Mike Firth
09-25-2007, 02:14 AM
I scrounged a popcorn popper cart from the side of the road because it looked interesting and I could use the pot and the wheels if nothing else worked.
It turned out the only thing wrong with any of the parts was that a critical gear for stirring the popcorn was missing - motor, light and pot worked. Since I had no desire to go into the popcorn business or store the thing, I stripped it down.
And thus we get to the three glass panels around the pot that hold the popped corn for serving (along with Plexiglas doors)
Tonight I need a rectangle of single strength glass to photograph through and support stuff in front of it. For various reasons, I want to take 1.5 inches off the side. I get out my trusty glass cutting tools, my big flat board that I use for cutting (then put away to avoid mixing glass bits and ??)
I use one of my diamond scoring tools and make a lovely scratch and set up to pop the scratch across a rod. Lean on it - nothing. Apply pliers. Not much. Get out my C-clamp tensioner - nice cracking sound.
And the line snakes across the glass in lovely S curves that if it were a road, I would be looking for a sports car to drive it. The last time I saw something like this it was when the hot blast of a fire hit frozen cold window glass in our house fire.
I tried a couple of more breaks and got some really interesting pieces.
I switched to a carbide wheel and got hardly a scratch. Moved over an inch and leaned on it while pulling and got something not worth talking about.
So what is the glass? Not marked as tempered and certainly didn't shatter. Heat resistant? Surface tempered by some process? I am working at night so won't have the polarized light of the sun to look at the glass until tomorrow.
It turned out the only thing wrong with any of the parts was that a critical gear for stirring the popcorn was missing - motor, light and pot worked. Since I had no desire to go into the popcorn business or store the thing, I stripped it down.
And thus we get to the three glass panels around the pot that hold the popped corn for serving (along with Plexiglas doors)
Tonight I need a rectangle of single strength glass to photograph through and support stuff in front of it. For various reasons, I want to take 1.5 inches off the side. I get out my trusty glass cutting tools, my big flat board that I use for cutting (then put away to avoid mixing glass bits and ??)
I use one of my diamond scoring tools and make a lovely scratch and set up to pop the scratch across a rod. Lean on it - nothing. Apply pliers. Not much. Get out my C-clamp tensioner - nice cracking sound.
And the line snakes across the glass in lovely S curves that if it were a road, I would be looking for a sports car to drive it. The last time I saw something like this it was when the hot blast of a fire hit frozen cold window glass in our house fire.
I tried a couple of more breaks and got some really interesting pieces.
I switched to a carbide wheel and got hardly a scratch. Moved over an inch and leaned on it while pulling and got something not worth talking about.
So what is the glass? Not marked as tempered and certainly didn't shatter. Heat resistant? Surface tempered by some process? I am working at night so won't have the polarized light of the sun to look at the glass until tomorrow.