On Wednesday, August 28, 2013 1:28:00 PM UTC-4, Dalibor wrote: > > Why we (pinch seal makers) are not going anywhere? Look to Rodan CD47, > there is also pinch seal.. But it would be definitely better to have > disc shaped stems.. There are companies that produce them, but for > high prices. I will definitely try to build a machine for making flat > stems, but that is far future..
Perhaps I can provide some info. I used to work in a glass factory, where I was one entire department (bead). I'll provide as much info as I can about the processes I performed, and what I know about the other processes. Surplus pill presses (from pharma prototype labs, not the huge machines used for pill production) were fitted with custom dies which were used to form a glass + wax + dye mixture into a raw bead. There was an amazing amount of tolerance for most beads (after all, I was an 18-year-old kid at the time - the mid-1970's). The beads were collected in a hopper. I built the hopper and gizmo to move them into there (and blow off any loose glass) by using microswitches triggered at various points by the up-and-down movement of the press. They operated air valves which would then blow the finished bead off the press platen. This worked well for simple beads (1-hole round, 2- and 3-hole oval), but the more complex ones were made in very short runs (mainly for aerospace companies) and I often moved those by hand, as they would break or deform if just blasted into a hopper). I'd then take the beads from the hoppers and pour them into Inconel mesh baskets and run them through the sintering furnace via conveyor belt. This would evaporate all of the wax and slightly melt the glass, fusing each bead into a solid unit. I don't remember the temperature the furnace, but it was dependent on the glass formulation used, anyway. I'd measure some random beads for QC and then bag them up for transport to the seal facility about 20 blocks away. With 3 presses running, I could produce several 1-lb bags per day, each countaining thousands of beads. At the seal division, other workers would take the beads (from me and outside suppliers), metal leads, and (if needed) other metal parts and position them in carbon-block forms. These forms would have a grid of anywhere from a dozen to hundreds of complete seals. These were run through a furnace which was fueled by hydrogen gas. The beads would completely melt and flow around the wire leads and other metal parts. After cooling, they would then be removed from the forms, inspected and packaged up to send to customers. I'll see if I can find any of the stuff I took when I left that job - I have a box full of assorted completed seals, a clear plastic resin block with some of the company's most popular products, and one of the carbon forms. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/d5759d56-d017-44a2-b5c8-709b40d84a91%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
