Glass saga 2020, 2 new bricks February 26

Very much appreciate the contact.
The place just up the road from home is similar to Armstrong Robin. Big operation called Hollander's.
I have a pretty nice discount wholesale account there because of all that glass I got from them.
Like it dropped me down 2 brackets in buying wholesale, could never beat it.
My supply is as good as it gets but of course it is still fairly expensive.
The good thing about the knapper glass is it does not have to be the newest and most stylish.
Hollander's has a lot of older colors discounted that are nicer than the import colors I got.
Apparently glass artists really stick with the trending colors.
I just could not have found a better customer than the knapper's basically.
Those guys like older style colors and patterns than the fast moving jewelry business.
Most glass artists would cringe at gambling 12 pounds of art glass into a brick because of the cost and potential for failure.
Ends up the way the glass mixes and patterns out in a brick the color becomes much less of an issue.
This giant load of glass has put me in a great position to get an education on molds because it cost so little.
I really should be doing classes. The glass blowers roll in the cash doing classes.
I even have a spacious barn and a interesting farm environment for classes. Plenty of glass, it's all here.
Thanks again.

She was a bit of a distraction....

Food for thought

Re: Density

Consider slightly lower melt temp allows it to melt to bottom first.

Consider lower viscosity at same melt temp, flows faster.

Or density as you already describe.

Or a combination of all three, perhaps.

Just food for thought


Love this thread. Thanks for the eye candy

jamesp

I agree that is a complicated system. Likely many factors contributing to these results.

Ultimate kiln controller.

Has a 50 amp female receptacle to plug any 240VAC kiln into it, has a 50 amp cable w/50 amp male plug coming out to plug into wall receptacle.
Third wire is a thermocouple on a 6 foot wire.

Simply plug any 220VAC kiln w/50 amp plug into it, plug other cable into wall socket. Stick thermocouple into small hole in kiln and presto - computer controlled kiln.
Allows turning a pottery kiln into a ramp/hold computer controlled glass kiln for near infinite temperature ramp/hold schedules.

Found on EBAY unused for $350.

So it would allow running the 20 hour heat schedule and then could be removed to another kiln to start another 20 hour cook while the first kiln cools for the needed 2 days.
Run 2 or 3 kilns with one controller.

Yes Scott, forced ramp up and down. The both of them only take 20 hours.
The cool down after 800F is full ramp down so it can be unplugged at 800F.
For a thick brick cooling with door closed and heat off takes 2 days.

A standard thickness plate can be baked up/down in 12, then cooled in 12, so 24 hours.
Can do way more tonnage doing 4 shelves of plates every 24 hours than 2 big bricks every 3 days.

I have another used kiln..taller.
It could do 3 shelves of two 13 pound bricks if the clients want to start bullying me with lots of orders.
It is a $2800 pottery kiln used for $400, and the controller was $1100 bought used/new for $350.
So for $750 for more capacity in case demand increases or some bigger market was found.

juzwuz is interested in trading some sphere stock for a sphere. Me very interested.

Got a yellow-orange-red-black pot melt(left) and a 'biaxial pyramidal torque flow twist melt'(my description he he) ready to remove late tonight.

The BPTFTM should have extreme twisting and distortion.



Pot melt pot looks like pot on right, single large hole



Close up of BPTFTM - biaxial pyramidal torque flow twist melt: