saturated lathe market?

[Pyroglyphics]

its awesome that more and more of these machines are coming back from the dead or finding more ways to be useful to our industry than just being the tool that you need to blow perfect bubbles on some 50x5. now that the scientific techniques have been applied to our market, it seems like the sky is the limit! one day a glass lathe will be par for the course in every boro shop but until they become affordable, or a company gives the ability to finance them, theyre still a luxury to most artists.

so here comes blastshield to save the day! ive heard rumors about their new lathes and am excited to hear how they turn out. i would love to lay eyes on one in madison but i wont be at glassroots. but i have to say, a lathe flameoff sounds amazing. even if it doesnt happen this time, the idea alone is great and the fact that blastshield has gone off and designed their own lathe for this competition is even cooler.

with all that said, i have noticed that many a lathe have come up for sale recently, and at some very inflated prices compared to past years. is this only because of the growing trend of scientific seals? or are people in the know selling off their machines to purchase new ones from a highly touted company in our industry? im willing to admit, when i heard they were going for 10Gs, i thought about selling my machine and buying a BS lathe and having money leftover for something else that i need in the shop. im not going to because my litton is a solid workhorse and im not willing to swap my top earner for something that is untested so far, but who knows? a year from now i might look like a fool for not selling my litton because of how nice the new BS lathes are. it seems to me that if these lathes follow in the quality of the rest of blastshield, they should have an extremely solid product thats actually backed up with knowledge from the glassblowers. im sure their models will have a bunch of doodads and widgets that my old litton doesnt have that are much better suited to contemporary lampworking styles. if they come with all the bells and whistles that BS sells as accessory tools for other lathes, theyre gonna have a winner, and theyre gonna be busy!

also, if they can make these machines affordable to more people by giving people the option to finance them, (may not be possible, i dont know) then we're in for a big shot of adrenaline to our industry!

[HomegrownGlassStudio]

Blast Shield won't have any lathes in Madison now... I would never sell a good litton for a new blast shield lathe but thats just my 2 cents.
And theres no magical company that only a "few" of us know about, people like me just get them from scientific glass shops directly. These old guys aren't aware of the inflated prices and are selling them at old prices still. Good luck on your search but I guarantee all these fly by night bong makers will be selling these lathes at a loss in 2 years anyways...

[BK]

^ pretty much.

[Lyle Lanley]

^^ yup i agree with BK... every year the amount of tube companies seems to double and there all not unique.. too much of the same thing will only drive prices down.. anyways good luck and i hope yo track one down

[Slow]

What do you mean, "not unique?" Last time I visited my LHS, all the clear, diffused tubes had COMPLETELY DIFFERENT enamel decals on them! What more do you want?

[Greymatter Glass]

more gold luster?

[Mecha]

Blinking LED lights that spell out 420?

[gambitglass]

start making them with that liquid stuff between 2 layers.

[EFS]

I was under the impression the lathes bs were making for this were similar to lotions art lathe? In my use of a lathe I would not find an art lathe any more useful than a f. Small bore, small swing, and short working distance on bed. Just going off what I thought I heard at one time.

[Cheese glass]

I bought my litton EE from Brandon Callahan in 2006 for $5500. I now see that machine sell for $18k+.

It took several years to really become one with my machine, but, yesterday I made $4500 wholesale worth of tubes in one day with a half days worth of prep.

So, knowing what I know how and who I know now I could pay off a machine in a week.

I guess the same machine wasnt worth 5500 when I didn't know how to use it and now that I do it's easily worth $18k

Not a lot of people have a drive/motivation to master a dying art. They'd rather work in a cubicle most times.

I agree with everyone here in te evolutionary need to have a niche to survive.

Sure do see a lot of the same these days but hey there was a gold rush in 1848 and there's a rig rush in 2012. And you make the nicest rigs on a lathe.

[hashmasta-kut]

that seems silly, i dont know if i will ever get a "rig" lathe. a good rig is really quite tiny.

[Kato]

I just bought an EE-L from Brandon as well. I can't wait to start really learning this beast once it arrives! We were thinking about an HSA as well, but decided to wait and see what blast shield comes up with. Only time will tell what will happen with the lathe market.

[Lyle Lanley]

What do you mean, "not unique?" Last time I visited my LHS, all the clear, diffused tubes had COMPLETELY DIFFERENT enamel decals on them! What more do you want?


more gold luster? instead of decals might be nice... keepin it classy

and Blinking LED lights that spell out 420? what about led lights that can be change there patterns like Christmas lights..lol

i think you guys already have great ideas to make your tubes to stand by themselves.. lol

I was just pointing out that over flow of similar tube companies thats all. there are people doing it right, i also i see a lot of redundancies that lack any imagination.. that's all a very general statment

[ALIEN!]

that seems silly, i dont know if i will ever get a "rig" lathe. a good rig is really quite tiny.

I bet your quite popular with the ladies

[sasch74]

I bought my litton EE from Brandon Callahan in 2006 for $5500. I now see that machine sell for $18k+.

It took several years to really become one with my machine, but, yesterday I made $4500 wholesale worth of tubes in one day with a half days worth of prep.

So, knowing what I know how and who I know now I could pay off a machine in a week.

I guess the same machine wasnt worth 5500 when I didn't know how to use it and now that I do it's easily worth $18k

Not a lot of people have a drive/motivation to master a dying art. They'd rather work in a cubicle most times.

I agree with everyone here in te evolutionary need to have a niche to survive.

Sure do see a lot of the same these days but hey there was a gold rush in 1848 and there's a rig rush in 2012. And you make the nicest rigs on a lathe.

I totally agree on getting familiar with the machine etc...

Still I´m really surprised by the amount of $ you make with tubes in one day. I worked production for RooR Germany for quite some time, they are not the cheapest out there, right? And the main part of my income comes from production tubes. I get decent prices, but still the $ you claim to make seems really a lot to me...

Not calling you a liar and don´t have any jealousy in me, but what do these tubes look like? Half day prep?

Seems impossible to me, please prove me wrong.

Peace

[somewhere]

Pics or didn't happen

[HomegrownGlassStudio]

I can't even make enough Illadelph stuff in a day to make that I am skeptical myself...

[EFS]

I don't really care either way but I call total bullshit on 4500 in one day. I would believe a g or 1500 if you are really moving and all parts made in advance. But if that's true more power to you. Keep up the hustle or whatever the kids call it these days.

[kage]

Dude I believe you. I totally made $45.00 yesterday too.

[HumanLathe]

Dude I believe you. I totally made $45.00 yesterday too.

i think you forgot to - O2 costs :D

[sasch74]

I don't really care either way but I call total bullshit on 4500 in one day. I would believe a g or 1500 if you are really moving and all parts made in advance. But if that's true more power to you. Keep up the hustle or whatever the kids call it these days.

^^^^ this!!

[hashmasta-kut]

I bet your quite popular with the ladies

i wasn't talking bout my unit, we dont need to have that contest here this is the wrong site for that, but if you pm me i know one where we do measure our dicks online.

[Cheese glass]

Let's just say I made 15 units that I sold for $300 each

They had furnace pulled color tops, Percs and feet. I made the colors, and noone else has them, unique blends. Can't get these colors anywhere else and i don't sell them. Keeps the value of my pieces up.

Use your imagination, cause there's no way I'm posting pics of my bread and butter design on this website. CHOMP CHOMP bite bite


I guess free subtraction of rent oxy driving there and staying safe it was like a $4200 day

And ya I guess i spent a month pulling 980 lb of color tubing didn't take that into account for "prep" but......

[crsaz]

Damn cheese you looking for an apprentice/shop bitch? Im looking to get out of AZ.

[HomegrownGlassStudio]

Crsaz do you have lathe experience? I am hiring but mainly for the lathe....Homegrownglass@gmail.com

[Mecha]

Man, glassblower math never gets old.

[kage]

You would think that 980 lbs of color would make it's way into the equation

[Mecha]

Equation?

Slow down there Mr. Mathamagician.

[Tzonis]

Man, glassblower math never gets old.

I think glassblower math would also mean that one could make $20,000 in a day by taking out a HELOC from the bank. Boo YAH!

Always have to shake my head at the dollars per day comments....

-Tz

[acroduster]

I am not sure where you got your information, but I can personally promise that the Blast Shield/AcRoBotix glass lathe will not be an undersized under built glass lathe like the art lathe! in case you are curious how I can know this? I am the person that designed the electrical synchronous system, designed the mechanical platform para-metrically, and I am also the person Machining every single piece that goes into them. they are 90mm bore, have over 50 inches between chuck jaws fully opened, and over 15 inches between top of fire carriage and the center line of the work.

just an FYI for all those interested in the actual specs of the Blast Shield/AcRoBotix glass lathes.

[Torch-Bug]

Talked to Darrel yesterday , on the list . Get on it Vertigo!

[Mecha]

Yes, yes, that's all well and good, but will they have wire wrapped power crystals? What about built in patchouli misters?

[aREa541]

Bwahahahahahahaha!

[khan]

Does anybody know how much the BS lathes will sell for?

Khan

[mer]

supposed to be around ten k but i think there might have been another couple bells and whistles added since i heard that number.

[somewhere]

I am not sure where you got your information, but I can personally promise that the Blast Shield/AcRoBotix glass lathe will not be an undersized under built glass lathe like the art lathe! in case you are curious how I can know this? I am the person that designed the electrical synchronous system, designed the mechanical platform para-metrically, and I am also the person Machining every single piece that goes into them. they are 90mm bore, have over 50 inches between chuck jaws fully opened, and over 15 inches between top of fire carriage and the center line of the work.

just an FYI for all those interested in the actual specs of the Blast Shield/AcRoBotix glass lathes.

Will they have cast iron machined bed ways? Electrical synchronous system? Does this imply synchronized stepper motors as opposed to a splined drive shaft? When do we get to see the specs or pictures of one of these machines?

[mer]

they are supposed to be lightened up as much as possible with aluminum beds and other parts, the rest of that stuff is over my head.

[STROKER]

Will they have cast iron machined bed ways? Electrical synchronous system? Does this imply synchronized stepper motors as opposed to a splined drive shaft? When do we get to see the specs or pictures of one of these machines?


very good questions sky and ones that will make a big difference in the end results

[metalbone]

very good questions sky and ones that will make a big difference in the end results

so for lathes, is a single motor with a splined drive shaft better than two synchronized motors? Personally, I would think that syncronized motors could cause problems down the line and be a pain to deal with if something goes wrong...

But maybe syncronization technology and consistency in motor speeds is all good.

[Dan Kooper]

Cereal bowl base tubes are the new swagger.

[Hefe]

did someone say lathe working is a dying art? ..im confused

[peteypuff]

Does anyone know when the bs lathe will be available. I have been looking at the new lathe from wale but it is made in India, but they claim it is legit and heavy duty.

[acroduster]

You guys can check out our facebook page where we are posting vids and pics as things progress. https://www.facebook.com/BlastShieldAcRoBotix and watch our youtube channel also. www.youtube.com/acroduster. Yes the rumors are true about these lathes being electrically synchronized. We have put 100+ hours into trying to get the "brain" to become unsynchronized by lowering its voltage to ridiculous jog routines. So far, we have not been able to get it to loose any of its accuracy. ;)

There is aluminum being used, but aluminum is not the primary material responsible for rigidity, that is being accomplished with a full monocoque construction approach for the rigid chassis, or bed.

[HomegrownGlassStudio]

100 hours thats like 2-3 weeks worth of work in my shop... I hope they are nice but littons have been tested for 80 years now. Maybe I will check them out on version 2 or 3..