jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Jun 14, 2020 2:25:37 GMT -5
The first photo is some glass I melted in the kiln. The rest of it is some more technical work from two local glass blowers in Atlanta. Most of this blown glass is the chunk of glass left over on the blow pole when the completed vase is cut away from the blow pole. The left over chunk is either struck to break it off or dipped in water which shatters it. These were broken off. Cold water about destroys any chance of tumbling it. This is about one pound of the 5 pounds tumbled. They all came out nice with only 1-2 percent failures. I confess to being spoiled with tumbling glass due to the low amount of fractures and pits I wrestled with for years when tumbling most types of rocks. There is no better tumble than a fine agate or quartz gem with zero defects. It commands highest respect. These spent 4 days and 2 steps shaping in rotary, 7 days and 3 steps in the vibe. I attribute the tumbling quality and speed of tumble to my slurries. Clay in rotary and sugar w/quartz pea gravel in the vibe. Gas blew the cap off the rotary on this load. My rotary tumbler is slanted down toward the closed end of barrel which leaves enough slurry in the barrel so as not to damage the tumbles. Chunk leftover is on right side of this vase: My psycho melts. Note far right long piece wore narrower where clear red glass is located. Glass not all equal.: Shards from a large sculpture that fell off the display shelf: Miscellaneous: Thanks for looking.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Jun 14, 2020 3:25:03 GMT -5
This is the barrel upchuck. I was busy and did not do the 2 day barrel burp. The glass fell a long ways to the concrete. I usually put a foam pad under the high speed left shafts where the coarse grind is done. Coarse grinding glass is notorious for making gas. The clay slurry apparently prevented the glass from breaking. Note that the remaining glass in the barrel is spinning in protective wet slurry due to the slant in the shafts helping leave slurry in the barrel. The glass was not damaged in the least. I just use a wide putty knife and scrape the mess off the concrete and toss it back in the barrel, add some water and let er rip. It is just coarse grind. Note that the shafts have worn to a smaller diameter in the two idler bearings where the upchucks have spewed abrasives onto these two bearings over the years. These idler bearings still rotate even though the shafts don't fit tight in the bearings lol. The left shaft is worn the most. Note that it is shifted to the left a bit inside the bearing. This shaft climbs the hole to the left more so more when driving barrels with thicker slurry. Or when running multiple barrels. It serves as a torque indicator at times, revealing the torque increase due to a thick slurry. If the slurry gets too thick or freezes up the shaft climbs further up the bearing hole. To the point the shaft climbs to near top-dead-center of the hole and then falls down to the bottom of the hole repeatedly making a racket. A sign the slurry needs water added to it. The 4 inch Fernco fittings do not allow for much gas expansion as does the 6 inch Fernco caps and are more likely to pop off. But the 6 inch Fernco fits on the 8 inch barrels and they are too big for this small load of 6 pounds. A single vibe load.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Jun 14, 2020 3:45:37 GMT -5
This tool is a glass nipper. It nips glass to 1/2 inch thick without sending fractures thru it like hammer impacts. I need one with longer handles for more leverage and wider jaw opening for splitting larger chunks of glass. It also works well on agate slabs and chips. Same game with rocks, it rarely propagates fractures. The wheels are carbide. A larger version would be the ultimate tumble preparing tool. Surprisingly effective.
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NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Jun 16, 2020 14:12:56 GMT -5
Really interesting. Thanks for giving us a look at the home made tumbler. Sorry to hear about the batch that hit the floor like that. You have quite a vast array if material to work with. Almost dizzying to look at really. So much possibility. I like the ones that you drilled out for necklaces. Having not been around glass works, this really opens things up to what is possible. Great application for making something beautiful out of material that might have otherwise been thrown out. Thanks for sharing!
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saxplayer
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2018
Posts: 1,327
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Post by saxplayer on Jun 16, 2020 14:31:28 GMT -5
I agree with Bill - pretty neat to see your setups .
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Post by TheRock on Jul 3, 2020 15:55:24 GMT -5
Ill take those scraps anyday!
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Post by tims on Jul 7, 2020 23:28:05 GMT -5
Automatic slurry-thickness alarm. You gotta patent that. Pretty glass James you got it dialed in tight.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Jul 8, 2020 5:07:39 GMT -5
Automatic slurry-thickness alarm. You gotta patent that. Pretty glass James you got it dialed in tight. Love that heavy low slung home made hopper Tim. It really hit the Vibrasonic's sweet spot. No matter how many times I have let the batch dry out, had broken belts and froze the load, under dose or over dose with different slurries, I can not manage to damage a load of glass. This is the way it should be. Most machines can be modified to be user friendly and forgiving.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Jul 8, 2020 5:19:06 GMT -5
Really interesting. Thanks for giving us a look at the home made tumbler. Sorry to hear about the batch that hit the floor like that. You have quite a vast array if material to work with. Almost dizzying to look at really. So much possibility. I like the ones that you drilled out for necklaces. Having not been around glass works, this really opens things up to what is possible. Great application for making something beautiful out of material that might have otherwise been thrown out. Thanks for sharing! I usually have a pan just under the barrel to break the fall of a blow out NevadaBill. Thanks for compliments. If I don't burp those smaller 6 inch barrels when running glass every 2 to 3 days I often get a blow out. Having the blow out facing a long section of the shafts prevents the abrasive slurry from splashing on the bearings which often ruins the bearing. Coarse takes 5 days. Sometimes it makes it there without burping, sometimes it blows out. Either way the tumbler and related mess gets hosed down being outside. I just scrape the mess up, put the mess back in the barrel, add water and let er roll. To me coarse grind is just a nasty messy process. The same as nature shaping rocks, abusive. If time or energy allows we often run 100% drilled glass. Me and wife simply not fond of drilling.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Jul 8, 2020 5:26:45 GMT -5
Ill take those scraps anyday! Thanks Bob. I ran those at 74 rpm using like SiC 5 and 10. They got babied in the vibe afterward. Poor little chunks of glass got abused early on. SiC 500 in the vibe for 48 hours in sugar prepped them well for the AO. Or 10 days in the rotary at 30 rpm with Sic 500. Either way - 2 days vibe/10 days rotary. Darn vibe was a great invention.
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