Lo-tech devit removal

[Bev Brandt]

I have a piece - all BE - that has a devit problem. It's a combination of pattern bars and solids, a BE yellow and 0124 Red. The red devitrified on the first full fuse firing at 1480F. All of the glass had been cleaned with isopropyl alcohol before firing.

I don't yet own a sandblaster, so I used some diamond hand pads and tried to manually sand out the devit, used a borax spray and refired to um...(don't have notes)... fire polishing temp (probably 1350F) because I also did some grinding along the edges of the piece.

The yellow survives the firings just fine. The ground edges of the piece look beautiful. Even the black, yellow and red pattern bar tiles that I did next to *nothing* to except clean - look wonderful. But the red solid still has devit. It doesn't seem any worse than it was before I used the handpads on it, though.

I know from experience that etching cream won't do a thing to BE. Should I just wait until I get a sandblaster to do this piece justice? Should I use a different overspray after more elbow grease and patience with the handpads? Also, should I fire at a higher/lower temperature to get rid of the devit?

Thanks,

Bev

[dee]

I have a piece - all BE - that has a devit problem. It's a combination of pattern bars and solids, a BE yellow and 0124 Red. The red devitrified on the first full fuse firing at 1480F. All of the glass had been cleaned with isopropyl alcohol before firing.

I don't yet own a sandblaster, so I used some diamond hand pads and tried to manually sand out the devit, used a borax spray and refired to um...(don't have notes)... fire polishing temp (probably 1350F) because I also did some grinding along the edges of the piece.

The yellow survives the firings just fine. The ground edges of the piece look beautiful. Even the black, yellow and red pattern bar tiles that I did next to *nothing* to except clean - look wonderful. But the red solid still has devit. It doesn't seem any worse than it was before I used the handpads on it, though.

I know from experience that etching cream won't do a thing to BE. Should I just wait until I get a sandblaster to do this piece justice? Should I use a different overspray after more elbow grease and patience with the handpads? Also, should I fire at a higher/lower temperature to get rid of the devit?

Thanks,

Bev

check at michaels for dip -n etch, soak for a couple of hours, should take care of it - if not, soak longer....

don't know why you got devit, i don't generally have a problem except under very specific conditions, but never on a one firing piece and alot of times not even on a multiple firing piece...
D

[Bev Brandt]

[quote="dee]
check at michaels for dip -n etch, soak for a couple of hours, should take care of it - if not, soak longer....

don't know why you got devit, i don't generally have a problem except under very specific conditions, but never on a one firing piece and alot of times not even on a multiple firing piece...
D[/quote]

Will Dip 'n Etch work on Bullseye? I have some Armor Etch and I used it on some BE clear. It was like soaking the glass in tap water - nothin'.

The fact that nothing else devitrified but the red leads me to think there was "something goofy" (a technical term) about this sheet of red. It wasn't a nice, even color to begin with.

I'll try the Dip 'n Etch, thanks.

- Bev

[dee]

[quote="dee]
check at michaels for dip -n etch, soak for a couple of hours, should take care of it - if not, soak longer....

don't know why you got devit, i don't generally have a problem except under very specific conditions, but never on a one firing piece and alot of times not even on a multiple firing piece...
D

Will Dip 'n Etch work on Bullseye? I have some Armor Etch and I used it on some BE clear. It was like soaking the glass in tap water - nothin'.

The fact that nothing else devitrified but the red leads me to think there was "something goofy" (a technical term) about this sheet of red. It wasn't a nice, even color to begin with.

I'll try the Dip 'n Etch, thanks.

- Bev[/quote]

yes, you just have to soak it for a while - start with an hour, check it, keep going in 1/2 hr or 1 hr incremental checks until you're happy with the results...
D

[rosanna gusler]

borax likes a higher temp to mature. 1400 and up if i remember correctly. rosanna

[PattyJohnson]

Hi Bev,
Try fire polishing without an overspray...I've noticed that it tends to trap that scummy look.

Patty

[Mira]

Hi Bev,

I've had some success with an autobody shop sand blasting pieces for me when they're doing other stuff anyway. My experience is that they curious as to what I'm doing and charge me very little.

Good luck.

M.

[starchimes (Andrea)]

I have success using diamond dremel burrs instead of sandblasting. It works like a charm. That is if you have a dremel tool.

[Dani]

Hi Bev,
Try fire polishing without an overspray...I've noticed that it tends to trap that scummy look.

Patty

Too late on this piece since the overspray is already applied, once it's there, it's there. Sandblasting seems the only logical solution here. As to the red glass, I'm wondering if you got a piece of BE that wasn't tested fuse compatible and thus more prone to devit. Rosanna is right, you do need to take the overspray up to fuse temp to cure it, but that won't necessarily solve the underlying devit problem.

[Bev Brandt]

Hi Bev,
Try fire polishing without an overspray...I've noticed that it tends to trap that scummy look.

Patty

Too late on this piece since the overspray is already applied, once it's there, it's there. Sandblasting seems the only logical solution here. As to the red glass, I'm wondering if you got a piece of BE that wasn't tested fuse compatible and thus more prone to devit. Rosanna is right, you do need to take the overspray up to fuse temp to cure it, but that won't necessarily solve the underlying devit problem.

So you think that sandblasting is the only way to remove the devit that is now sort of encased by the overspray? Though I could take the piece somewhere to be sandblasted, I don't currently have a sandblaster of my own. (It's on The List, being the list of fun stuff that my husband and I *both* want!) Will some of the other options mentioned in this thread work at this point?

Disappointing, since as a beginner, this is the first piece that was really going the way I wanted in terms of design. Oh well, it may go on the shelf until I can sandblast it and fix it.

Thanks all for your advice.

- Bev

[Mike Byers]

Bev, we're not too far apart and if you'd like to send the piece to me I can blast it and return it to you. Drop me an e-mail at corvos@ravenglass.org; mail only takes a couple of days (most of the time) between here and St. Louis.

[charlie]

there's lots of places that you can find that will do a short blast. it shouldn't take them more than 45 seconds to do this.

autobody shops
high school auto or metal shops
metal fabricators of all kinds (awning makers, metal frame construction, wrought iron gates, etc)

try looking in your yellow pages. call a few places and if they don't do it, ask for their recommendation on where to try.