Cane Pickup plate

[Scott Young]

Trying to build a "makeshift" pickup plate for cane (smaller marble work, vases, paperweights).

I've got a Steinert iron cane marver and would like to figure out a way to heat it from underneath. I do not have a front load annealer or a "clamshell" type and cannot build anything at this time (due to current health reasons - throat/tongue cancer and undergoing radiation/chemo).

So, any quick & dirty ideas? Or a fairly inexpensive clamshell available anywhere?

Thanks

[Dan Ellis]

Clamp it up on a make-shift lab stand with a reil burner or a couple of bunsen burners under it.

[Allan Gott]

2 burner hot plate, cranked

hit it briefly with a torch if necessary before rolling/picking up

[Scott Young]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Allan Gott
[B]2 burner hot plate, cranked

Would electric burner plates work? or should I try to find gas?

[Rick Sherbert]

I do what Allan suggested with 2 electric hot plates and the steinert cane marver. Hit it with a torch some before the pickup and you're good to go. Works for me. Many other ways to do it. Your mileage may vary...

BTW, I think that cane marver is aluminium. Had a student melt one in the glory once.

[Jordan Kube]

They make both aluminum and steel versions. A gas double burner works well.

[Barb Sanderson]

Dan Buchacher has a sweet setup where he puts the plate inside a BBQ and just attaches a torch to heat the interior. I think he's able to pick up moderate size cane within 20-30 minutes.

Barb

[Dan Buchacher]

I used one of those $88 home depot stainless steel propane grills, without any added insulation. I stripped out the propane burner stuf inside, drilled a large hole in one end, mounted a aprox 2 inch pipe stub on the outside. Your standard shop Exact torch body fits over the stub and just sits there and blows right into the grill. When you need the torch, you can stil luse it any time, and then just hang it back on the grill. A Steinert marver inside with cane laid out will heat up enough for pickup in about 10-15 minutes. I found that with a little trial and error, it is easy to get it to about 900-1000F without any other thermal controls than the torch dial, and does not get much hotter than those temps You cant fuse cane or murrini with it , but it sure is a alternative doing the pastorelli thing in and out of the glory hole, with all the ways you can tip the layout into the glory hole, tag the door, melt the cane to the plate, etc. For me, it is best to remove all those possible ways to kill my piece out of the picture

Hope you have a speedy recovery Scott

[David Patchen]

So you just want the cane warm enough to pick up, but not fused, right? If so, all these approaches sound good. I pre-heat all my pickups on kilnshelf in an annealer set at 1000 before they get forked into the glory hole. While I'm fusing everything before I pick it up, it would be possible to just open the annealer and roll the bubble on a ridged plate with cane.

If you're not fusing the cane, you don't need a clamshell. Run any old annealer at 1000 and you should be able to pick up cane on a bubble at these temps. Beware of heating any further than this *from the bottom* if you want to fuse. Fusing cane and murrine is best done by heating the glass, not the plate.

[Mark Wilson]

i use an electric double burner buffet range, cranked, with my steel cane marver. i made an insulated lid which helps to get the temperature up quicker. if i use the lid, no preheating with a torch is required, however i often use a torch especially if i want to pick up large pieces.

[Mark Wilson]

here is a picture of the lid

[Ted Trower]

I've seen pick-up done out of a top loading annealer. They just stacked bricks to raise the level of the plate until it was just under the lid.

[Allan Gott]

Originally posted by Mark Wilson
buffet range

........that's what I'm calling it from now on ;)

These things are also handy for powder pickups if you're looking for really heavy layers.

Set your buffet range inside the powder booth with a large steel plate on top. Hot powder sticks good!

[Scott Young]

Thanks all!

Looks like I'll be making a stop at wally world (Walmart) for a "buffet" burner... :D

[Shaun Graves]

Forget Wally world. Try harbor freight. The best India has to offer.

[Richard Huntrods]

There's a good Salton 2-burner electric hot plate that's about $25 new - sold almost everywhere. Often found on sale. Works great.

-R

[Rosanna Gusler]

thrift store. rosanna

[Dave Bross]

Dan's outfit works great, we got to see it in action at Barb's over the holidays.

I'm also a "buffet range" kind of guy personally. This will horrify many, but I lay a piece of frax on top of everything to keep the heat in.

[Paul Thompson]

Wouldn't heating the top of the canes be preferable to heating the bottom? Granted, point "A" is only a quarter inch from point "B". I've had less than ideal luck rolling up off a hot plate. Much better luck when rolling up canes that have been torched.

[Mark Wilson]

Originally posted by Paul Thompson
Wouldn't heating the top of the canes be preferable to heating the bottom? Granted, point "A" is only a quarter inch from point "B". I've had less than ideal luck rolling up off a hot plate. Much better luck when rolling up canes that have been torched.

sometimes i torch on top as as well, but the insulated lid over my pickup plate, helps a lot so that i do not have to torch. when i work solo, it is handy to be able to set out 2 or more patterns on the hot plate, and just go pick them up without lots of extra steps.

[Dan Buchacher]

Yes, you are right Paul, for all these various cane pickup oven concepts, ideally you would want the cane heated from the top down rather than the other way around, the hotplate or grill or whatever you use gets them to a good overall temperature bottoms up, but then it really does help to have your assistant torch the top surfaces right before pickup to really ensure the mating surface is hot. Or roll up with a fresh super-hot gather. Marks insulated cover is a good idea

If you try to heat them too much from the bottom, you can get the cane stuck to the plate, which gets quite exciting when you find the grooved marver is rolling up onto your bubble with your cane. Not that that has ever happened to me personally of course

[Pete VanderLaan]

I do both. I start my pickups with a gas hot plate and then hit it all with an exact torch just before the pickup. Hot fresh gathers tend to get junk in the mix too often. Since I work alone, I have the cane marver next to the furnace and I heat the piece in the furnace with one hand and torch with the other. This works really well for me since I tend to really only do dichroic pickups with as many as thirty pieces getting picked up in several layers. If the reheat was in the gloryhole, it gets too hot and the dichro burns off.