Boro tube on a Hot Head

[tuffnell glass]

Hi ,
       I was asked by a customer how large a diameter boro tubing you could work on a Hot Head on Mapp gas . Surprisingly i was able to melt pretty quickly and blow 22mm / 24mm od tubing in both light wall and medium wall . After that you could work the larger sizes but the time was dragging out to 3-4minutes to even soften the tube so i would recommend sticking to the 22mm + sizes .
Thought it might be useful info to those thinking of playing with tubing .

Best wishes ,
Martin
Tuffnell Glass

[garishglobes]

That's interesting! I guess because the clear does melt faster than any coloured boro and because you are in effect melting a 2mm-ish wall in a bushy flame that will keep the rest warm, it works. There was a lady on LE a while ago who swore she made boro beads on a HH too. I can only imagine she had an awful lot of patience and made very small beads with a lot of clear involved! 

Good to know, though. 

[tuffnell glass]

Hi ,
She might of been blowing hollow boro beads ?I'll have a go with rod this afternoon when i have time to spare -maybe a lot of time . I watched a demo in the states once with a hot head and soft tubing blowing Christmas baubles and they worked a treat running the tube through multi-coloured frit before blowing .

Anybody want some soft tube?

Martin

[Steampunkglass]

That is interesting, and helpful to be able to demo at fairs rather than trying to lug oxycons around  I'm guessing it also helps for blowing as hotheads have such a wide flame too. Be interesting to hear if you can also melt 3-4mm rod or thicker

[garishglobes]

Soft tube? For gratis?    What COE, out of interest?

[tuffnell glass]

Hi
I'll have to investigate but in the past we always got a 90-93coe from Germany , i'll see what's out there and make a few calls.

Cheers ,
Martin

[tish]

now martin u know I would be interested in having a go so me please and maybe a link to watch a demo?

[tuffnell glass]

Hi Glenn,
               I have just played with some boro rod with mixed results . The 3mm and 5mm melted really easy and was great on the hot head if you were simply shaping and twisting for more artistic designs....but trying to get it molten enough to stick to a mandrel was difficult and did not work . The glass never seems to get to that "liquid" point but maybe with more time it would . You know me , if its not happened in 2 minutes its time to give up

Sincerely ,

Martin

[Steampunkglass]

Hummmm...... interesting............ I was thinking more towards off-mandrel use rather than bead making anyway (which would really need some colour) so might be a nice thing to do at markets and events as there is less problems of spitty shocky 104 glass

[tuffnell glass]

Hi,
It would certainly draw attention to you with a Hot Head .

Martin

[Gordon]

I suspect it would be a "roaring" success 

[tuffnell glass]

Hi
    I have got some soft tube on its way , it is 90-92 coe so it should work with all our Reichenbach frits in theory . As soon as it arrives I will have a play and see if I can roll over some frit and blow some baubles .And of course pop a demo on Youtube .

Best wishes ,
martin
Tuffnell Glass

[garishglobes]

If it is Schott, it should also work with Bullseye frits and powders - I've done quite a bit of rolling Schott tubing in Bullseye powders and blowing. Some colours are better than others though, with the blues being difficult and a bit bubbly - so it would be very interesting to know if the Reichenbach works too.

[Calico Cat]

That sounds interesting - might have to try ( not that I have a hot head but the Alpha flame should be good )