Is it safe to score and snap hand pulled colored tubing?

[RamblezMarblez]

I won a tube of Red Elvis Tag colered tubing from World Glass in Corning NY on a FB contest (on my 30th B-day too)! Is it safe to score and snap or should I just melt and pull into points right away. It's not like it's factory made by machines. Thanks.,...Erik:o:

[leatherneck8541]

Hey I'm still pretty new in the glass world but i score and snap pulled tubing and its always worked out for me so far, then i just heat one end and put it on a punty and go do your thing from there

[jseden]

Should be cool.

Why pull points on color tube? Seems like kind of a waste

[leatherneck8541]

exactly, thats how i minimize waste and get the most bang for your buck, also I'm cheap hah

[daveabr]

pulling points would be a waste of such a pricey tube, even if it was free.


just use a blowtube, attach, and tear a piece off at a time.

[Grape]

slick you know what works good is heating a part of the tube and wiggling it till it gets stiff n snaps. or use a v necking tool, heat n make a cold line with the v and wiggle back n forth till it snaps, then you have a nice clean open end to attach a blow tube to. you dont want to watse that color tubing by pulling points. but some peeps pull points with colored tubing so do whatever. but most people attach a blow tube to em

[Number Three]

am i missing something? does thermal shock not work on color tube? havent had to try it with color tube so im asking. . .


. . . nice win on the elvis slick! . . . I was on that list too! big ups to World Glass Corning! great guys. have helped me out loads. good people.

[hashmasta-kut]

if you got diamond shears thats sweet too. add a blowtube and shear your section. leaves a good end for next time.

[Julian]

Diamond shears work great. This tube varies a lot in thickness and some is more cracky than you'd expect, so success with scoring (and thermal anything) will vary. When tubes are larger, or especially more thin they're plenty easy to score in the flame. Otherwise, as illustrated diamond shears or maybe a V-thing are ideal (pictured is some 4-6 mm Agua Azul):

http://i.imgur.com/eNbM3.jpg

Just heat a section, squizzle with the shears and snap.

[Master Yoda]

sweet, how many hands do u need to have to do that though?

Being solo seems like a v would be the only way to go

[Icarus]

sweet, how many hands do u need to have to do that though?

Being solo seems like a v would be the only way to go

Two, same as what the standard model comes equipped with.

[MUPH]

Use a V-neck

[TlkQ]

sweet, how many hands do u need to have to do that though?

Being solo seems like a v would be the only way to go


I use diamond shears for everything. I just set one side of the tube to be cut in my L marver.

[Lmwfy]

http://i.imgur.com/wTP8k.jpg

[leatherneck8541]

hah hell yeah BALLERS ONLY hah, from my experience if the tubing was pulled properly (i do vac-stacks, get out all the air, heat, pull, and yeah i use diamond shear it in half, and then cut off any nasty ends and make sure they are pulled down into a taper and bench cool, then i score and snap how much i want to use, attach to 12mil tube and rock on from there, no shock problems so far but i feel a lot has to do not only with how well the tubing is pulled, but i can be wrong but for some reason some colors just "check" on me and its as if they hate each other or I'm doing something totally wrong, i have this happen a lot with frit for some reason;(

[hashmasta-kut]

I use diamond shears for everything. I just set one side of the tube to be cut in my L marver.

depending on the situation one can do it vertically too, for the scoring, then snap it on somewhere horizontal usually.

[ALIEN!]

Ill second the v-tool or diamond shears.

[menty666]

Use a V-neck

Or if you're an idiot like me and managed to drop and break yours, clamp a butter knife to the stand under your torch, straight edge up.

[Aaron Ellis]

No diamond shears or v tool thing just mount some scissorsto a piece of wood like a v tool thing they work great for splitting up tube into blanks jm2 cents.

[Julian]

I could see why that would work, scissors are basically just ghetto diamond shears or V thing.

[hashmasta-kut]

if all you got is a v tool, get diamond shears too. for those of us without the v tool, i think we are missing out too though..

[J Howard]

yeah, don't score and snap, then you just have an end to clean up. v marver or diamond shear part way, then wiggle and snap. fire polish your ends and ******* set down vertically***** (or rekiln if you have issues)

setting things in your cooling rack vertically allows the heat to cool off evenly for no cracking. when set down horizontally, the heat rises and one side cools faster than the other. most of the time its not a problem, but the zen of glass is finding a technique that works 100% of the time not just 80% of the time. to set a tube down vertically, stick a piece of 8mm rod or larger in one of the holes of your rack, then put your tube ends over the rods

[Kato]

yeah, don't score and snap, then you just have an end to clean up. v marver or diamond shear part way, then wiggle and snap. fire polish your ends and ******* set down vertically***** (or rekiln if you have issues)

setting things in your cooling rack vertically allows the heat to cool off evenly for no cracking. when set down horizontally, the heat rises and one side cools faster than the other. most of the time its not a problem, but the zen of glass is finding a technique that works 100% of the time not just 80% of the time. to set a tube down vertically, stick a piece of 8mm rod or larger in one of the holes of your rack, then put your tube ends over the rods

*BOOM*


J just dropped another knowledge bomb.

[firebrand beads]

FWIW... we LOVE these: JAWS.
http://www.artcoinc.com/jaws.php
makes a clean cold-cut without a saw, so you don't have to clean crap out of the inside of the tube.
And for you ballers who like colored points... we sell the tapered pointed ends of our tubes. At a discount.
Just sayin'... ;-D

[Pogo]

Glassblowing isn't safe... Get out now while you still can. I'll take that shit you ain't usin no more.

[JCeast]

Becareful were you buy so called diamond shears. Old school ones work, new models suck.

[J Howard]

carlo donna 80mm diamond shears, you get what you pay for! or maybe this is a hobby ;)

[gn0me]

I'd just like to add that having cheap diamond shears beats having no diamond shears. The $35 set from glasscraft are decent, but work better once the edges are filed round and into alignment (if you get a set that are off). It's nice not having the pipe grabbers getting in the way, though I do wish that they were a bit more sturdy.

[J Howard]

honestly, the side of your L-marver works better than cheap diamond shears... unless you sharpen them

[hashmasta-kut]

and then again, good shears work much better than the L marver edge. i used to use the L marver edge for quite a few months, but cutting edge dante shears kick butt on that method.

[Julian]

I used a friend's mini diamond shears recently, which didn't seem very expensive but I liked them a lot. I found the small size easy to maneuver and feel what's going on with. They wouldn't be big enough to split tubing, though. They're only large enough to open bubbles.

[Kevin Bumble]

don't do it!!!! you will blow up !!!!! 4 REALZ

[J Howard]

the difference between a good pair of diamond shears and a crappy pair comes down to this:

when you set a jack line with good shears, you should be able to tap off the point in one tap, with a perfect flat edge that's nice and square. when you use your jacks to open it up a little, then flare it out with a spin, the good shears will give you a perfect martini, the crappy ones will give you an oval (don't make cups? i bet you encalmo sections together. a nice flat perfect surface sure makes that easier). try as i might, i could not make a good cup with my apprentices shears. i sharpened them, and that was a little better, but i still messed up quite often. without sharpening, i thought the cheap pair was absolutely USELESS. i found a pair of scissors to do a better job.

so, you can spend $35 on a piece of crap, or you can spend $135 on the best pair on the planet IMO. the cutting edge dante diamonds are $200 - they might be better if they fit your hands better. i'll admit, i have not used them specifically, but i do have a regular pair of cutting edge diamonds that (while they're nice) are not as nice as the carlo's. there's just something about the carlo's that to me, are the perfect geometry. cutting edge does make the best duck billed shears however. the jim moore diamonds are 90$, but too clunky for flameworking for me

i understand the desire to save money, but in all honesty, sometimes you're just wasting money when you go cheap. spend the extra 100$ and get a tool that lasts and makes your work better a good pair of diamond shears pays for themselves in perfection. when i made pipes, all my mouth pieces were made perfect by my shears, in one shot normally, and done faster than picking the holes open. plus, the left over handles made by the shears, make the best hollow handles for re-balls. when i use this colored tubing we're all talking about, the left over end is already the extact size for these hollow handles, and since the edge is nice, there's nothing to clean up - just butt seal

[hashmasta-kut]

well i would have bought CDs at the time, but couldnt find any in stock anywhere, so dont know what i'm missing, but thanks for the expert advice :) now i want to buy my sister some, but i am in a mixed bag, do i buy her expensive ones, but what if she doesnt use them? and what if i like them better than mine? bit of a quandary.

colored tubing should always be scored and snapped.

[sleepingpeople]

it should always be scored and snapped? i dont think there is ever any definitive way anyone should go about doing anything as long as they get a desired result. I often use my necking tool, but just as often i feel like i pop a hole, handle up, and pull off my desired section with a flame cut at the end. theres more than one way to skin a cat i think i heard someone say

[J Howard]

lol, the only thing i score and snap is 6mm and 4mm. i can count on one had the times i've scored and snapped a tube (i also don't make "tubes" or then i'd do it all the time). i prefer to flame cut my full (clear) tubes in half - it's like picking both ends shut from the start. then i either pull points or attach blow tubes.

[hashmasta-kut]

for sure, i flame cut all large clear tubing too .but since i got diamond shears i use them on my tenmm handle tubing all the time, its the fastest way to get myself a straight boil free end. i also use it on all color tubing sectioning, its the most effficient way to use color tubing i can see.


it should always be scored and snapped? i dont think there is ever any definitive way anyone should go about doing anything as long as they get a desired result. I often use my necking tool, but just as often i feel like i pop a hole, handle up, and pull off my desired section with a flame cut at the end. theres more than one way to skin a cat i think i heard someone say


sorry i was misleadingly trying to stay on topic with some semi random comment.

do you have diamond shears?

[sleepingpeople]

i dont own diamond shears currently no, just a v necking tool as well as a nice lynx flame ;)

I usually grab sections with 9mm blowtube so often times prefer to pick the hole in order to get a nice opening of even thickness.