Anyone know anything about Zircar ( spell)?

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Sandpiper
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Anyone know anything about Zircar ( spell)?

Post by Sandpiper »

My brother (who is the ultimate packrat, mad scientist) heard me complaining about my new evenheat kiln and the fact the the shelf was made up of three shelves, so I had to deal with seams, blah, blah, blah. So he gives me a sheet of a stuff called Zircar. He cut it to size and everything. It's one inch thick and he says it's used in kilns for shelves. Now, my brother is super smart, and he works in the solar cell industry, so he is dealing with glass and high temps., etc. but he also likes to put free AOL cd's in the microwave to watch the lightening they generate. It's not that I don't trust him, but....

Do I kiln wash, Does this product warp? Has anyone used it. My brother likes the fact if you hit it just right is has a nice ringing sound. (he's a lot strange, but I understand this piece of material would have cost me several hundred dollars, so sometimes strange is good)

Suggestions?
Sandpiper, alias Robin
ellen abbott
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Post by ellen abbott »

I can't help you out on the use of zircar as a kiln shelf, but I know that it also comes in a powder form that can be made into a mold material that is brushed on the model (wax) and then the wax is melted out. It is used for hot glass casting and the folks that use it, swear by it. The mold it makes is really a thin shell and supposedly it pops right off after annealing. The one time I used it in a hot glass casting workshop, it didn't pop off at all. In fact it had to be scraped off and was so much work, the small piece I cast with it is still covered with the stuff. It can also be used as an inclusion material. Did that too and the results were pretty good. But again, this was hot glass casting.

E
Bert Weiss
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Re: Anyone know anything about Zircar ( spell)?

Post by Bert Weiss »

Sandpiper wrote:My brother (who is the ultimate packrat, mad scientist) heard me complaining about my new evenheat kiln and the fact the the shelf was made up of three shelves, so I had to deal with seams, blah, blah, blah. So he gives me a sheet of a stuff called Zircar. He cut it to size and everything. It's one inch thick and he says it's used in kilns for shelves. Now, my brother is super smart, and he works in the solar cell industry, so he is dealing with glass and high temps., etc. but he also likes to put free AOL cd's in the microwave to watch the lightening they generate. It's not that I don't trust him, but....

Do I kiln wash, Does this product warp? Has anyone used it. My brother likes the fact if you hit it just right is has a nice ringing sound. (he's a lot strange, but I understand this piece of material would have cost me several hundred dollars, so sometimes strange is good)

Suggestions?
Sandpiper, alias Robin
Zircar makes lots of products usable as kiln shelves. They tend to be very good and very expensive.

Because I don't know which formula you have I can't give a definitive answer. However the answer is probably yes it will take kiln wash. When I used Zircar RS 100 1/4" shelves, I coated them with collloidal alumina as a kiln wash. It worked pretty well. I was mostly firing BE back in the mid 80's.

Zircar has a website, probably http://www.zircar.com, I forget. Ask them about the specific board that you have. Be sure to explain that you are a glass artist. The founder of the company, who is now retired, messes around with art glass.
Bert

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Brian and Jenny Blanthorn
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Re: Anyone know anything about Zircar ( spell)?

Post by Brian and Jenny Blanthorn »

My suspicion is its made from Zircon Zr which melts arround 1850 C

Also used I think as a bat wash by potters

Brian
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Bert Weiss
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Re: Anyone know anything about Zircar ( spell)?

Post by Bert Weiss »

Brian and Jenny Blanthorn wrote:My suspicion is its made from Zircon Zr which melts arround 1850 C

Also used I think as a bat wash by potters

Brian
Not exactly Brian. Zircar does make some 3000ºF refractory materials that utilize Zr. They also make lots of lower temp refractories that are usable by glassies like us. Their boards are much stronger than Unifrax boards, but still breakable. They also make some really interesting fiber felts that can be wet and formed, dried and fired to permanence. They are strong enough for slumping molds. Another product of theirs is mold mix 6. This is a mud like compound that can be formed in to shapes and will withstand hot casting or slumping or casting temperatures. It is essentially ground up waste from their RS 100 board, mixed with a binder of some sort.

They have recently come out with a paper that I think is comparable to thinfire. It essentially turns to powder after being fired. I don't know how it compares pricewise.

I was just browsing a recent catalog and they are offering a 2000ºF boron nitride kiln wash. Available in an aerosol spray can. I want some of that.
Bert

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Tony Smith
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Post by Tony Smith »

If it's the sane stuff that GE Advanced Ceramics makes, http://www.advceramics.com/acc/products/bn_coatings/ it's available from McMaster-Carr at http://www.mcmaster.com for $37 a can... the part number is 10515K35

I just happen to know that it works REALLY well at slumping temps on Stainless Steel molds. Never tried it higher though.

Tony
The tightrope between being strange and being creative is too narrow to walk without occasionally landing on both sides..." Scott Berkun
Sandpiper
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Post by Sandpiper »

Thanks for all the tips. I just talked to a guy from the company and gave him the numbers of the piece that my brother gave me. It sounds like cool stuff. I have to use shelf paper with this product, it's made of silica, but he said it'll make an awesome shelf. He also told me they could make me a custom one piece shelf out of a material that doesn't need wash or paper. OOOHHHHH. They are sending me an artglass sample packet. When I get it I will let you know what I find out. By the way, if you guys are interested, the man told me to go to this websitehttp://www.zrci.com, go to the important information on the left side, click on luminar products, glass art. Haven't gone yet, because I talk to you first. Headed there next. Anyhow, thanks again for all your help. When I was a super newbie, you guys were a big help. Now I'm a semi-newbie, with two galleries ordering my stuff and paying cash, and I have all of you to thank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sandpiper, alias Robin
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