Color Bubbling in Vac Stack

[Stubby]

I just started doing vac stacks recently and most of them have been coming out pretty good, but on quite a few of them I am getting bubbles on top of the color. It appears as if the color is actually bubbling because when I am sealing it I do not see any bubbles whatsoever. Then when it is all stretched and cooled I noticed all these small bubbles. I work it nice and slow trying to give it all time to melt together before I move down

Is it possible the color is off-gassing or something or am I possibly doing something wrong?

[TlkQ]

Make sure you are wiping down your color rods and the inside of your tubing super super good before you put it all together.

[Stubby]

Yeah I did not do that at all. I heard and read to do that, but I just told myslef, "well they look clean no need to wipe 'em"

Guess that might be my problem then . . .

[Organik]

Yeah you need to religiously clean everything with them.

[TlkQ]

Yea, that's for sure your problem then. 100%

[Stubby]

Thanks, one more question.

Do striking colors do well in vac stacks and if so are there any ones that work better than others?

[newmexicomagma]

id say make sure your sleaving tube is hotter.

[sleepingpeople]

try wearing some disposable gloves, get some acetone, ISO alcohol, or windex as well as some papertowels.. wipe down all your color, and clear, as well as the tube inside and out. Do it all with the gloves on til its chucked up and try that out.

[LooseSeal Baller]

Thanks, one more question.

Do striking colors do well in vac stacks and if so are there any ones that work better than others?

define well and better...

different strokes 4 different folks

[n3rd]

striking colors are awesome in vac stack! try it!! for sure clean everything but if you see air after that it could be in the rods, look at the end of the rods do you see a bunch of holes? GA iris seems like its 30% air ??

[HumanLathe]

With striking colors it will be easier to control the "striking" aspect of the color because the color is hidden inside the clear sleeving tube and not being hit with the flame directly on the surface.

[bowlpusher]

Windex will fuck you up. Always use acetone or alcohol.

[FatFluxDesigns]

So i have had this same problem on a couple of my recent stacks and I have just been using Windex. been doing some research and found this thread but still have a quick question if anyone could help:
Do you have to Dilute the alcohol or acetone at all? for example i have some 91% ISO alcohol I use to clean out my used pieces.. will that be good to use right out of the bottle?

[chillrelaxglass]

When I seal(the innertube) I shoot flame in the center of the tube and flare it like a foot closed so the fire cannot touch the color. IT because your raging fast to get the inntube closed id bet. ONLY Shoot fire on the clear. Ive never used anything to clean my tubes and ive never had issues. Try without dumping any liquid chemical cleaners. And only heat the clear you will be just fine. Or stack borobars until they don't bubble then you can stack any color and make it work fine :)

[JDNACEglass]

uhhh, i would say it is pretty important to clean everything, very well. i use %91 iso, i scrub it all down real well, so it is saturated, but then i take a dry towel and dry them real well, ive noticed a lil haze on em if i dont dry them, not too sure if it makes a diff in the final pull, seems like it does though

[MUPH]

I'd also say you need to clean everything up. I don't think your problem has anything to do with the beginning flare of the vac stack

[chillrelaxglass]

Crazy ive never cleaned one. Mine come out more than perfect :) . And ive done ATLEAST 1000 of them haha.

[JDNACEglass]

well, chillrelax, i guess ive been wasting alchohol and a shit load of time, i must say i was somewhat suspicious when i first saw people cleaning glass, i thought wouldnt everything just burn off? i decided to start following this technique, and coincidentally, i didnt get bubbles that werent associated with colors, or anymore aof this haze i was seeing. no fuck that, you are giving bad advice, i admit i dont know very many glassblowers, but you are the absolute first person that i have heard say that it is not important to clean glass, so i would respectfully have to call you out on it.

[glassfireart]

I would use an ammonia free glass cleaner. Hopes Perfect Glass works amazing.

[Riley]

Only idiots clean their glass. Already done a million stacks with that used motor oil encasement. Decades of combined experience are laughable. Haha dummies.

Meanwhile on planet earth, numerous things cause boiling. Excess unspent fuel, carbon, errant synthetics like a piece of rubber or silicone, paper towel, and alcohol. I guess do what works for you but suggesting that cleaning glass is a waste of time is dumb. People don't usually chill and relax when glass isn't free, and ends gotta be made.

[JBob]

Shop towels > household paper towels

[BORO]

I have never heard of problems with windex ? But I'm OCD and scrubb it dry?


It is uncommon for bubbles to just show up later , and be the manufactures fault. Usually user error like most have said.

It does happen from time to time. Only once have I been convinced it was the color batch.
It was g.a. Snow White. Some sticks had big air bubbles, others were fine. That fact alone should have tipped me off not to use it in anything nice. It would go on smooth , it would reball up smooth, then whèn you made the final shape after the stacking ,air bubbles. Like this..6202562026
I have used quite a bit of Snow White , other than the one bad batch,any problems have been my fault. I prefer n.s. star white anyhow, much more abuseable .

The other thing you may call "bubbles"... I càll stones. They are under the color, and are more noticeable in the rod. They are rare, and I can't remember last time I saw a stick like this. The reason I posted to this thread, just yesterday I pulled a piece out of the kiln that has stones.

Can stones be created by user error? Or are they solely manufacturing flaws?

The color may be to blame, but you can bet I knew that the last half of the teal stick I used was strange, and a risk. The color stick would act like it wanted to bubble, then smooth back out. But not a few bubbles , big lumps all over. I said screw it, and paid the price. I consider it user error, because I knew better. You can see the stones in the teal right in the middle of the pic, and on the carb, it's actually everywhere in person. 62027

The last thing that can cause bubbles ( other than dirty glass) ... If you stripe your color onto the inner tube with a torch. Obviously it can bubble from the flame. I stripe my color onto the core , not a true rubber band and vac stack. When I first started with a vac , and clear sleeve, if the color line core did not fit, I had to heat the raw lines of color and shape it till it would fit in the sleeve. That extra step would almost always add extra bubbles. Even if they were too tiny to see. Now I have it dialed, and the core fits snug or a touch too small.

[smolder holder]

Recently did a part clear vac and forgot to clean my inner tube after scoring and cutting it to size. The bubbles only formed after working it but it ruined the pull. Always clean your glass.

[aREa541]

Yup, clear pulls are exceptionally in need of a good cleaning. I usually clean with iso, then rinse with water. On clear pulls I have to use distilled water for the rinse or I chance the minerals in my tap water creating bubbles in my pull which is visible in the clear. I have ruined a large amount of expensive specialty tubing with tap water.

[istandalone24/7]

here's a really stupid question for yall....if i'm doing a "fade to clear" tube pull (and i make my tubing like Boro does....hand stripe color then sleeve. i guess it helps that Boro taught me a lot of what i know....thank's Drew!!!) do i need to use clear rod where the clear lines will be?
i know....perhaps it's obvious.....w/o clear rod to fill out the tube there would be a metric shit ton of puffing/condensing to even out the wall thickness?

[chillrelaxglass]

Call me out....My tubes come out fine tho.

[JBob]

here's a really stupid question for yall....if i'm doing a "fade to clear" tube pull (and i make my tubing like Boro does....hand stripe color then sleeve. i guess it helps that Boro taught me a lot of what i know....thank's Drew!!!) do i need to use clear rod where the clear lines will be?
i know....perhaps it's obvious.....w/o clear rod to fill out the tube there would be a metric shit ton of puffing/condensing to even out the wall thickness?

Yes u need clear there.

[istandalone24/7]

thanks, Jbob!

[neddowerx]

I would say at least wipe the glass down if it already looks clean, but in my opinion I believe its the air content within the color being used. If there's air within, it will show whatever you do or however you clean unless you can perfectly work the air out from end to end which can be very tricky. Maybe test the batch of colors being used first to make sure there's not a lot of bubbles, and go from there instead of risking throwing is some air filled color. Also would only use first quality because a lot of odds/ seconds can have more air content. Good luck, hope this helps a little :)

[neddowerx]

And as for "stones" they can also be user error although most times its the color, but you can make stones in clear aswel. It's when you overheat a tiny stringer tip, or placing dots down with a turbulent flame that micro piece gets too hot from pulling it away from the dot you placed, forms at the tip and creates a stone that gets placed within the next dot. We have most likely all made a piece with surface dots that after melted, shaped, said and done then Outa the kiln you can see and or feel a tiny bump that just would not melt in smooth. I have seen with linework also, but not as often.