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My commercial ring (don't know who made it) is a standard 9" outer, 5" inner. So there is a 2" rim. I think 1 3/4 to 2" seems needed with the 4 layers. I have a very pretty piece from having half the rim fall through

Richard

One caution - make sure you have a decent size rim. With the extra layers there is a tendency for a narrow rim to fall through the hole! It appears to depend on the weight of glass hanging over the hole. Two layers allows a narrower rim than four.

Richard

I can't remember the "they" I got it from, but I use 2 layers for 2"-3" drops, and 3-4 layers for 6" (depends on the ring size). I always do a full fuse on the disk to start, lately to 1500 (this is System 96). The slump is ramped to 1250, then I wait for the glass to drop a...

Any reason for the two layers? I use 4 for my 6" drops from a 5" inner diameter ring. Then the walls seem sturdy. If you watch the drop through the peep hole (or peek through the lid briefly) you can see when it hits the shelf and decide how flat you want the bottom to be.

Richard

I've also been playing with ceramaguard tiles for drop rings lately and my most recent one sounds just like yours. The paint on the tiles does flake off, but I had not noticed it on the glass before this clear piece I just did. It looks like a cloudy white on the underside of the rim, and has resist...

A bit of closure from me. As suggested, I did a test on a piece I didn't care about and it survived the microwave just fine. As did the cereal bowl this morning. My take on what's in the bubble is less-than-atmospheric-pressure dry air. The bubble expands due to air pressure at heat, which must be r...

I've made a cereal bowl and was wondering if there is an issue with putting the glass into the microwave (for oatmeal, if you must know ).

Might there be any problem with air trapped in bubbles? I can't imagine there's any mosture left in them.

Richard

Hi Lynne, Well, I started off at 500 dph in the ramp. For about a year, in fact. Then got a bit impatient and tried 600. Then 800, then 1000. Might as well see for myself, I said! At 1000 a piece broke on the way up, so I backed off to 600. For these tests, I bumped it back up to 750 because I didn'...

For closure. The piece I slumped committed suicide - the glass "tore" while slumping and the piece further cracked. For details, see http://www.stanford.edu/~dubois/stained_glass/projects/Fusing/March2004/#Thermocouple I have another (fresh) piece cooking now to see if this episode was res...

I took some pictures before trying the slump I mentioned. I peeked during the flash vent and noticed the glass "tore" on slumping. Must be one really ticked-off piece of glass. I'll post the story and pictures after the cooling finishes. I'll fire another piece tonight - I guess I still ha...

I had posted the item on a potentially failing thermocouple on my Evenheat GT-18. I have replaced it and I *think* things are ok now. I need to do some more testing to be sure, but I wanted to ask about some oddities I saw with my test piece. This was 2 layers of System 96 clear with lots of shards ...

I also resorted to fiber paper at first, but didn't always want that rough texture you pick up from the paper. So I went back to fusing onto the kiln shelf with kiln wash, but just stretching out the ramp time from 1000-1250F. My standard program now does 75F/hr from 1000 to 1250, then holds there f...

This reads a lot like the "Weird Temp Issues" post. I have also concluded my thermocouple is failing and have a couple winging their way to me from Ed Hoy. We'll see how that goes.

A quick check of the kiln this morning - and it looks to me like the thermocouple is fine - the ends are still touching; nothing looks out of the ordinary. And I can't see any sag of the top elements, certainly not to the extent of being anywhere close to the bottom of the slots they're in. tCoS was...

Not so easy. I was using the Ceramaguard as a drop ring on my regular shelf. Followed by a regular fuse on the shelf, then a fuse on a Duraboard drop ring. The latest tests were on my usual shelf. So it isn't the presence of the Ceramaguard (I have used it in the last 4 fires). I was grasping that m...

Hi Stuart, Indeed the 3 elements are working. None of my ramps up are faster than 1000 (going from 1250 to 1500). I do set 1500 going down to 950. My usual fire is 500 dph to 1000; 75 dph to 1250, hold 30 mins 1000 dph to 1500; 1500 dph down to 950, hold 45 mins; 100 dp down to 930m hold 45 mins; 20...

Out of the blue on Sunday, my EvenHeat GT-18/RampmasterII started acting up. My usual System 96 full fuse to 1500F with a two-step anneal at 950 and 930F started giving a tack fuse and no apparent anneal. And the program ran its usual time, so it didn't abort early. Is it possible that the thermocou...

I am attempting to replace the ceiling lightshades on new fixtures we got for our kitchen remodel. The commercial shades are 12" across and 2.5" deep. They have a 0.5" flat rim that is captured by spring-loaded holders (look like C's). I need to make 4 of these shades. I made a mold u...

I'd like to make glass tiles for the accent pieces on our mosaic ceramic tile backsplash above the countertop. I'm thinking of having dichroic shapes on the surface of a black S96 4" square tile (plus clear base layer). Are there any durability issues for the dichroic? Will it scratch with rout...

AFTOSA had what I needed. Thanks! Dick has neat stuff too. I'll keep him in mind...