seriouis crack repair

[nicko0]

so i made a mistake and put a crack in this piece that is almost too heavy to handle. went to fix it after kilning, ran another crack, twice as bad, in a hard spot, fix both of them, too time consuming, put piece back in kiln cccrrraaaaccckkkkks everywhere just masssive failure. now the tech im using makes for a pretty unstable piece of glass but ive delt with it enough that i WAS confident in this execution.

i knew getting into this piece i was going to learn alot from alot of mistakes.

so i cant afford to junk this piece and so i break it down into three large sections

ramp it all up to 1200 and throw everything a herbie 65 has at it.

chase cracks fuse holes undo slumping. its a mess

ive never worked on a piece while its stationary using a hand torch

i figure this is the only way to deal with this beast.

so i hook up the old 8m with a sm21 tip and assemble the piece stationary on the bench

EVeRYTHING WAS SO CALM AND STRESS FREE

still i knew that there would be more cracks missed cracks who knows

so i tried to find a way to work in/out the kiln because there is no way to deal with this thing just inside the kiln

so i set up a platform of brick in front of the kiln level with the kiln floor. put a kiln shelf inside the kiln and the piece on top of that

so ive been sliding the shelf out the kiln with the piece on it doing a little work and sliding it back in

oh i take it to 1200 and while im working on the piece i set the kiln to go back to 1060 so it doesnt shock the piece too bad when i put it back in.

what are some of the tricks you have for dealing with stuff like this?

[Albino Sasquatch]

do the fix in the kiln ramp it up to lilke 1150 or so open it up and use your gloves and hand torch to fix the problem it makes the cracks not run on you because of the even heat envelope around the piece. ive done it on a couple of pieces works tits compared to taking it out and chancing it falling on your banch or the floor when the crack meets. maybe try and find a bigger kiln that would be easier to manuver the piece

[Albino Sasquatch]

may just be your super sketchy color tech thats dooming you on this one too. sorry if i didnt help man.

[nicko0]

its just ga black violet(cause i had a lot of it) and ns yellow. looks alot like darkness.

i feel like 1150 isnt hot enough. at 1200 the piece is glowing and the cracks are so close to fusing

the bad part about 1200 is the piece slumps

and i think the piece shocks more if it cools from higher temps.

ill have to try 1150 again to see if there is much difference

i cant really see the well inside the kiln or really get around the piece

[Albino Sasquatch]

yea you may have to move it in stages to work it all the way but you dont wanna slump. also you may be able to get a longer tip for your hand torch so you dont have to do so much actually in the kiln only the long torch tip will be in there with the piece, alowin you a more comfrotable work zone. and grab you a shop light or have someone hold a flashlight so it will help you see because when working you deffinatly wanna know if the seal is worked in you dont wanna guess it and have it crack to shit again. also could be a reduction problem of some sort as well alot of the exotic and spakely colors can be sketchy as all hell if you reduce them to much or over work the shit outta them.

[FredLight]

Don't drive yourself crazy chasing cracks.

Bust it up and make something from the pieces, you'll learn more than you lose.

And cranking up your kiln to do this is not the way. Thermal shock occurs below 900F, whether it was at 1150 or 1050, it doesn't matter.

Use a timer that dings, set it for 5 minutes, take out your piece (on a blowtube), work it until your timer dings and stick it back in for 10 minutes.

Learning heat base and working window is more important and should come before learning crack repair.

Once you learn that, you won't need to learn crack repair.

I hope I helped, instead of sounding like a jerk.

[nicko0]

too late: gone crazy.

ill start doing a verbal countdown to 100 or so to limit the time i give it out the kiln

i think i did this to myself subconsciously on purpose

too big to work on a blow tube stably

i think the hot kiln shelf under the piece with all that heat radiating off of it is helping keep the piece warm longer and slowing the cold shock

[kq9ak]

Not 100% but I think ga black violet can be over kilned especially at higher temps. usually when I have a crack that run into other areas I scrap the piece, a lot of built up stress that will drive u nuts and just keep cracking.

[Glassroots]

yeah what kq9ak said. Ga violet is not to be overkilned, thats the culprit.

[FredLight]

If your doing repairs on hollow work, the blowtube is a must, unless you want caved in surfaces and overly thick spots.

If it's too big for a blowtube, use a bigger blowtube.

Otherwise, part it out, and work a little smaller.