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Re: glass training for lamp manufacturing

Posted By: Gavin
Date: Tuesday, 1 August 2006, at 9:53 a.m.

In Response To: glass training for lamp manufacturing (Geert van Mol)

> For Glass technical training and assistance
> in lamp/lighting manufacturing. Dealing with
> glass properties for soft, hard and
> quartzglass, burners and mixers, combustion,
> neon-incandescent-fluorescent-discharge-energy
> saving etc.

Wow! You want to do it all!Normally you are trained in soft glass for neon manufacture. Scientific glassblowers are trained in hard and soft glass - each is its own specialisation. But, many scientific glassblowers move to neon for various reasons and are brilliant!If you are in Europe then you can go to a European school of neon and learn soda glass working on a single headed cannon burner ( i did the Masonlite course 20 years ago), it wont make you brilliant but will give you the basics to work on. From all soda on a cannon burner to lead glass on a ribbon burner is a breeze - itll teach you how to manufacture without using the bench at all, or bending aids like my pet hate the bending block.
Scientific glassblowing is a different apprenticeship all together, but with the basics in soda, understanding strain and annealing, and a bit of extra effort you can grasp boroscillicate and possibly quartz ( havent tried quartz). A couple of days spent with an accomplished scientific blower will give you many tips to practise with. But, it takes many years of practise with a certain type of glass to be able to make accurate flange type fittings etc. What i have outlayed above is pretty much my experience and how ive learnt, but bottom line is that if you can learn the hardest part first then its easier to go down the list than up. So if you want to do it all, then learn scientific and move to neon, itll give you all the grounding you need and the transition should be almost painless.No short cuts here though, id say 5 - 10 years and all your work should display a fluidity rather than something thats been forced around a pattern.
Good luck!!!

Gavin

Messages In This Thread

• glass training for lamp manufacturing -- Geert van Mol -- Tuesday, 25 July 2006, at 2:58 p.m.
  • Re: glass training for lamp manufacturing -- Gavin -- Tuesday, 1 August 2006, at 9:53 a.m.
    • Re: glass training for lamp manufacturing -- Geert van Mol -- Monday, 7 August 2006, at 10:00 a.m.

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