For the last 6 months or so I been making glass crystal from scratch using just a mixture of raw ingredients and oxides and a couple 2200f furnaces.
Over that time I've made 20-30 different types of glass crystal with a focus on red ruby glass using purple of cassius (purple salt of metallic gold).
In addition to glass making I've been getting into other high temp stuff like forging, fusing, metal casting, and have also started building a tube furnace for general science and chemistry.
I want to get in lamp work, glass blowing and vacuum tube making. I would like to be able to build vacuum tubes such as cathode ray tubes and x-ray tubes. Ideally entirely from scratch (make the glass from scratch along with potentially sintering the tungsten as well.) This may also require a glass lathe, which I can start building when the time comes. For lampwork I would like to use both my own glass and store bought coe matched glass.
Today I would like to order the rest of the stuff to get started in lampwork and glass blowing. I have ordered a 125cf oxygen cylinder and regulators just now.
I'm just a little hesitant on what my first torch should be.
I am thinking of getting the Bravo but would also consider the cricket as well but it's not in stock.
I'm also kinda confused why these torches are so expensive? Not to over simplify it but it's a steel and brass with holes in it and some high temp o-rings. Could a decent torch be made with basic machining equipment such as a small metal lathe and drill press or mill?
So I guess my main questions are...
Would the Bethlehem Bravo be suitable for my purposes? (It appears to be a good general purpose torch for the stuff I have planned, though I've never owned a "real" torch and going into this fairly blind.)
Does anyone have experience making their own torches? or if this is even a viable option?
Are their any cheap options for stainless/chromoly glass blowing tubes or puntys? (They seem to be around $200 online)
Any tools/materials I have overlooked in getting? (So far I have oxy/propane and regulators, furnaces, graphite tools and firebricks, tungsten probes, glass cutting scissors and tweezers, eyeglasses, gloves, vacuum pumps, kiln wash and crucibles.)
Thanks for your time and reading this, any advice appreciated!
-Dan
Vintage Cathode Ray tube (Smaller version of this is what I'd like to make.)
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