Speaking of cullet

[Pringle Teetor]

We ordered a ton but I'm not sure the date on the bags is the same as your Jordan. I'll have to check..... I took out probably 30-40 pieces in 2 bags.....

[Pete VanderLaan]

At a certain point, they have to know they're shipping it.

[Alexander Adams]

Looked at the images once.
Then I reread "shipping" twice because I thought I saw a couple t's.

Time for someone over there to be promoted to damage control/customer relations czar.

[Pete VanderLaan]

I'm just at "wow". You guys may need a lawyer here.

[Eben Horton]

You got the whole spectrum of things you can find in your glass !

[Glenn Randle]

I'd save up for a furnace that will get hot enough for batch.

[Pete VanderLaan]

To me, the question is somewhat complex. I can certainly see a product being shipped that is defective and the company would make the claim that their liability is limited to replacement cost of the product. I however also seems to me that once the company becomes aware that they are making defective product to the point where it's usage will result in additional defective product down the food chain, AND it then knowingly ships the same stuff, then it strikes me the arena of negligence has been entered. negligence is a much bigger issue.

Any of these consumers have lost time, fuel, labor costs, potentially clients because of the defect which is real and obvious. I would be interested in what a lawyer would have to say about that.

It's not just the wire melter people melting this because they have to, there are lots and lots of people who simply find it to be convenient. Bad things can happen if you make your own glass as well, or if you use a commercial batch. We can all make mistakes. The question becomes what we do after the mistake is discovered.

[Tom Fuhrman]

this may be a stupid question, but, has anyone actually seen the production setup that Spectrum has for producing this cullet? There may be flaws in the equipment and production. When I was at Spectrum many years ago, they didn't have the facilities to produce this in their factory in Woodinsville.
SP has had production problems due to equipment/production failures and this may be the same case.

[Jon Myers]

The rods are made at Uraboros but of remelted spectrum glass (maybe they also remelt some of their own too but it is at least in large part spectrum.)

[Pete VanderLaan]

Tom really stayed on the case of any impurities that might get into the glass and you could easily see it coming past the last refractory wall. His problem is really quite different at this point and it has more to do with how much volume they can actually make compared to how much they thought they would be able to make. I have heard that Spectrum ladles the glass out for this stuff but I don't know that. My point is that if there are runs for various people and they all have the same production dates on the bags, that's one thing. If the stones are in substantially more production runs than just one, or even several, that's quite another. If it's a continuous problem, figure out a new supply. If you are being shipped stuff that could make your finished product check and possibly cause actual damage to someone or something, um... that's an issue too.

I agree with Alex that they would do well coming clean publicly about what is going on and how they have dealt with it, if they have.

[Glenn Randle]

Too bad it can't be outsourced to a float glass plant. They melt 100 tons per day, per furnace, and the quality is good. It's just the wrong recipe. They could probably make enough cullet in a week or two for all the glass blowers in the US.

[Michael Ahlefeldt-Laurvig]

It is comparable to making thousands of seconds because of bubbles or stones in color rods/grit- there was never a way to get compensated, Yes I know Pete will say that you should make your own color, but the internet is relatively new.

[Pete VanderLaan]

Not really Michael. The quality of offhand american glass is not very good. It's mostly work that's been loaded up with frit to hide bubbles as a design. I tell people to consider making their own color because it makes their colors different and it costs a fraction of the price of rod.

Having stones that will cause checks in your base clear glass is simply dangerous and unacceptable if you're paying close to a dollar a lb for it. Being helpless to correct the sourcing problem is far worse.

So, I'd say make your own clear.

[Art Freas]

Went through some of mine yesterday. The 2 4/3/15 bags were ok but there was a November bag that was really bad. Wil probably check more of the 4/3/15 bags as most of my stock right now is that date. Curious is all the 96 marked as lot D? That is all I seem to have.

[Pete VanderLaan]

2-6-15, 3-21-15, 4-3-15, 11-14, That's four dates about five months apart. Some less than a month. Pringle, get your dates.

[Pringle Teetor]

2/6/15 lot B

[Pringle Teetor]

When we first started using nuggets 9 years ago I never saw bubbles in the nuggets. Now they are full of bubbles. Just wondering......

[Pete VanderLaan]

Originally Posted by Pringle Teetor

we first started using nuggets 9 years ago I never saw bubbles in the nuggets. Now they are full of bubbles. Just wondering......

**********
It has always struck me that the chemical reaction was not completed in the nuggets which was why the stuff was gassing off in electric furnaces and doing damage to any fireclays or silica laden refractories. So, I would have been surprised to hear it didn't have bubbles back then. Brown is not a common color for an unmelted batch additive but it is certainly a color I might expect from some refractories that are iron rich.

This is essentially showing that the defects are in every month but december & january. That's a lot of defects to be shipping.

[Eben Horton]

Might be time for spectrum to rebuild their furnace. Stay tuned for epic panic when there is zero cullet available.

[Jordan Kube]

They have two furnaces so they can accommodate rebuilds.

[Eben Horton]

That's good to hear.

[Pete VanderLaan]

Originally Posted by Jordan Kube

They have two furnaces so they can accommodate rebuilds.

*******
That would not explain the current situation if that's really the case.

[Tom Fuhrman]

Originally Posted by Jordan Kube

They have two furnaces so they can accommodate rebuilds.

are those dedicated cullet furnaces or used for other purposes as well?

[Pringle Teetor]

I emailed Spectrum today with pictures..... not expecting a reply

[Jeremy Griffith]

I had a pallet of some really bad nuggets as well. They were very dusty, about 15 lbs of dust per bag and the nuggets were almost white and very hazy. When I would melt the stuff I had huge snotty clear chunks that wouldn't melt and the biggest cords I have ever seen. I thought my furnace got old over night or something, I mean I get the occasional cord but this was unreal some of these chunks of unmeltable stuff would be a 1/4" thick rock. Anyways I melted two runs from another pallet and my glass was normal again then tried another bag of the old stuff and boom they were back.
I talked to Phil and they replaced the glass with a new pallet that had about 700 lbs from the same run. So I just made the switch to the 2.0 nuggets, I will wash the pot this weekend and start the 2.0 next week. Hope this solves the problems. I will post some images and the melt date later, its all down in the shop.