to help this happen. There are many options just depends on how much you want to spend.
Abe

Riley
11-26-2010, 12:20 PM
i missed a class with anthony parker on building electric furnaces, and hate myself for it. guy gets down, and also makes crucibles for the market.

http://home.comcast.net/~parkerglass2/crucible.html

i'd love some info on these too abe.

somewhere
11-26-2010, 01:06 PM
We do not buy our crucibles from Pete, we are one of the biggest users of high Alo2 crucibles in the states. We buy direct from 3 different manufactures and we make sure they are using our custom mix unless they have already got something good.
If any one wants info on crucibles or furnaces let me know cause I am your guy to help this happen. There are many options just depends on how much you want to spend.
Abe

Sorry Abe for the misinformation. Pete told me otherwise maybe I misunderstood or maybe times have changed. people should know hi-temp pots do work as well as several other brands. You don't need a special boro specific crucible although I'm sure you have worked hard on improving the mix.

Abe is the man when it comes to melting boro on a small scale I doubt anyone knows more!

FredLight
11-26-2010, 03:12 PM
In all this time, vac-sleeving has evolved enough to not need a pot to dip in.

Awesome.

I just sleeved a cane marble the other night and was laughing about how it was so easy, only 5 years later.

Practice and repetition are so under-rated.

LTD
11-26-2010, 03:16 PM
In all this time, vac-sleeving has evolved enough to not need a pot to dip in.

Awesome.

I just sleeved a cane marble the other night and was laughing about how it was so easy, only 5 years later.

Practice and repetition are so under-rated.

LOLS
No doubt... I still want a crucible.

Abe Fleishman
11-27-2010, 04:57 PM
I know Tony very well, he makes good stuff but way too expensive for my needs.
Somewhere I have never bought from Pete maybe NS bought years before I got there. I have worked with hi-temp for over 2 years to help with a good crucibles.
Abe

Riley
11-27-2010, 05:11 PM
even though parker might be too expensive for your level of needs. his electric furnace class was like $400 with an option at the end to buy the furnace we would have built. bummer on my part, that was almost 2 years ago, seemingly well before the newest line of commercially available furnaces.

Abe Fleishman
11-29-2010, 10:47 AM
I think Tony had his furnaces for saLE FOR ABOUT $7-9000. So I think that is way too much to pay for a small wire melter. But his furnaces are good for sofrt glass but for boro you need to always replace stuff so the cheaper the better.
Abe