Hi Eileen,
I'm sorry your so frustrated with using the presses. Like everyone has mentioned it takes practice to get the hang of them when your first starting.
What size mandrel are you using with the Graduated Button? The Graduated Button should only be used with a 1/16 mandrel because of the slim profile.
Another reason your mandrel release can be breaking is you don't have the mandrel parallel when your bringing your top 1/2 of your stamp down to press.
As for estimating the correct amount of Glass or for referencing I suggest use a glass that you dislike the most, no sense in wasting it
. First make the initial foot print which should be 1-2 mm smaller then the cavity....anneal this footprint. Next take the same disliked glass and fill the entire cavity even if you have to add a bit more glass or remove a bit with tweezers if necessary....anneal it this way. Last make another bead with the cavity executed perfectly but this time put the bead back in the flame and allow it to go back to the natural state of the base bead....anneal it this way. Now you have 3 annealed pieces that can be put on a ribbon for future referencing. Most Stamps require a football shape, round, or barrel shaped Base Bead. A quick estimator for the volume of glass in the cavity is Play Doh or Polymer Clay.....this is only good as a reference while your session is going on as leaving it in the air over time will result in shrinkage unless you bake it.
Once you get familiar with the press it will become second nature as to estimating and executing the cavity.
What are your results with using the Crunch?
Keep me posted with your progress. My email address is
cattwalktools@aol.com