I finally get to melt massive quantities of glass!

[Tink]

Well, I've spent a metric buttload of time putting together a program for the crucible kiln. I've corresponded with Lewis Wilson, and talked to both Don McKinney and Jim from System 96 on the phone. NONE of their numbers agreed: Not temps, not times... Nuthin'.

So I used what little (in the grand scheme of things) I know about glass in general, System 96 Nuggets in particular and my Jen-Ken crucible kiln to put together this schedule.

Wish me luck.

If you want to look at it, go here (http://blackswampglassworks.com/cruciblekilnsetup.doc). It's a Word document.

[kbinkster]

Good luck!

[IF-Designs]

Good Luck! and Happy melting hehe :)

[dogmaw]

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

[Tink]

I'm SO excited! And nervous...

[Cosmo]

Are you using a glory hole too? If so, what kind?

I'm hooked on furnace work now...

Oh. One more question... what is the best way to remove all the glass from the crucible for ramping down?

[sleekbeads]

Tink, I'm so excited for you too!
Please do keep us up to date in this thread...
I love reading about people doing new things...
and you're always on the edge of trying new stuff out!
*crosses fingers for tinker*

Joanna;)

[Tink]

Here's what I have:

A small Jen-Ken crucible kiln. It holds three 7 lb crucibles, and it has a Sentry Xpress 2.0 controller. It's 220 volts, which is something to consider.

A Don McKinney Studio Series glory hole. It is self-contained (meaning you don't power it with a torch). It hooks up to a BBQ tank of propane.

I had all these grandiose ideas... Making setups to create bee-you-tee-full paperweights and such. Upon reflection, I think for this first go-round, I will primarily be figuring out stuff like "how fast" and "how long" and "what the heck was I thinking???" LOL! I don't have a gaffer's bench. I don't really have a marvering surface. I have no blowing tools, other than a cute little pipe and punty that I got from Steinert. I call the pipe my "Barbie Pipe". LOL!

So the plan is to figure out how to get the glass melted and fined, then figure out what the best working temp is for the System 96 nuggets.

Then and only then will I start even thinking about art. ROFL!

[Tink]

Chad, there are rods that are specifically designed for gathering glass. They're called "gathering rods". Makes sense, eh? They have a ball on the end, like so:

http://imagescommerce.bcentral.com/merchantfiles/5108870/Gathering%20Rod%2015%20Solid.jpg

Of course, those are meant for use in a normal furnace. My crucibles are small, so they wouldn't do me much good. I'll do the best I can to get all the glass out before I start shutting down.

[Phoenix]

Yeah Tink- furnace glass is my first love- It's addictive!

[Tink]

Well, I hope I'm not totally off base on my numbers. I sure as heck don't want to wreck my kiln. LOL! I want to find out, somehow, if I can turn this one into a single crucible kiln. I'm sure I can, I just need to know exactly what crucible I should put in it. And I need some kind of stiff fireproof board to make a collar for the crucible(s) too. I don't like that frax stuff.

[SteveWright]

[QUOTE=Tink] I've corresponded with Lewis Wilson, and talked to both Don McKinney and Jim from System 96 on the phone. NONE of their numbers agreed: Not temps, not times... Nuthin'.QUOTE]

Tink, this is the good news. The translation is; that it does not really matter that much as to the times and temps. Go for it.

As you monkey around the first few times, you might as well be doing some form of setup too.

When I was trying to figure out how to do my paperweight pendant beads, and have them ready, right out of the kiln, without any cold work, there were some problems to work out.

At the time we were living on the road full time in an RV and near Duluth. I was on a mission and not to be stopped. I set up our show tent in front of our bus, got a tank of liquid oxygen and went to work. I would work 8 hours on the torch and get up early to pull my work out of the kiln. I could make 6 beads a day. Every day I would get up to more technical problems. On day 42, I had my first success. I had 240+ failures and 7 weeks of work that seemed for nothing.

From that day forward they got better. After I sold a boatload of them in Milwaukee, I felt great. Those were not 41 wasted days.

Tink, go wreck some glass and have fun. I envy your new adventure.

Steve

[Tink]

I always love hearing from you, Steve. I used to harbor a secret wish that you two would adopt me and take me on the road with you. LOL!

I can be pretty tenacious. And I can be pretty timid. I'm gonna try to make sure I remember to wear my tenacious britches when we do this thing.

Part of the problem is that I can't have it set up here at home. It's at Donna's studio out in BFE. So it's like a two hour round trip thing to even go out there. If I want to be there for the whole process (which I do) then I'm gonna have to STAY out there. Which I don't wanna do.

I'm just going to keep wishing for a real studio I guess. In the meantime, I'll have to make do. I don't even really care if it's a "real" studio, whatever THAT means. I just wish I could do this at home. I feel like I'd make a lot more progress much more quickly.

[Tink]

Oh, and my 2" Stump Sucker came today. That's the good news. The bad news is that it came without a hose assembly. The marginal news is that I have the tiniest Stump Sucker, and maybe I can use the hose assembly from that for the big one. I can't even check that because the little one is at Donna's.

[baylie]

I saw paul stankard use a stump sucker once and I don't think he had a hose hooked up at all....I could be wrong .

[Tink]

Interesting... You need a hose to suck through. That would be the "sucker" part. LOL! Not all vacuum setups are orally operated though. Steinert sells a nice setup (http://www.steinertindustries.com/catalog/vacuum_plate_3513772.htm) for larger weights, and I understand that it was designed from Stankard's unit.

[Cosmo]

Cool. I did my first furnace work a few weeks ago, and now I'm looking hard at my bank account to see what I can afford to buy.

If you don't mind, can you tell me a good place to buy furnace tools/equipment? I have done a little searching, but I don't know anything about the companies in regards to price, customer service, etc.

Thanks in advance...

[SteveWright]

Oh, and my 2" Stump Sucker came today. That's the good news. The bad news is that it came without a hose assembly.

I got a piece of Tigan tubing from the hardware store and use an inline gasoline filter to catch any stuff that I might suck in.

Steve

[IF-Designs]

Well, I hope I'm not totally off base on my numbers. I sure as heck don't want to wreck my kiln. LOL! I want to find out, somehow, if I can turn this one into a single crucible kiln. I'm sure I can, I just need to know exactly what crucible I should put in it. And I need some kind of stiff fireproof board to make a collar for the crucible(s) too. I don't like that frax stuff.
You might want to call Empire Refractories in Fort Wayne Indiana if you dont have a refractories place close to you that is I know they carrie alot of that stuff there and they have been great folks to deal with.

[SteveWright]

Part of the problem is that I can't have it set up here at home. It's at Donna's studio out in BFE. So it's like a two hour round trip thing to even go out there. If I want to be there for the whole process (which I do) then I'm gonna have to STAY out there. Which I don't wanna do.

I was amazed the first time I saw a small setup. I watched Don McKinney make giant marbles in a carpeted classroom. He had a crucible kiln set up on a sheet of plywood, a glory hole on a table and an annealing kiln next to it. This was a compact operation. A 6' confrence table, a couple sheets of plywood (it might have been cement board) and he was in business.

I think our travels took us near Donna's studio, or at least just east of there.

Steve

[R4GlassStudio]

Tink, I know Jim and Don pretty well. When Don teaches, he uses Bullseye cullet most of the time. I agree with SteveWright, the temps for System 96 and 90 COE BUllseye are pretty close. Have fun with it!
Ron Jr.

[Tink]

Oh MAN. I have to say that I had the best time with glass yesterday that I have ever had in my LIFE. And that is NO exaggeration! We have scads of photos, but I have to do some resizing of them first.

We were at Donna's (which was PERFECT for this, by the way) for twice as long as we anticipated. Went there Wednesday a little after noon. We tweaked the melting schedule a few times, then figured out how to get the schedule into the Sentry XPress controller. We held our collective breath, crossed our collective fingers and toes, and started the melt.

I kept really, really good notes, and I had the kiln hold at the end of every segment so that I could view the pots and make notes. Then, if everything was ok, I'd skip to the next segmenet.

We were up until the wee hours Thursday morning, then I napped a couple of hours and got back up at 5:30 AM to see how the glass looked. It looked pretty good, but there were lots of tiny bubbles. The melt had JUST finished, so that's not terribly surprising. I noticed that though I started out with "full" crucibles with appropriate cone-shaped mounds of the System 96 nuggets, now that they were melted, the three pots were only about half full.

Wanting the most possible playtime, I decided to charge the pots. I let the glass melt level again, which hardly took any time at all, then skipped to the next segment to "squeeze" or fine the glass.

By taking the temperature down to about 100 degrees below the working them (which is about 2100 degrees F) and holding there for a while, all the little bubbles in the melt rise to the top and dissipate. That gives you nice, clear, bubble-free glass to work with.

After the squeeze, we were good to go! I spent Thursday making little paperweights and stuff. John made a HONKIN' huge weight, too! We worked into late, late evening, and then it was time to empty the pots.

You have to get as much glass as possible out of the crucibles before cooling the unit down: Failure to do so would probably result in cracked pots. So John spent quite a while gathering glass and dripping it off into a bucket of water.

When we were done, we kind of collapsed in the living room. LOL! That's about when we got a call from our housesitter: John's mom was taken by ambulace to the hospital. Chest pains. By the time the housesitter got the message, it had been several hours (she was out on a date), so we called the hospital and ascertained that mom wasn't in any immediate danger. So we went right to bed and got up bright and early to start yet another hectic day.

This morning, we took care of some things for John's mom, then visited her in the hospital, and then we had to rush off again, as we were invited to the Lino Tagliapietra demo at the Museum.

Anyway, we are finally HOME, and are exhausted. Please don't expect any email from either of us tonight, as we can barely function.

Photos as soon as I can.

[kbinkster]

Wow, Tink! What a lot to happen in such a short amount of time!

I hope John's mother is o.k.!

[FiredDesires]

This was an interesting thread to read, Tink...I'm setting up the same thing in my studio too. Husband enlarged my studio at home to 16 x 18 ft. & I have all this new space.....yeehaw!!! Although I've had the glory hole for 4yrs, I'm just now getting around to doing something about it. I took Don's class years ago....he just super and makes a great product.

I'm going to use the cruible kiln & glory hole to do small blowing and roll-up paperweights (coe90 cullet). I just got in my Schott pucks from back east for doing the Stumpsucker ones in the torch (coe 104). Yes, the hoses are interchangeable on those puppies. I have every size but the littlest one, Arrow was out of them when I ordered. Now I need my punties from Steinart.

Tickled to see your ramp schedule already laid out...going to save me some time & work...THANKS!!! LOL I do think you can get one larger size pot for the kiln, instead of the 3 your using now. I don't know the size though.

I've watched Mike/Deb Crowley clean out a crucible of hot glass....what a lot of work that was. They just gathered the glass on the end of a punty, rolled it and transferred to trays...no scoopy thing..

You kiln wash the bottom of your crucible kiln, in case of a cracked pot? I think they only last for so many firings. And where did you buy the Jen-Ken?
Ok....enough rambling & questions for now....you have fun, and show us your pretties.
Catharine

P.S. The Lewis Wilson videos on the paperweights/kiln is very informative & helpful for anyone wanting to get up and going.

[Tink]

What's your studio like? Ceiling height and such?

Yep. The shelf is kiln washed, just in case.

I got my Jen-Ken three years ago, from Wale. I now sell Jen-Ken products, 'cause I like 'em and I like the owners of the company so much.

[Tink]

I'm exhausted, but I am still on a major adrenaline buzz from the last few days. Here are some pics: The crucible kiln, the glory hole, and a happy John with a great paperweight. LOL!

27361

27362

27363

[IF-Designs]

oh man! how cool! This is so exciting! I cant wait to see what comes of this from you tink! and from John and Donna too! Wowzers! hehe John looks so Happy! Like a kid on a candy high!

[Rebekah]

I might ACTUALLY be dying of jealousy here. Waaaaaaahhhhh!

I love paperweights. I love making paperweights. I AM a paperweight. No really, I'm too lazy to clean all the stuff off of my chair so I'm sitting on paper.

I wanna come play!

[Tink]

It was incredibly awesome!

For me, it has always been frustrating that even though I know exactly WHAT to do in the hotshop, I physically can't do all of it. Hell, I'm 50 years old (soon) and I have no upper body strength.

With this setup, I was able to do whatever I wanted to! And I could work ALONE! It was fabulous, and it has opened up a whole new world to me! Now we have to MOVE so that I don't have to spend three days at Donna's every time I want to play. It's awfully hard for me to get away like that.

BTW, a public thank you to Donna for keeping this equipment at her place for me for THREE YEARS, and for opening her home to us for three days so we could do this. Oh, and for nagging me nonstop for three year to PLAY WITH THE DARN STUFF ALREADY. LOL!

We kept talking all weekend about what a wonderful introduction to hot glass this would be for beadfolk who would like to try their hand at it. It's really non-threatening, and (IMO) easier than working in a big hot shop.

[Tink]

Bek, you would LOVE IT! Does Gary Newlin have a setup? For some reason, it wouldn't surprise me if he did...

[Rebekah]

I think he does but I don't know if he sets it up very often. Hmmm.... Must call Gary.

[Tink]

It *is* rather a pain to set up. If I had it set up here, I would probably do a whole week every month. Setting it up for one day of use is counterproductive. So you have to have a chunk of time to dedicate to it when ever it's up and running. It's very hard for me to find the time to get away to do that. Now I'm convinced that we really do need to move. I need a big, yummy outbuilding like Donna has.

[baylie]

Wow!!! thats all. WOW.

[adovbs]

Wow, way cool!

I think the look on John's face pretty much says it all.

[Tink]

LOL! Yes, it certainly does, Teresa!

Donna dropped off our work today. Now I'm all whiny because I can't wait to do it again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are three or four little paperweights that I really like a lot. Weeeeee!

[Rebekah]

LOL! Yes, it certainly does, Teresa!

Donna dropped off our work today. Now I'm all whiny because I can't wait to do it again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are three or four little paperweights that I really like a lot. Weeeeee!

*perk* Little paperweight?! Pic!!

[Tink]

I LOVE LITTLE PAPERWEIGHTS! Pics after I cold work them. I gotta get a flat lap so I don't have to go to the Museum to do this stuff all the time. Bleah.

Apparently a lot of people like little paperweights. I'm already getting emails about purchases. LOL! Weeeeee!

[IF-Designs]

Tink there are alot of buildings around here that would be PERFECT hot shops ;)

[Tink]

Well, I just want my LITTLE electric crucible. I like it. It's Tink-sized.

[IF-Designs]

This place sounds great! Sounds like it has great workshop space hehe and its only about 15 minutes from me lol hehe
http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/HomeListing.asp?snum=109&frm=bymap&nearbyZp=&lid=Enter+MLS+ID&pgnum=11&ss_aywr=&st=IN&mls=xmls&mnbed=0&js=on&mnsqft=0&fid=so&vtsort=&poe=realtor&mnprice=0&ct=Garrett&zp=&primaryZp=&mxprice=99999999&typ=1&typ=4&exft=0&exft=0&exft=0&exft=0&mnbath=0&areaid=81776&sid=069F0EA6AC65C&snumxlid=1055712279&lnksrc=00002

[Tink]

Sounds perfect! Too bad it's in INDIANA! We want to get out of the midwest. ASAP.

[IF-Designs]

lol yeah we feel the same way lol