Hi KB3BYT,
What type of vacuum do you plan on using?
If using a high vacuum (strong), drilling a mason jar (unless done by a scientific glass blower) would weaken the integrity of the jar & could lead to an implosion!!!
A weak vacuum (generated by most vacuum sealing machine) is much safer.
Get a new mason jar from a scientific supplier, they will say if it is borosilicate glass or soda lime glass. Boro glass can be flame worked with any boro tubing, but soda lime (soft) glass comes in a variety of COE (between about 95 to 104 COE) & unless you have the same type of soft glass, the end produce will crack when cooled.
Suitable metals for sealing with boro are tungsten, molybdenum & fernico alloys.
For soft glass – copper, platinum, nickel & fernichrone alloys.
If you are using a weak vacuum & you can drill the jar (there are several methods – do a google search), I suggest using Araldite with any glass tube (boro or soft) in the hole. Use single core copper wire & Araldite it in the tube.
I don’t want to discourage your entry into lampworking, but what you want to do is advanced. Start by bending glass tubing, then make a ‘T’ join. Look in Google for ‘beginning scientific glass blowing’ for ideas.
Good luck, Peter
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