Questions about clear and my hothead

Nonie · #1 07-03-2002, 07:59 PM

Hi friends..I have 2 questions tonight

I know this has been covered probly a million times but I just can't understand why all of a sudden I can't seem to work with clear (Morretti). It turns brown and scummy on me. I had plenty of luck in the beginning but now...it's yucky..(to use my technical term for it

) Help!
Also ...is there a spot in the hot head flame that I should stay in and how high should I turn my torch up?
Thanks in a big bunch in advance for reading.

Mike E etc · #2 07-03-2002, 08:22 PM

It may be that you have some of the so called bad batch of clear moretti. I switched to Czech clear several years ago and have not looked back. I also use mostly Czech colors. While there are some bubbles and scratching with the Czech, it is at least consistand with its problems, sorry Heidi.

As to setting the hot head, maybe someone else can help.
Mike E

margaretz · #3 07-03-2002, 09:20 PM

I had a similar problem a few weeks ago. I took apart my hot head as much as I could (nowhere there was a seal) and cleaned it with alcohol and Q-tips. Lots of messy black carbon deposit came off. Though I'm not up on the technical term for it, look at the small hole in the area just where the small bent pipe meets the head of the torch. Make sure its clear. That solved the problem for me... hope this is of some assistance.

b2beads · #4 07-03-2002, 09:50 PM

Well, I'm not on my hothead anymore, but right before I moved to the minor, I switched to bulk propylene and sudden had the scummiest beads. I blamed the hothead/bulk fuel for the problem (easier than blaming myself...) but I think it was 2 things - may or may not apply to you.

1. That nasty batch of clear moretti. I'm using murano now, or only the larger diameter clear moretti rods - but those would be tough on a hothead for sure!)

2. I was getting "better" at beadmaking (relatively speaking, of course) and therefore I was unconsciously doing things a little different. Now that I had the techniques down well enough to work a little faster, I was impatient with how slow it was to melt the glass. I believe that I was unintentionally working too close and/or with the flame too high.

To answer your question, wherever you think you are supposed to be working, force yourself to work another "bead width" further out. And the flame should never be turquoise - only blue. You can vary the flame as you work, of course, so try it a hair smaller than you usually do.

I'd experiment by making just a bunch of clear beads and altering distance and flame length.

If it is in fact that moretti "batch" you have, you can improve it slightly by working even further out and introducing it more slowly, however, on a hothead I don't think you should have that problem!

Good luck - I never solved the problem, just moved to a new torch (any excuse for more toys), however, cleaning may also have helped. (Both torch and rigorous, obsessive/compulsive clear rod cleaning...)

My "real" recommendation? Get some murano, czech or lauscha clear and see what happens...

B2

BlackDotMags · #5 07-03-2002, 10:09 PM

Nooo...don't put the Czech clear over Moretti. I've only tried it with a few Moretti colors, including white, and every one of them cracked. I'd hate to see your heart break, Nonie, from working hard on a bead only to have it destroy itself.

Mike is right about the Czech clear. I use Czech glass almost exclusively now (okay, I'm toying with Bullseye for certain styles of beads) and the Czech clear will make you fall in love with it. It might take you a bit longer to melt it on a Hothead, but trust me, you'll never want to look at Moretti clear again. The visual difference is startling!

On the downside, Czech has varying COE's in it's line which take a lot of getting used to. You have to always think about what you're doing, and not just grab any old rod of color and use it. There are certain kinds of designs I cannot do with Czech because of this issue...hence my use of Bullseye for them.

Someday I'm gonna write a tutorial on the Czech glass. Someday when I get my backside in gear...

Mags

Nonie · #6 07-03-2002, 10:10 PM

Mike E...Could very well be a bad batch ...
I just might have to try Czech

Nonie · #7 07-03-2002, 10:13 PM

Mags...soo if I buy Czech clear, I will have to get some Czech colors? You have me sooo curious about the Czech clear ! Where do u get yours?
Thanks for the post Mags

b2beads · #8 07-03-2002, 10:13 PM

Well, murano and lauscha are compatible with moretti, but a little hard to come by....

Try www.checkglass.com

B2

Nonie · #9 07-03-2002, 10:16 PM

b2beads...you are so helpful.

Quote:

. I was getting "better" at beadmaking (relatively speaking, of course) and therefore I was unconsciously doing things a little different. Now that I had the techniques down well enough to work a little faster, I was impatient with how slow it was to melt the glass. I believe that I was unintentionally working too close and/or with the flame too high.

That's it exactly ..I guess I am getting a little cocky...

Thanks B2

Nonie · #10 07-03-2002, 10:34 PM

Thanks for the advice Margaret. It is sooo darn hot tonight. We are in the middle of a heat wave. Last night I made some beads but it was unbearable. Sooo, since I am not going to use it tonight...this will be the perfect time to clean it.

BlackDotMags · #11 07-03-2002, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Mags...soo if I buy Czech clear, I will have to get some Czech colors? You have me sooo curious about the Czech clear! Where do u get yours?

Well, Nonie, unless you just want to make clear beads...YES! LOL!

Beth has kindly posted the addy to the only Czech glass supplier in the U.S. (www.checkglass.com) (hugging B2)

Jan Burrows owns the biz...super nice guy! Just give him a call and he can hook you up. There's a really nice sample pack that he offers (but get some extra crystal clear, too...you'll want it!)

One thing that just occurred to me is the Czech rods are of varying thicknesses, with no rhyme or reason as to why or which ones. The thickest ones might be tough for your Hothead to handle. Talk to Jan anyway and tell him your situation. Tell him Mag Alef said to give you the thinnest rods he has in each color. If you end up with rods that are too thick to work with, drop me a line and maybe we can do a swap, okay?

If you ever need help with the Czech, just give me a holler.

Mags

Nonie · #12 07-03-2002, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Well, Nonie, unless you just want to make clear beads...YES! LOL!

Well duh Nonie..hahahaha

Mags...you are the best.

Thanks for the help. I truly appreciate it.
What a great group we have here

koala · #13 12-03-2006, 03:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by margaretz

I had a similar problem a few weeks ago. I took apart my hot head as much as I could (nowhere there was a seal) and cleaned it with alcohol and Q-tips. Lots of messy black carbon deposit came off. Though I'm not up on the technical term for it, look at the small hole in the area just where the small bent pipe meets the head of the torch. Make sure its clear. That solved the problem for me... hope this is of some assistance.

Hi there,
I might be a bit behind the times with replying to this email but its now Dec 06 and I've been asking similar questions on a new thread about murky beads using a hot head.

I took my gas bottle back for a refill this week and complained about the way I was getting really dark smokey results with clear glass so wanted to know if the gas might be dirty!!
I was asked if I was running the bottle right down each time I wanted it refilled. Well that might have been part of the problem but I was using Moretti clear (my supplier was still on her original order of clear) so has probably had it in stock for more than 12 months. She also keeps this right inside the (open) front door of the shop with vehicles moving along that street from 7am to late at night every day of the week; no doubt picking up exhaust fumes and dust from the traffic.

I wash all the rods I buy as soon as I get back home and store them in a dust free storage area.

Another suggestion was that I was holding the bead I was making way too low in the flame and 'burning' the glass. That didn't gel - I had the problem early in the bead making but have since found out the correct height and I try to ensure I stay the correct height above the flame. Besides the opaque colours (including white) don't seem to be affected .

WHen I was asked if the gas could be contaminated I recalled that when I first changed to my own re-fillable Primus bottle I couldn't afford the razor gas refill ($40 here in OZ) I had asked if I had it filled with LPG that week would it make any difference later if I switched to the Razor gas the next time I had the bottle refilled - I was told there was no problem with this procedure. (Despite my having passed on the comment from our bead instructor that problems of contamination could occur if loading razor gas into a bottle that had previously held LPG)
When I mentioned the razor/lpg situation the guy said yes he had heard there could be problems! He wanted to know if I emptied the bottle completely before taking it in for a refill. I haven't always done this because when Friday comes around and I've been using a fair amount of the gas that week I've rushed over to get a top-up so that I don't run out over the weekend when they are closed.

So I was asked to drop the hot head and hose in and they'd clean them out for me -
This was duly done and my first beading yesterday was a couple of clear beads (one from each of two rods) - 1st one was really dark grey/brown, 2nd one was a bit clearer and then the 3rd was as clear as crystal - obviously the cleaning process had still left some gunk which appears to have burnt out of the torch or hose now.

I did wonder if my use of the tinfoil wrap around the holes in the torch to give a reduction flame (for the reactive glass effects) but the murky glass was evident way before I bought the kronos, gaia etc.

The gas company fellows had suggested I buy some Shellite and soak the hot head in that to remove any build up of carbon etc. Not sure what they eventually used to clean it because I took the hot head to them rather than go home with the shellite and try to clean it myself.
If it hadn't fixed the problem I asked them if I could swap over to a new bottle so that the ONLY gas I use in it is the razor gas!! They didn't seem to think much of that idea!!!

I'll see what happens next!
Cheers
Koala.
Dec 3rd 06

koala · #14 12-04-2006, 04:32 PM

HI guys,
Yesterday I bought a 2nd primus gas bottle and had that filled with the razor gas - I've been meaning to get the 2nd bottle for some time but this murky clear glass issue forced the purchase!
I've attached a glass bead to the handle of the bottle using fine wore - not in anyone's way, but it lets me know which bottle is the one I use for bead making and which one is solely for razor gas!

The gas supplier manager gave me a discount for all the trouble the wrong info months ago has caused. I'm confident that the original bottle is now clean but will take the hose and HH back there from time to time to get them to clean it thoroughly as this was the main problem with the murky clear glass happening.
I couldn't see that it was the glass as my beadmaking supplier had said no one else was complaining about having murky beads - so either the gas was the problem or I was holding the glass too low in the flame which was buring the glass.

The other tip of allowing the bottle to fully empty before filling again is worth noting - if there is residual gas in the bottle and its only topped up - which was what I was doing so I didn't run out of gas at the weekend - this can also lead to contamination of the gas.
By having this 2nd bottle on hand always, I can let the gas run right down and quickly switch to the spare bottle to finish whatever I am making at the time.

I noticed that ALL the beads I made after the hose/torch/bottle cleaning are brighter and clearer.
Wish I'd had this information months ago - as I would have been a lot happier with the beads I've produced to date.
Cheers
Koala.

koala · #15 12-12-2006, 07:37 AM

Hi folks,

After the gas tank was totally emptied and re-filled with the razor gas and then the hot head and the hoses cleaned out by the Gas co technicians I tried out the clear glass encasing and clear glass beads again.
First couple of clear beads were really sooty looking - but then gradually the test beads (for of them in total) became clearer.

I made a couple of clear beads and decorated them with white dots - then also made a couple of plunged floral beads encased with clear to see what changes might have happened with the thorough clean out of tank/hose etc.

Here are a couple of pictures of these beads -

one is the encased florals
the other is a bead I changed to a tabular bead with layers of white petals with clear encasing between layers, then a round of pale pink petals with no encasing on top, another layer of pale pink and the using fine twist made from rubino and the pale pink to dot the centres of the flowers (one on each side of the tab bead)
I think this is a pretty bead - ideal for a hot summer's day here in OZ!
Reminds me of floating water lily blossoms.
Cheers

Koala.

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