Glass Stuck to Moulds

Glass that is stuck to moulds needs more care in removal than removal of glass from kiln shelves does.

The major element in removal is to get the mould to release the glass. This requires some diagnosis of why the glass is stuck.

• Is the glass trapping the mould? This happens most often when the glass is draped, especially over ceramic moulds.
• Has the glass been fired high enough to fuse to the mould? If you have fired the glass to tack fusing temperatures, you may find more occasions when the glass sticks slightly or firmly to the mould.
• Is the mould trapping the glass? This can happen when slumping into a steep sided steel mould. Occasionally a steep sided ceramic mould will show the same effect.
• Has the separator been too thin or failed? If none of the previous elements apply, it may be that the separator was too thin or has been fired to tack fusing temperatures in a previous firing.

You can use mechanical methods to free the glass from the mould by inserting a thin pallet knife between the glass and the mould. This works better for items where the glass is inside the mould. If the glass is outside the mould, the chances are that you will break the glass. Using mechanical methods for any glass that is more than lightly stuck will most often lead to breakage of the glass, and often both items.

Where the mould is trapping the glass, you can put the item back into the kiln, but upside down and supported a centimetre or so above the kiln shelf. Heat the glass gently toward slumping temperatures. The glass should fall from the mould at 300 or 400C, but you need to keep watch to make sure you do not over heat the glass.

Where the glass is trapping the mould and you are using mechanical methods, you normally need to decide which is more important – the mould or the glass. It is just possible to break a ceramic mould and leave the glass, if the glass is 6mm or more. If the mould is more indestructible, you will probably lose the glass.

With ceramic moulds you can try heating the two to 300C or 400C and reach in with appropriate protection to try to lift the mould out of the glass. If the mould is steel, it will expand faster than the glass and break it.

Once you have the glass off, you may need to repair the mould.

Aperture Drops Finishing

After the piece has cooled and been removed from its ring, you can consider how to finish the piece. If you have used something other than a flat rim, you may have minimal work to finish the piece.

As most people use a flat ring, the first decision is whether to retain or remove the rim from the vessel. In some cases the rim can be retained as an integral part of the piece. Again here there is little work needed to finish the piece.

For most aperture drops and for most people, it is desirable to remove the rim. To have successful drops without rims, you most often need to have access to cutting and polishing equipment.

You can use a tile saw or band saw to cut off sections of the flat rim and then a linisher to grind the edges to round, followed by polishing. This will give you a thick rim.

If you want a thin rim, you will need to cut through the drop at the top - visualise a cut at right angles to the length of the drop. Usually tile saws are too aggressive for this. If you can find a band saw with a high enough clearance, you could gently separate the rim from the drop after having reduced the size of the rim to make the use of the band saw more easy.

In both cases you must grind and polish the edge of the rim to give a finished appearance. Fire polishing is not possible as the drop would collapse long before the rim was smooth.

Aperture Drops Annealing

The soak at annealing temperature will need to long to accommodate the temperature variations within the thick and thin parts. The thin parts will be able to cool much faster than the thicker parts.

The objective in annealing is to keep all parts of the glass cooling within a 5C range, so the soak will need to accommodate those differences. I suggest a minimum soak time is 90 minutes for a 9mm thick blank, 2 hours for 12mm and 3 hours for a 15mm blank to be certain all the glass reaches the same temperature.

Annealing the drop has two main considerations – the variation in temperature over the length of the piece and the variation of thickness of the glass. These two in combination make it difficult to find a rapid annealing and cooling schedule. So having spent quite a bit of time so far on the piece, choosing a conservative schedule is sensible.

The variation in temperature between the top and bottom of the kiln can vary quite a bit, maybe as much as 20C for some kilns. So you can see immediately that the annealing will need to be slow if you are going to keep the thick and thin glass within 5C of each other. It would be possible to use schedules for annealing thick pieces just as they are published for the thickness of your blank, but it is more conservative to use a cooling schedule for the next size up to ensure a good anneal.

Thus, for a 9mm piece I would anneal at 55C/hr for the first 55C below annealing, then 99C/hr for then next 55C. After that you can go much faster. For a 12mm piece I would go at 25C/hr for the first 55C, 45C/hr for the next 55C and 150C/hr to room temperature. For a 15mm piece I would go at 15C/hr for the first 55C, 27C/hr for then next 55C, and 90/hr to room temperature.

It may be possible to go faster than this in annealing, but this is cautious to make sure the variations in both thickness and temperature are considered.

Aperture Drops - Stopping the Drop

Arresting the drop and cooling the piece can be complicated, as you need to cool the kiln quickly enough to stop the glass moving.

The higher the forming temperature of of the work, the quicker you need to stop the movement of the glass. This will involve opening the kiln to cool the glass enough so that it becomes stiff and resists further movement. You need to be aware that you are cooling glass that ranges in thickness from relatively thick to relatively thin. The thin parts will cool faster than the thick parts. Flash cooling for too long will make the thin parts very stiff, while the thicker part are still hot. This could lead to breakage if allowed to continue down to the annealing soak temperature.

A lower forming temperature will allow you to simply advance to the rapid cool portion of the schedule down to the annealing soak without the need for flash cooling. You do need to make this skip to the next segment just a minute or so before the piece reaches its desired length or shape. This will not be difficult to judge as you will have been checking frequently at this portion of the firing.

Aperture Drop Observation

This kind of firing absolutely requires observation of the progress of the drop. Ideally you would set up the firing surface where you can peek at it during the firing as well as observe the bottom of the kiln or the shelf – which ever you are firing upon.

I you have to choose, then the bottom of the kiln is the most important place to have clear observation lines. Even if you do not want the drop to touch the shelf or bottom of the kiln, you will need to observe how far the drop has progressed.

Thus, planing for the placing of the supports and other elements of the drop are important. Support posts should not obscure the view of the drop, for example. The whole set up should be placed far enough back in the kiln to see the shelf/kiln bottom where the glass will touch down.

If you do not want to have the drop touch down onto a surface, you need to set up a “witness” to indicate how far the glass has fallen. This can be some pieces of fibre stacked up so that your view through the peep hole to the top visible surface of the “witness” will tell you that when the glass touches that line of vision, it has reached the desired length.

You need to patient, as the soaks can be two or more hours long for a low temperature drop.

Aperture Drop Placement

Aperture drops normally are placed much higher in the kiln than most work to get the greatest length of drop. This means that the glass is near the elements and so will be heated unevenly. It has been said that the heat evens out across the kiln approximately the distance below the elements that they are apart. So if the elements are 100mm apart, the heat will even 100mm below the elements. This constraint means that it is difficult to get the length of drop wanted and still have the glass heat evenly.

There are at least two things you can do to get more height. One is to take out the shelf and its supports so you can fire on the bottom of the kiln. This will give up to 50mm extra drop length.

The other is to go ahead and fire closer to the elements than is indicated for even heating. This will require radical modification of the heating schedules. [qv firing]

Grinder Head Grub Screw

Need help! The small screw that secures the grinder bit to the shaft was stuck and my efforts to loosen it resulted in stripping it. I've tried spraying it with lubricant -- still no luck. What can I do?

There is a tool that many mechanics and tool shops have. It is normally square or triangular. It is used by drilling into the broken off bolt, or in this case, the grub screw. The tool is hammered into the hole and then with a wrench/spanner loosened.

However, you should make sure that the socket for the allan key is clear of glass residues. I do this by using a needle or other thin sharp object to clear out all the glass powder. I am sure there are other things to clean out the hole too. When the socket is cleaned, I push the key into the socket very firmly and hold it there while turning. This has worked for me in the past.

Once the grub screw is out, you need to get a replacement, so the same problem does not re-occur. I keep the screws from old heads in my box of grinder parts for this eventuality.

So the maintenance is not only on the shaft but also on the fixings. Putting a dab of Vaseline or thick grease into the socket will help keep it clear of the glass residue.

Aperture Drops Firings

Initial Heat Rise

As the placement of aperture drops is much higher in the kiln than normal, the initial heat rise needs to be carefully controlled. Usually, the glass will be so high in the kiln that uneven heating is almost certain and the risk of breakage very high. The need is to arrange a schedule that takes account of this uneven heating effect.

The principle requirement is to add heat slowly so the glass receiving less direct heat can heat up by convection through the glass. However glass is a very good insulator, allowing heat to travel only slowly. There are two strategies for this:

• one is to heat at a very slow but consistent rate. After the annealing point has been reached the speed can be increased.
• the second is to go a bit faster, but with soaks at three or more intervals in the heat up. After each soak the speed of advance can be increased a little. The soaks should be from 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the speed of heat up.

In either case it should take about five to six hours to reach 650C for 9mm thick glass. If the glass is thicker, more time is required to get to this point. I would take 8 -9 hours for 12mm glass; 16 – 18 hours for 15mm glass; 26 – 30 hours for 18mm glass.

Bubble Squeeze

If the glass has not already been fused, you may need a bubble squeeze at around 650C. Keep in mind that the temperature rise has been slow and so a lot of heat has been put into the glass. A quick peek can tell you whether the glass has already sealed at the edges. If the glass was per-fused, you can continue directly to the forming temperature.

Forming temperature

The exact forming temperature of course is dependent on:

• aperture size
• weight of glass
• speed of advance to forming temperature
• glass used (to a lesser extent)

However the forming temperature will be between a high temperature slump and a low temperature fire polish or tack fuse. Observation will be required to determine the temperature for your kiln.

Soak at forming temperature

It is best to soak for a long time at the forming temperature. At high temperatures the glass will move quickly, possibly too quickly to arrest the movement when you want. At higher temperatures the glass thins much more at the shoulder – where the glass moves from the horizontal to the vertical – than at lower temperatures.

Lower temperatures take longer to form, but are more controllable. More of the glass has time to slip into the aperture. Lower temperatures allow compensation for the increased speed of the drop during long drops. After the first 50-75mm of drop the glass at the sides is thin enough to allow a quicker drop caused by the weight of glass at the bottom pulling on the thinner sides.

Aperture Drop Supports

The supports for aperture drops need to be rigid at tack fusing temperatures. A number of materials are rigid enough to maintain their form. Those such as ceramic, or fibre board are commonly available. The ceramic forms can be purchased from various suppliers. Fibre board can be carved in a number of shapes and so are more versatile. They are more flexible than ceramic so need careful support.

The supports also need to be of such a material that will not trap the glass when cooling. This makes metals unsuitable for use as drop supports. The metal contracts more on cooling than the glass does, and so traps or crushes the dropped part of the glass.

Note that the supporting structure does not have to be flat. It could slope toward the centre, or could be curved down on the outside. The permutations are up to your imagination.

The other element of support is the material to hold the support surface above the kiln floor. These supports need to be stable so should have a relatively broad base in relation to the height of the support. Two good kinds of supports are kiln posts and fire brick sawn to the appropriate height. There other possibilities to create home made kiln furniture. [qv]

Note that it is important to kiln wash all the supporting materials to avoid any glass getting stuck to them.

Aperture Drops – Length of Drop

The height of the drop must be related to the thickness of the glass.

The glass moving at the edge of the hole becomes thin, so the deeper the drop, the thicker the 
glass required.

The general rule of thumb is to have 6mm for the first 50mm drop. For each additional 50mm an additional 3mm of glass is required. So a 200 mm drop will require glass at least 15mm thick. Observation and experimentation is required to determine how thick the glass needs to be in relation to the length of the drop, but this is a place to start.

The thinning effect of the stretching can be influenced by both the temperature and material of the supporting material.

Aperture Drops Introduction

Aperture drops are apparently simple to do. But to have control of the process and to be able to get repeatable results is relatively complex. There are various elements that need to be considered when preparing to make one of these. The main technical considerations are:

The height of the drop from the shelf.

Material of the supporting ring or material.

Diameter of opening of the aperture.

Size of the blank in relation to the aperture

Initial firing speeds

Height in kiln and relation to the distance from the heating elements.

Observation of the progress of the drop.

Arresting the drop

Annealing and cooling.

Finishing the resulting drop.

The above instalments will discuss these in turn.

Scoring Opalescent Glass

Cutting opalescent glass often gives difficulties in getting clean breaks along the score line. You need to remember that the opals do not make much if any sound when cut with the correct pressure. If you are scoring so that you hear the ziiip sound, you probably are pressing too hard. When the score is too hard, the opals do not break easily or truly. Only the same pressure as used on transparents is required. Feel the pressure rather than listen for the sound.

Care in the Operation of Soldering Irons

The most important element in the deterioration of soldering iron bits is long idle times. This is where you leave the iron on, and not in use, for a long time.

Have everything ready when you start soldering, so the iron will be used continuously, and will not sit there building up heat, while you get ready to use it again. An idle iron will keep heating to its maximum capacity, and without anything to transfer the heat to, it will start burning off the tinning, after a short while. So if you will not be using the iron for a while turn it off until you are ready again.

The other elements leading to deterioration in performance come from lack of cleaning and tinning of the tip. When the coating of solder burns off or is coated with carbon you get poor heat transfer from tip to working surface making it appear that the iron is not heating properly.

Grinder Bits

Extending the life of your grinder bits is a matter of recognising that you should not force the glass into the grinding head. Excessive pressure against the head heats the bit and allows the diamonds to become free of the binding material, so reducing its life. If the motor slows as you press the glass to the bit, you are applying too much pressure. That kind of pressure also puts a lot of wear on the bearings of the motor.

If the grinder is not taking glass off fast enough for your purposes, you should put a coarser bit on the grinder, rather than pressing harder. The bits do come in a variety of grits. Try out some different grits to find the one that works best for the speed at which you want to remove the glass.

You can also buy a additive for the water – often called a diamond coolant – which is intended to provide a kind of lubrication for the diamonds. This may also extend the life of the bit.

Replacing Grinder Heads

The best action is to prevent difficulties from the start. Before putting the grinder bit onto the shaft, coat it with Vaseline or a proprietary anti seize-compound. This will ease the removal of the bit later.

If the bit is already seized, the method of removal is based on how fast it is stuck. If there is a bit of movement around the shaft when the grub screw is removed, you can probably remove it with simple tools. First use very fine wet and dry sandpaper to remove all corrosion and roughness from the upper, exposed part of the shaft. Put a thin film of lubrication or penetrating oil on the shaft and then you can hold the top of the shaft tight with smooth-jawed pliers while you twist the bit. Be careful not to mark the shaft or you will create another obstacle to removal of the bit. Alternatively, while pulling up on the bit, you can tap the top end of the shaft gently with a plastic hammer to shake the bit loose.

If this does not work, remove the grid and turn the dry grinder upside down and spray WD-40 or other penetrating oil to the bottom of the grinder bit.  This should be left for a few days with renewal of the penetrating oil every half day.  Then try the methods above to free the bit from the shaft.

If the bit is firmly stuck, you will need a small wheel puller to get the bit off the shaft.

Once you have the bit off, smooth any corrosion with fine wet and dry sandpaper and lubricate the shaft. Periodic removal of the bit and lubrication of the shaft will become part of the regular maintenance of the grinder.

Leading Nuggets

To use nuggets in leaded glass panels, just wrap the came round the nugget. If the came leaves are oval, it works better than the flat. If the nugget is thick and does not want to fit securely in the channel, you can also use a fid to open up the top leaf of the came.

There also is a technique to cut the came to give a smooth curve given here.

Edges for Copper Foil

When doing a foil project which does not have a zinc or lead came frame, do you use a wider foil so it has a wider solder line? 

You do not need to use wider foil on the edges, but I have often done so to give the edge just as much "line value" as the internal beads. However this needs to be planned from the beginning. If you simply add a wider line on the outside, many times you will compromise the integrity of the design at the sides. You need to cut the glass a fraction larger to accommodate the thicker foil. Two millimeters added to the outside edge should be enough.

Foil not Sticking on Edge

An enquiry arrived the other day:
I’m working on another irregular shaped suncatcher and I have just completed the soldering. Now I've found one small section the copper foil is not sticking. How can I fix this?

The adhesive on copper foil tape is not a permanent one. It only sticks to the glass long enough to apply the solder to the foil. The heat of soldering often degrades the adhesive so much that it no longer sticks. What holds the solder down is the solder bead. So you probably do not have a full bead on the edge. Placing a bead on the edges of pieces is difficult but you can find a method here.

You can make the edge beading a bit easier by putting thin copper wire around the edge of the piece. This strengthens the whole piece. It allows you to attach a hanger without risk of pulling the whole suncatcher apart. It also allows you to form a bead on the edge more easily.

The bead formed on the edge curves around to the front and back faces allowing the solder to hold the copper tape more firmly to the glass.

Tie Wires

Tie wires for glazing bars are to keep the panel from rebounding due to wind pressures on the window. There also is some pressure created within the house by the opening and closing of doors, although this is minor in comparison to the weather.

The tie wires should be securely soldered to the panel at solder joints. Placing ties elsewhere leads to the tearing of the lead. The soldering of the tie wires requires more heat than simply soldering the lead joints. The tie wire needs to be heated enough to melt the solder of the joint to which it is being attached. Then an additional dot of solder needs to be added so that the wire cannot simply pull out from the joint by being only sweated to the joint.

At installation, when the panel is fully seated in its opening and fastened by nails or sprigs, pull the tie wires out at right angles right at the edge of the solder attachment before twisting the wire. Do not use any more than firm pressure. Then you are ready to cross the wires over the glazing bar. This ensures there is no excessive give in the copper tie.

Do not over tighten the tie wire twist. Only twist until snug against the bar. Then continue to twist the loose ends until you have them a satisfactory length. Cut off the twist rather than the tail ends to provide a neat finish. Then tuck the twist under or over the bar, just as you desire.

Installation of Glazing Bars

There are a few tips that concern the installation of glazing bars into wood frames. An important element to understand is that the purpose of the bars is to protect the panel from horizontal wind pressures on the window, not to lift the panel or in any other way strengthen the panel vertically.

The holes on one side should be at least 5mm deeper than the other. For a really secure attachment one side should be at least 15mm deep and the other 7-10mm. This allows a significant amount of wood to seat the bar. The bar should be at least 10mm longer than the opening is wide.

The hole you drill should be 1mm larger than the bar diameter. This will make moving the bar easier. Additionally, the ends of the bars should be filed to remove any roughness. Also greasing the ends of the bar with tallow or candle wax will ease the movement of the bars.

If the bar is to be installed inside sash windows you can ease the installation by determining the height of the hole to be drilled by presenting the panel to the opening and marking the frame where the bar is to be attached to the panel. Drill the hole so the edge of it is flush with the rebate. This allows you to use a chisel to open the hole enough to allow the bar to be placed in the socket now prepared. In these cases the bar needs to be no longer than the opening.

The installation should be completed by forcing putty into any gaps left between the bar and the hole. This will stiffen and help to firm up the bar’s attachment to the frame.

Cementing Panels

I recently had the occasion to repair a panel made by a friend of the clients several decades ago. It was cemented by pushing commercial putty under the leaves of the leads. It illustrates very well why lead light cement should be brushable to completely fill the space between the glass and the came.

This photo shows how the putty filled the space above and below the glass but not between the glass and the heart of the came.

This photo shows the putty missing from the corners of the glass. There has been a little chipping of the putty in the dismantling process, but not much.

The question may be asked about what is so important about a bit of putty missing from the edges of the glass, it is sealed along the leaves of the came. Yes, this style of cementing will seal the panel from the weather for a time. But had this glass been in a window instead of hung inside, it is questionable whether it would have begun to leak only about 20 years after being made. Certainly as the putty begins to break down, the moisture will rapidly find its way into the inside.

The only way to be certain that the panel is completely weather proofed is to use brushable cement. The cement is pushed under the leaves of the lead with a stiff brush. You know the fill is complete by the cement oozing out of the other side.

It is possible to make up a brushable cement from commercial putty. You simply add some white spirit to the putty. I make a depression in a fistful of putty and add white spirit. Fold over the sides into the well and gradually, the white spirit is mixed into the putty. Continue adding white spirit until you have a very thick molasses that can be pushed around with a brush.

Of course, while you are doing this mixing, you can add a blackening agent - powdered or oil based black pigments are best.

Jewellery-scale Ovals

Rather than trying to perform the difficult task of cutting small ovals, you can use the heat of the kiln to do some of the work for you.

Cut a rectangle the length and width of the oval you want. Then groze the corners to the approximate curve of oval you want. Do not worry about the little inaccuracies of the curve. If it is the curve you want, the heat of a full fuse will even out the edges into oval you want. Clean the glass, assemble and fire to your normal full fuse temperature. The result will be a smooth edged oval of the shape you grozed from the glass. Of course anything less than a full flat fuse will produce a piece with some of the inaccuracies that you grozed into the glass.

If you do not go to a full fuse, or are using only 3mm thickness of glass, this will not work.

Effect of Glass Weight on Slumping

Just as the mould size and shape have effects on slumping temperatures and strategies, so does the weight.

When slumping you are making use of the combined effects of gravity and the increasing softness of the glass. The same thing happens when you have a thick piece of glass as when you have a large span in the mould. As the weight of the glass increases, the temperature at which it will begin to slump is decreased. There is an inverse relationship between the weight and the slump temperature just as there is between increased span and slump temperature.

A 3mm piece will take more time or more heat to fully slump into a mould than a 9mm piece will into the same mould. Observation will give you the information on what the temperature differentials are.

Bowed Glass for Cabinets

This is glass which is slightly convex and normally found in multiple-paned cabinet doors. Glass workers are sometimes asked by antiques dealers to do a replacement.

You can make a mould and do a slump.

However, you should consider doing a drop out or aperture drop. Normally these are thought of as circular, but they can be of any shape you want. The reason for making them as a drop out is that the surface of the bent glass will be completely unmarked.

I have made these several times for antique dealers. To do it, make a rectangle in fibre board about 10mm larger than the glazing size. Place a piece of glass about 40mm larger than the rectangular hole and fire. You need to watch. It will begin to slump at around 520C - or less if it is not float glass. You need to go slowly so the glass does not drop too much.

You will know from the existing pieces how deep a drop is required. Measure that and place a witness to determine when the slump has gone far enough. This can be a piece of kiln furniture with fibre paper over it. It can be a reference point on the far side of the kiln. In my case it normally is a stack of fibre board pieces with fibre paper on top to build it up to the correct height.

When the glass is just about to touch the witness, flash cool the kiln to just above the annealing point and close the kiln. If the temperature rises back into the forming temperature range, flash cool again. Twice should be sufficient to ensure that the glass does not move any further.

Cutting Flashed Glass

Some recommend cutting flashed glass on the clear or non-flashed side. This is based on the idea that the flash is only laminated to the main body of glass. My view is that flashed glass has proved to be very stable over many centuries, and so is firmly a part of the whole sheet.

What is more important is to observe that flashed glass often has a bow. If you place the glass on the bench, you may find that it rocks or sits up from the bench. If you cut the glass on the convex side, that is the side which is not resting on the bench except at the edges, you may find that you break the glass during the scoring, unless you are using the lightest of pressures. It is more certain to get a good break if you score the glass on the concave side - that is where the edges are slightly raised from the bench. So the important element in deciding which side to cut is to score the concave side whether that has the flashed colour or not.

This does not occur with all flashed glasses, and is more important on large sheets than small ones. On the small ones, the curvature is so small as to be immaterial.