Miniature Crucible Brainstorm Thread

[ALIEN!]

Anyone else thought about this? Maybe even done it? I dream of a miniature crucible that can do 1-5 pounds for the guy that cant or doesn't want to do a huge batch. Could one simply build a little compact brick kiln and drop a fitted crucible for it in there? I don't really know jack about how these setups work. Far as I can tell the big ones that are out there now look like good old pottery kilns with a special lid (the little door on top) and then there's just a ceramic pot that sits inside that holds the glass. Is this right?

If so I can't see why a simple small setup as described above couldn't be done. Anyone got some knowledge they want to drop? Kiln manufacturers, ya'll listenin? Could be the biggest thing since the vertical lift door for you guys everyone wants to dip.

Also, a question for the experience dippers, how long do you let it cook for the bubbles to rise? I also recollect something about stirring the glass around at some point.

[Aaron Ellis]

That would be slick. Good idea man. I hope someone can drop some knowledge on this.

[Kevin Bumble]

you need a 12 to 15 lb pot for boro or else it just pulls the crucible out of the furnace, you could try to anchor the pot to the bottom some how?


btw they make small 5lb pick up crucibles for soft glass

[TlkQ]

You also have to use really really good elements. Sure you can use a ceramics kiln like once or twice before you burn out the elements. So if you're going to spend the $$ for nice elements I guess the thinking is it might as well be larger.

[Forche]

you need a 12 to 15 lb pot for boro or else it just pulls the crucible out of the furnace, you could try to anchor the pot to the bottom some how?


btw they make small 5lb pick up crucibles for soft glass

True...plus you could only get like one dip in a 5lb pot, unless you're dippin like a one inch piece of 25mm.

[OracleGlassArts]

a lid that has a latch that keeps the lid from lifting up at all would keep the crucible from moving.

[Icarus]

I was kind of thinking either it would be too shallow too really dip into, or it would be too narrow to get a decent sized gather. I just can't imagine that 5 lbs of glass would take up that much space. I imagine that you would end up losing a good bit of glass, in the same way that you lose more batter to the sides of the bowl when making a small batch of brownies versus making a large batch of brownies.

I honestly have no clue whether it's feasible or not, but those are the first hurdles that come to mind for me. That, and I should mention that I'm much more versed in making brownies then I am in furnace glass (that is to say I've made brownies more than never).

[glassnewb]

Get a Darby Dipper from Paragon. It rocks. holds a 10lb crucible. I have had one for a month but still setting up a dedicated station for it.

http://www.paragonweb.com/Darby_Dipper_Crucible.cfm

You can see one in action around 4:35 in this video: http://youtu.be/7srkop_mODk

[J Howard]

you can buy porcelain coffee mugs for about a buck a piece, and use them once. i believe they work for small tests

[Dave Umbs]

Get a Darby Dipper from Paragon. It rocks. holds a 10lb crucible. I have had one for a month but still setting up a dedicated station for it.

http://www.paragonweb.com/Darby_Dipper_Crucible.cfm

You can see one in action around 4:35 in this video: http://youtu.be/7srkop_mODk

watch the darby video just cause its a good video i enjoyed it

As for the mini crucible, from what ive been told the darby dipper is as small as you should go. Even then you still have a problem of getting the whole pot pulled. basically whats already been said.
Ive been told adding clear to the bottom of the crucible before adding color would help with saving color and pulling tube, but would also create waste and take up space which would be limited if it was less then 10 pounds

[Lub]

In my opinion, the whole point of it is for mass prep work, bigger projects, custom colors, etc. 1-5 pounds wouldn't even be worth firing up, as it takes over a day? to heat up. Most kilns don't even get hot enough, from what I understand, to liquify boro. You could stripe on, coil pot, or otherwise prep out 1-5 pounds of color so much easier, yeah different effect, but still. I am even hesitant on buying the darby dipper, I want a big one.

I just recently did my first dip at "the arizona project" main event 2 weeks ago. It's fun, but trust me, you will want much more than 5 pounds.

[menty666]

For the time and money you'd spend at that size, you'd likely be better off ordering colored tube.

[re-vit]

sorry alien... looks like your idea got sqwarshed. how about a 5 lb pot vitrigraph machine?

[Aaron Ellis]

Alien let's let's flip the script. Think its possible or does anyone do 10,000 Lbs.

[FredLight]

You don't think factories do less than 10,000 lbs, do you?

.........."flip the script"?

Please don't tell me you use that in conversation.

[Aaron Ellis]

I've never been to a glass factory. That is a lot lot of glass. What's the biggest crucible you've seen?

[J Howard]

someone posted a picture of the asian tubing furnace... that looks like it's at least 50,000 pounds. 1000 pounds of glass really isn't that much. visually, it's about half the size of a bathtub. if you've ever been to corning's studio, their main tank is 1000 lbs. a normal hot shop class their will drain that twice during the week


the largest furnace is some float glass plant. to make float glass (standard window glass), it's a continuous feed that floats the molten glass over a pool of liquid zinc. the whole process is about 100 yards long before the sheet gets gradually annealed and cut. think about that for a minute!

pics:

http://www.glassonweb.com/articles/article/534/

this plant produces 1,600,000 lbs of glass PER DAY

[FredLight]

Whoop, there it is!

Um, They float it on liquid tin, don't they?

Hence the "Tin" side of float glass, as indicated by short-wave UV light.

Sorry, did too much fusing in my early years.

[J Howard]

ooops yeah, it's Tin

[Torch-Bug]

/\ Thank you for that info J n Fred