And a super helpful reply. Really excellent cross referencing with similar devices.
You're too kind.
Yeah you have to be very progressive with glass. And you have to heat it really evenly across the whole device. Especially when the glass is a little thick (higher delta temperature = more internal stress).
That sucks man! But also sounds a bit odd. Boro should be fine unless it was particularly cold too start off with, or wasn't properly annealed. What torch were you using and could you post a picture of the crack please?
Reckoned once it had achieved an even glow I could ramp it up a bit it. Happy to accept it's user error within a set of parameters narrowed by the materials and manufacture.
Heated indoors (17.5° isn't that cold, right?) using a Ronxs double
I've let RV know but I'm not begging things from small providers, especially when the source of the problem is unclear/possibly me. If they make them or oversee the manufacture, I've suggested they use quartz moving forward, but at the end of the day, I bought some homages to OG vapes that I can't easily source in the UK, and heat plus glass occasionally produces cracks. As far as they know, I could be a complete herbert who applied a maxxed out Big Blazer flame from a standing start, or a clumsy person trying to get a free replacement. If they offer a replacement I wont say no, but occasionally I see entitled people trying to squeeze small providers ("where's the Black Friday or 4/20 discount?") and I don't want to be one of them.
I'd be surprised if someone connected with RV didn't keep an eye on things round here.That's commendable @Perfect_Speed4069 I completely understand. If I had produced them I'd want to know of issues though, just to refine the process if nothing else. I'm glad you've let them know for those reasons.
I would be very interested to know the answer to this.
I finally made a Sand Castle.
This is a 14mm quartz straw for nectar collector, filled with (30x ?) 2,5mm (maybe 3mm) quartz balls. I used Herborizer Ti Screens.
1 : Shaping the bottom screen. I shaped it on a right sized nail head, using little pliers to make the folds on the sides pf the basket neat and rigid.
The nail head is approximately the diameter of the bottom opening of the 14mm joint.
2 : Filling the balls from the straw side. You have to maintain the screen at the beginning but then, pressing the balls down (with a thin wooden stick) will make the sides of the screen expand and lock into place.
3 : Shaping the top screen. I shaped it like a vaponic screen. (Again, little tweezers for nice folds.) And push down the screen to compress the balls down and maintain the pressure that helps locking the bottom screen in.
The bowl is a Ehle 18-14 reducer with a Herborizer screen wedged inside. The adapter is extra long and that allows to adjust the screen position.
Here it is pictured with a small load set at the minimal distance imo. (Even a little too close since I had some tunneling on this roast.)
And this is how it looks on the Sherlock :
First thoughts :
- I'm really confident on the safety of this assembly. The only way to dismantle it is to remove the top screen from above with a thin wooden stick.
- Heating is really fast : less than 15 sec with the blazer big buddy. (~10 sec cool down required to heat soak the balls without combusting the load.) I only heat the wide part. Not the radiator part, although it should help to go low temp.
- You can heat it with a PB-207 sized torch although its longer… (around 40 sec) I even managed to combust the first time. So a quick cool down before hitting is required as well.
- It really is a one hitter. The load is small and you get all of it in one draw. The sides are a little less roasted than the middle. The further the load from the heater the less tunneling you'll have (but need higher temperature).
- The tip of the straw is never hot enough to burn yourself so handling is really straightforward. No need for tweezers.
I havent timed anything so my timings are guesstimations…
... And he's offered to do so. Apparently cracking is not that common in his experience.
I'm sorry to hear that. Do you have a UK/EU outlet for your stuff yet? I only bought these because I couldn't find your work locally. Some US glass folks have found enthusiastic resellers in the UK/EU, and it would seem an obvious way of addressing the issue.
I ship to the UK and EU for an extra $15 USD no matter the size of the package or quantity of items so I try to keep it as cheap as possible for international buyers!
I can’t really afford to work with resellers because of the profit sacrifice I’d have to make when operating on a glassblowers budget 