(34) The shop, managed by Jaap de Graaf, has five lathe stations mostly for creating scientific and art glass pieces. A simple, but clever cooling rack sits on the table in the foreground. [ View Picture ]
(35) Two of the shops four ovens. These ovens mostly used for
annealing small pieces. On top of the oven on the right are a set of spirals
that the shop routinely makes on the lathes for medical purposes. (And
that would be our friend Dirk Boonstra in the background.)
[ View Picture ]
(36) The compact, stainless steel manifold. Note the 'ball' shaped
stopcocks.
[View Picture ]
(37) The primary annealing oven for neon units at the shop. The
oven is quite deep, is heated by coils on the inner side walls and has
movable rods that the glass rests on. When large, curved units are needed,
blocks are stacked in the oven to create the appropriate curve. Long pieces
of glass are laid over the blocks and the oven is heated. As the heat rises,
the glass bends and sags to fit the curve, thus producing a seamlessly
bent curve.
[ View Picture ]