Didn't know about the polariscope, thanks for that, ive used although not as hot & will take longer my gas stove element or just a gas lighter depending on the repair & glass thickness
Excelent video! last month i healed a cracked test tube (to practice with something) and broken graduated cilinder with a huuge crack that i managed to rescue for use in my home. the crack in the graduated cilinder ran away a little bit but i managed to weld all the crack, using a mini butane torch and a gas cooking stove (without the cap on).
I'm happy to hear you gained the confidence to give it a go. And even got a win from it. I'm going to try and put more content up for beginners soon. Any suggestions for new videos are always welcome. Thanks for commenting.
good video! another way to make a polariscope (in case one doesn't have a big sheet of polarizing filter laying around) is to just use an lcd monitor showing a white image. what i do is rotating the small piece of polarizing filter near my eye (like the piece you placed over the camera in the video) until the white turns black (or in my case dark blue), if you then place the glass piece between the monitor and your filter and there's any stress in the glass, you will see bright white spots or bands
Very True! The monitor does work, the stress will show as black and white bands unless you place a sheet of something like clear polycarbonate in front of the monitor. Thanks for your reply.
the crack in the graduated cilinder ran away a little bit but i managed to weld all the crack, using a mini butane torch and a gas cooking stove (without the cap on).
Hey, idk if you're still checking comments, but if you are, what's that torch you're using alongside the bunsen burner? I've got a cracked glass I need to heal, and this is the only video tutorial I could find
Thanks for watching and reaching out. I've got a small hand torch which runs off propane and oxygen, they are used by jewellers and some other crafts. But a small brazing torch for plumbing can also be used, so long as it runs on oxy/fuel and has a small enough tip.
I don't think there'd be enough heat in a candle flame. Give it a go and let us know how you got on. Sometimes suck it and see is the best way to learn.
Hi and thanks for commenting. It's a fair point you make. I think I'm in the zone that many early content creators get into. We just want to get the info out there, and getting a video together is hard, editing is also really time consuming and has a learning curve all of it's own. So I'll own my early cringey work with it's unpolished edges, and I'll strive to get better with future projects. If there's some techniques or glassblowing details that need a deeper dive that others might have missed, let me know.
Okay but how do you make sure it cools down both evenly and slowly? That’s the much harder part.., even if you repair it when it’s hot… it’s just going to crack again if you just take the entire thing out of the flame and into room temperature as that’s way too rapid and will just make it worse so… I feel like this is not really even quite half of a realistic process
Thanks for the question, it's a good one. Breaks occurring from large temperature changes are indeed a problem, but whole video is about spreading the heat over the entire piece using a bunsen flame and why it matters. A bunsen flame isn't too hot, and so to cool down from that temperature is not a problem for borosilicate glass. The temperature difference between the flame from an oxy torch and the temperature of glass in the bunsen flame isn't as wide as if the piece was at room temperature and so the stress is also going to be as bad either. In fact, cooling the piece down from the bunsen after the repair showed no stress at all with the polariscope. I demonstrated that this is a realistic approach to small repairs. Larger repairs with thicker wall glass and joins going through the wall cause more issues, and more care and specific pre-heating regimes are needed. And even then, with all the skill you have as a professional glassblower, it can still crack on you. An annealing kiln is absolutely necessary to take out residual stress after a complex repair. But if you come to understand how spreading heat over a larger area than just the point of the crack or repair work will prevent cracking , then you will progress your glass blowing skills and become more confident tackling more complex work. I hope that's what these videos are about.
Didn't know about the polariscope, thanks for that, ive used although not as hot & will take longer my gas stove element or just a gas lighter depending on the repair & glass thickness
That was pretty damn cool. Arkoma
Excelent video! last month i healed a cracked test tube (to practice with something) and broken graduated cilinder with a huuge crack that i managed to rescue for use in my home.
the crack in the graduated cilinder ran away a little bit but i managed to weld all the crack, using a mini butane torch and a gas cooking stove (without the cap on).
I'm happy to hear you gained the confidence to give it a go. And even got a win from it. I'm going to try and put more content up for beginners soon. Any suggestions for new videos are always welcome. Thanks for commenting.
good video!
another way to make a polariscope (in case one doesn't have a big sheet of polarizing filter laying around) is to just use an lcd monitor showing a white image. what i do is rotating the small piece of polarizing filter near my eye (like the piece you placed over the camera in the video) until the white turns black (or in my case dark blue), if you then place the glass piece between the monitor and your filter and there's any stress in the glass, you will see bright white spots or bands
Very True! The monitor does work, the stress will show as black and white bands unless you place a sheet of something like clear polycarbonate in front of the monitor. Thanks for your reply.
the crack in the graduated cilinder ran away a little bit but i managed to weld all the crack, using a mini butane torch and a gas cooking stove (without the cap on).
Hey, idk if you're still checking comments, but if you are, what's that torch you're using alongside the bunsen burner? I've got a cracked glass I need to heal, and this is the only video tutorial I could find
Thanks for watching and reaching out. I've got a small hand torch which runs off propane and oxygen, they are used by jewellers and some other crafts. But a small brazing torch for plumbing can also be used, so long as it runs on oxy/fuel and has a small enough tip.
"Smith mini-torch" he said in the video.
how are conections make?
Hey mate im new to this but could i use a candle and torch to do this method if i dont have the neat flame thing u have
I don't think there'd be enough heat in a candle flame. Give it a go and let us know how you got on. Sometimes suck it and see is the best way to learn.
I feel like if you reedited this video and posted again it would take off some more - was just a wee long, albeit very informative
Hi and thanks for commenting. It's a fair point you make. I think I'm in the zone that many early content creators get into. We just want to get the info out there, and getting a video together is hard, editing is also really time consuming and has a learning curve all of it's own. So I'll own my early cringey work with it's unpolished edges, and I'll strive to get better with future projects. If there's some techniques or glassblowing details that need a deeper dive that others might have missed, let me know.
Okay but how do you make sure it cools down both evenly and slowly? That’s the much harder part.., even if you repair it when it’s hot… it’s just going to crack again if you just take the entire thing out of the flame and into room temperature as that’s way too rapid and will just make it worse so… I feel like this is not really even quite half of a realistic process
Thanks for the question, it's a good one.
Breaks occurring from large temperature changes are indeed a problem, but whole video is about spreading the heat over the entire piece using a bunsen flame and why it matters. A bunsen flame isn't too hot, and so to cool down from that temperature is not a problem for borosilicate glass. The temperature difference between the flame from an oxy torch and the temperature of glass in the bunsen flame isn't as wide as if the piece was at room temperature and so the stress is also going to be as bad either. In fact, cooling the piece down from the bunsen after the repair showed no stress at all with the polariscope. I demonstrated that this is a realistic approach to small repairs.
Larger repairs with thicker wall glass and joins going through the wall cause more issues, and more care and specific pre-heating regimes are needed. And even then, with all the skill you have as a professional glassblower, it can still crack on you. An annealing kiln is absolutely necessary to take out residual stress after a complex repair. But if you come to understand how spreading heat over a larger area than just the point of the crack or repair work will prevent cracking , then you will progress your glass blowing skills and become more confident tackling more complex work.
I hope that's what these videos are about.
Crackheads be running to there dealer watching this😂Thanks for the hack