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I have been playing around with float and my latest piece needs some frit to finish it off. My clever spouse suggested I make some in an unused small Krups coffee grinder I happen have in my studio.
So I tried it by cutting pieces of sheet glass into smallish pieces (about 1/3" squares). Ground it for 10-15 seconds and used the 2 different mesh size sifters I already had to separate the powder from the fines and coarser frit. If the coarsest stuff looked too big I just ground it again. (note: wore safety glasses and a dust mask.)
The blade in the grinder is stainless and doesn't look any the worse for wear.
Haven't fused it yet, but will stick a trial piece in the kiln tonight.
Anyone have any experience with this approach? It might be a great solution for me when I only need a little frit and don't want to buy a whole bottle.

Only downside I've ever heard about is the potential for getting bits of the grinder (blade/housing) in the frit, but I've done this with enamels for cloisonne.

You can pull out metal fragments with a magnet (although stainless may or may not work), not sure about any plastic that gets in. The bits can show up as dark spots or schmutz in your glass.

Our low-tech frit machine is a cement block and a hammer. Works extremely well, with no metal fragments. Just make sure you don't have cement in your frit by using an encasing material like foam (newspaper degrades too much).

I use an older Oasis machine, the ones used for making frozen drinks. First I heat the glass with my torch or in the kiln, drop it in water, let it dry and then blend. I found a link the other day on a unit you can build with a garbage disposal. Boyce Lundstrum who just recently passed away has this design in one of his books. If anyone is interested I will post a link below.
Bob

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid= ... 2JkMzkzZjM

I did try the garbage disposal, which worked for about 3-4 times...then jammed.

Did you try to free it by counter rotating the Cutters with an allen wrench?

I used some of the finest frit on a platter and it turned out great. I will keep an eye on the coffee mill's plastic top and the stainless blades to make sure nothing winds up in future batches...and it looks like I have a new studio tool.

Thanks for posting how to hook up the disposal.

I tried the coffee grinder method with an extra grinder I had sitting around. After 10 batches or so, the blades had worn down to short nubs and the frit produced had to be cleaned with a magnet as well as rinsed in water to get out the blackish residue. A real PITA (actually cheaper to buy the frit). In the cases where no commercial frit is available in the desired color/COE, I use the "smash 'em between to layers of cardstock with a hammer" method. Works great everytime!

DOLORES

My friend Bill uses two metal pipes. One larger than the other and the smaller one has a cap. It is very heavy. He puts chunks of glass in, a few drops of the pipe and you have frit; the more you drop it down the finer it gets. Very heavy, low tech, sturdy, reliable. I keep thinking I want to make one too. If it isn't clear: the two pipes fit well together so there is no room for glass to fly out. He wears safety gear, too. I'd say 1/8" difference on the centered edge. Large pipe might have an inside dia of 5", the smaller (ram) pipe might be 4.75 outside dia It had a handle and was long enough that you didn't have to bend over to use it, helping to prevent low back injuries, as lifting when bent over is bad. I thought it a great solution. Basic. The only moving part required me moving... easy enough... after my morning caffeine.

bob proulx wrote:I use an older Oasis machine, the ones used for making frozen drinks. First I heat the glass with my torch or in the kiln, drop it in water, let it dry and then blend. I found a link the other day on a unit you can build with a garbage disposal. Boyce Lundstrum who just recently passed away has this design in one of his books. If anyone is interested I will post a link below.
Bob

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid= ... 2JkMzkzZjM

I've seen those used oasis machine sell on eBay for 600-700. Mighty expensive frit maker! :p

At this point in my life, you'd think I would have internalized this lesson: Whatever seems too good to be true usually is. On the flip side, I figure if I'm batting 1.000, I'm not pushing the envelope far enough. So some experiments just need to be run...and as long as I'm willing to accept some rate of failure, it'll be ok.

You experienced people are right....the coffee mill blade is starting to show erosion after only 4 batches.....so it's back to basics.

A hammer, safety gear and containment devise when I need a stress-reliever instead of a pocket-reliever. It'll just depend on whether I have more time or money (and whether the right stuff is commercially available). Thanks all!

Risa wrote:At this point in my life, you'd think I would have internalized this lesson: Whatever seems too good to be true usually is. On the flip side, I figure if I'm batting 1.000, I'm not pushing the envelope far enough. So some experiments just need to be run...and as long as I'm willing to accept some rate of failure, it'll be ok.

You experienced people are right....the coffee mill blade is starting to show erosion after only 4 batches.....so it's back to basics.

A hammer, safety gear and containment devise when I need a stress-reliever instead of a pocket-reliever. It'll just depend on whether I have more time or money (and whether the right stuff is commercially available). Thanks all!

Hi Risa, This would be more affordable and a lot of people make these. If you make one of these up make sure you get some type of magnet to check the glass in case any metal gets into this. It's better to use these outdoors and wear a mask.
Bob

http://shoozles.wordpress.com/2008/09/1 ... -own-frit/

I used one of those on my first attempts at making frit. The zinc (galvanization) comes off and is part of the frit. It is not magnetic so it is not easily removed. When melted with the frit it produced ugly brown/bronze bubbles.

I think it will work if made with "black" pipe pieces.

Jim

Bill's is all steel, not galvanized. Nothing comes off that I am aware of. It is smooth. The head of the ram is solid and smashes the bejeezus out of the glass. I may be able to find a photo of it... or not. I've lost many photos when my TB HD fell off the TV tray,on which I was working with my laptop. Backup is such a headache. <sigh> I will look on Sunday and see if I can't find it. Gotta work at Habitat in 10 hrs, so off to bed.

Ralph
That's clearly someone with too much time on his/her hands and a bunch of extra material. I'm an urban girl in a 250 sq ft studio....so the nested pipes (taken outside to use) are about the only tool that fits!

Well, come to that...when I was in France one of the PdV artists there had devised a fritmaker by building a tall box around two old flat stones (I think they were used to grind grain originally). He'd put one at the bottom, suspended the other on cable with a pulley inside the box, and hooked that contraption onto a WWII-era motorcycle with the wheels removed.

You opened the hatch, piled your crystal on a metal plate on the bottom millstone, then fired up the motorcycle engine and closed the hatch. The millstone would travel up to the top of the contraption, drop it onto the glass, and repeat until you shut the thing off. It sounded like a demolition derby, but actually did a pretty good job on the frit.

A read through this thread explains why potmelts were invented and why Bullseye and 96 sell jars of sized frit.

What bert said...