DIY Furnace for LIQUIDUS Glass!!!

Alright, well so far it seems as though the only cheap way of making a DIY furnace is to use microwave radiation.
What I learned from research and the video are that...

-glass melts in the microwave after being torched
-microwave radiation works on WATER MOLECULES in the microwaved material
-plasma sparks can be a problem

One of the biggest concepts here is that adding water to the glass will make this idea FAR more effective.

I'm thinking that you could take out the microwave's radio device and then make a larger inside cooking area for it so that the plasma sparks can't reach the inner walls, maybe even with stronger walls and such so that plasma sparks cannot damage them, and glass can just melt at the bottom I bet, as long as the door doesn't reach down to the bottom of it, then this can be totally possible. The only thing that might go wrong is that with a larger inside to the microwave, a larger corresponding amount of radiation may be required. I've read that a microwave operating while opened has no effect on lab rats in the same room, as for the plasma, IDK anything about that, but I'd just say stay back lol. Maybe the radiation emitting device in a microwave can be taken out and used in open air near the glass?

I got my information from some guy on Yahoo here lol seems legit doe "http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...0212330AAGTBsZ"

Another idea for larger scale:
I'm wondering if a DIY microwave can be made, so that more powerful radioactivity can be produced (can't be expensive, I'd imagine), and this could be put into a larger space closed area (I guess walled with whatever a normal microwave is walled with inside) so that the plasma sparks would have too much distance to travel before they reached the device's inner walls to damage it.

Microwave melting makes absolutely no sense. The energy conversion is terrible.

That said in 2002 at the international gas conference they had a microwave furnace. It produced poor quality glass but was quiet the novelty. There are far better and easy ways to melt glass.

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Originally Posted by somewhere

It produced poor quality glass but was quiet the novelty. There are far better and easy ways to melt glass.

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I mean if it melts it melts dude, and if you know of far easier and better was to melt glass then why aren't you saying any of them?

What is the cheapest way to have glass so hot that it is in a liquidus state?

Somewhere..do u have any ideas on how it was made? Just wondering if their could be improvements to the design. I am sure the first furnace ever made using gas or electric elements was not perfect and has been improved on over time. How was the glass poor? Air bubbles?.

Didobaggins.....The microwave kilns use a metallic coating which gets hot raising the temperature in the enclosure. No preheating to excite the molecules or water needed.

As to the energy use question depends on the purpose. If you were looking to have molten color to dip in than electric element kiln is probably best. If you wanted to recycle glass to make something, maybe poor crucible into a mold, this would be very efficient.

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Originally Posted by DildoBaggins

I mean if it melts it melts dude, and if you know of far easier and better was to melt glass then why aren't you saying any of them? What is the cheapest way to have glass so hot that it is in a liquidus state?

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Your torch. Would be the easy short answer.

Resistive elements or gas. I've built many furnaces it's not rocket science. The info is all out there easily attainable. It really doesn't make sense for me to teach you how in this thread. Do your homework and I'm happy to help trouble shoot or help find materials.

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Originally Posted by kq9ak

If you wanted to recycle glass to make something, maybe poor crucible into a mold, this would be very efficient.

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Basically I would love to be able to take it out of the microwave still in liquid form and dip a blowpipe into it, instead of having a massive furnace, so I could do this at home.

What kind of crucible would hold the glass in the microwave without igniting/ Most of these are made of metal and obviously that wont work...

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Originally Posted by somewhere

Resistive elements. I've built many furnaces it's not rocket science. The info is all out there easily attainable. It really doesn't make sense for me to teach you how in this thread. Do your homework and I'm happy to help trouble shoot or help find materials.

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Well I've only seen them being in the costs of thousands, whereas kins are easy to make, I've made one of those but I've never seen a cheap DIY furnace...

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Originally Posted by kq9ak

Somewhere..do u have any ideas on how it was made? Just wondering if their could be improvements to the design. I am sure the first furnace ever made using gas or electric elements was not perfect and has been improved on over time. How was the glass poor? Air bubbles?. Didobaggins.....The microwave kilns use a metallic coating which gets hot raising the temperature in the enclosure. No preheating to excite the molecules or water needed. As to the energy use question depends on the purpose. If you were looking to have molten color to dip in than electric element kiln is probably best. If you wanted to recycle glass to make something, maybe poor crucible into a mold, this would be very efficient.

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Yes I know how it was made and it is about the equivalent of running 10 microwaves. The furnace only held a small amount of glass. What made it special was the engineering of the temp control.

You use the word efficient but it's far from it. With out a lot of engineering and inventing you will never have any usable glass. Regardless of how inefficient this path is the quality of the glass does matter.

Down this road lies the path of madness. IMO you might as well start producing browns gas.

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Originally Posted by DildoBaggins

Well I've only seen them being in the costs of thousands, whereas kins are easy to make, I've made one of those but I've never seen a cheap DIY furnace...

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Keep looking tons of diy info on these small melters. It's nothing more then a better insulated kiln with some better refractories on the hot face.

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Originally Posted by somewhere

Keep looking tons of diy info on these small melters. It's nothing more then a better insulated kiln with some better refractories on the hot face.

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Well is there a different name other than "DIY glass furnace" and the like that I should be searching for? Sometimes a single search term makes a world of difference.

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Originally Posted by DildoBaggins

Well is there a different name other than "DIY glass furnace" and the like that I should be searching for? Sometimes a single search term makes a world of difference.

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Try this:

http://bit.ly/1ccyy5X

http://www.mayneislandglass.com/40poundfurnace.htm

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Originally Posted by DildoBaggins

Basically I would love to be able to take it out of the microwave still in liquid form and dip a blowpipe into it, instead of having a massive furnace, so I could do this at home.

What kind of crucible would hold the glass in the microwave without igniting/ Most of these are made of metal and obviously that wont work...

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You do understand that once the microwave switches off the glass immediately starts losing temperature, right?

Think of it on a slightly lower temperature scale. Put some cheese in glass measuring cup, microwave it for 3 minutes and take it out. It's liquid at that point, sure. Check every 5 seconds to see what it's doing as far as setting up and you'll see what'll happen to your glass.

"Well I'll just leave the microwave on!" you might say.

Consider that annoying mesh screen inside the door of the microwave that ruins your view of your nachos. That's there to help act as a bit of a Faraday cage and disrupt the waves of energy being fired at your food so they don't fire at you. If you leave the microwaves components running while you dip your pipe in the crucible, you're going to risk hurting yourself in ways that make burning look desirable.

While I appreciate your ambition, either using a traditional gas fired furnace or an electric melter is going to be safer and more efficient than trying to set a torch to a small amount of sodalime glass and trying to melt it down in the microwave.

Do you think that a small one that goes up to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit is good enough for working with soft glass/soda lime?

All of these furnaces on google are way too expensive for the home. I understand there are DIY ones out there but this one here really seems to be what I'm looking for, if it can keep the glass liquidus at 2000 Fahrenheit of course...
http://www.instructables.com/id/Home...Kiln/?ALLSTEPS
I can't find the other one from wetcanvas I was gonna link here...

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Originally Posted by menty666

That's there to help act as a bit of a Faraday cage and disrupt the waves of energy being fired at your food so they don't fire at you. If you leave the microwaves components running while you dip your pipe in the crucible, you're going to risk hurting yourself in ways that make burning look desirable.

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I've seen some legit seeming quotes from the yahoo answers page I linked that lab rats were unaffected in a room with an open microwave.

Sorry to crush your dreams.

Its not going to work.

If you want to dip glass you need sufficient glass to dip into.

Once you downsize to a certain point it will cool to fast to get the dip done.

Then you have to look at waste glass.

If you keep downsizing you will have more glass stuck to the pot than you get to use.


If you think about it all this time wasted on your idea could be put towards learning the fundamental skills of glassblowing. Then you could use your skill and earn a crucible kiln.

Think a crucible kiln is pricey start buying the color to fill them all the time.

OP...check the 2nd item down on this page:
http://www.devardiglass.com/supplies.htm

this will be the cheapest way to melt soft glass....but i'm pretty sure it wont' reach "liquidus" status. for $60 it's worth a shot though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJvC...e_gdata_player

Make it larger to hold crucible, with multiple microwave elements.
Even though its been apperently been tried before, never hurts to try. How many light bulbs were made before the proper combination is found.

How does saying, that's not going to work help , without actually. trying.

I love the wire cutters for cutting glass LOL

http://www.devardiglass.com/meltingpot.htm

i saw those...pretty bad. although i do have a couple of Devardi's claw grabbers...which are of surprisingly good quality.