tempered glass?

[Itzallmyne]

My friend wants me to make her a glass toy, so we were checking some out on the internet. I found a site that claims it's toys are made of tempered glass. Is this possible for a non factory type operation to do?

Also some of the sites that sell these toys, seem to sell them very cheap. Could it be possibe that there are some major dicks (no pun intended) out there not properly annealing and polariscoping these toys before sale?

I told her I needed a polariscope and most likely alot more experience under my belt (haha, again, no pun intended!) before I attempted to make one of these. What other tests are done on these toys, to make sure they are safe, before they can be sold?

Thanks,

Marilyn

[mindblowingglass]

You do not need to be a factory to temper glass
However I would worry about a tempered glass toy.
A tempered toy would not be safe to use.

Over the years I have busted many balls(no pun intened) of people ( esp. newb's) that were not annealing their toys. ( at all or not annealing properly)
Many (if not a lrg % of) people selling toys do
not even own a polariscope ( let alone check them)
A few yrs back I took a portable polariscope into a few local shops I was
dealing with. Many of the toys we tested - had major internal stresses
( even some from rather reputable distributors )
Needless to say , my sales blew up at every shop I brought the polariscope to.
But back to your ?, yes there are still people that do not check their toys.
Also the asians and indians have both been tapping that market for over 3 yrs now. So accordingly some of the toys that you are seeing REAL CHEAP are indeed checked and double checked w/ a polariscope.

I would highly recomend makeing sure you are properly trained in glass working b4 you start making toys ( for yourself or anyone else for that matter)
If you do make some for your friend ( and do not plan on going into the buis)
You can buy some polorised film and make a "crude" polariscope that will work
We did other tests on sample toys ( but would dispose of said toys afterwards)
IE "hammered in nails" and drive over with a Accord. But these were for our own piece of mind.
Visual inspections, physical inspection(running your finger over the entire piece and then checking under a polariscope is all you really need to do.
If you are doing real crazy designs - its best to get a freind as a "gunnie pig"
, given glass has no flex, some designs (made in latex) are not good for glass.

We used Schot duran for all of our toys ( in part because we marketed them as the best quality glass avaliable) , So when the time comes I would use either duran or simax.
And use a digital control ( w. ramp) and make sure you run it down with a proper annealing cycle.

If you have any other ?'s on this subject dont hesitate to pm me ( I'll gladly help you any way I can) As well if the time comes that you make her one before you get a polariscope I would be willing to check a few for you under our polariscope if you need me to ( but you wil have to cover shipping both ways) ( and I doubt I need to say this, but just in case- they would need to be unused)