ammonium chloride (sal ammoniac)

Your friends there should have been able to order the block ?

Seems to me, very long time ago, different state of mind then, we made a thick paste and put it in a part we had already, square shape thing , you could do it with a tube and a dowel I would think. We used an "arbor press", (we were on a farm with a small machine shop in the barn), filled the hollow as much as we could and the pushed the "Ram" in forcing water out and packing the stuff in rather tight. When we couldn't get any more in, we let it dry, couple of days later it slid out of the form. Sometimes it worked better than other times.

Your going to have to play with this one..use your imagination on how to pack it into a form.

Small steel container, fill it up, put a board over the top and run over it with your car, keep doing that until no more will go in. just a thought.

Why don't you try sprinkling a layer of the crystals on a pad made from a wet paper towel and wiping the hot iron tip across it? Try dampening the crystals just slightly (spritz with a spray bottle?)

My SalAmmoniac block gives off "grit" when I use it, sometimes I catch that grit and put it on a wet sponge in the iron holder. It adds just enough "abrasive" with the sponge to keep the tip just right.

As cheap as sal ammoniac bars are why not have someone in the states send you one. They will last you till you give up stained glass or die. I've had the same one for over 15 years and there's probably 50 years left on it.

Andy

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

A wet sponge is all you will need. My motto is to use as little chemicals in life as possible. I have to be near death to take a Tylenol.

yeab but you're still out there climbing ladders.....

Scratch

Glassman wrote:

You in the right profession? About every stained glass guy I have ever met has abused something sometime, you must be the exception.....splains alot.

Past is excluded.... I don't remember the 60's... ; )

I totally agree with you. and yes, stay as far away from Tylenol as possible! All of my pharmacy colleagues wouldn't take parsetamol on a bet!

speaking of chemicals...my very first stained glass mentor died of cancer at a very early age (in his mid-40s) and after working with glass for 4 years, i too developed cancer...i was lucky to have caught it in time...but what about the rest of you...have any of you been really ill and can you see a link between our glass work and the illness?

i'm trying to find a very good exhaust fan/ventilator for my studio these days... right now, the weather is warm and windows and doors are open...but what's going to happen in the cold months? i have time so i'm investigating the options here.

I know there are filtering devices on the market back in the US...but i don't know if that's the route to go or can i do better by rigging some kind of device that will get the fumes out in all seasons...i'd like NOT to get cancer again if i can help it!!

arlene

Glassman wrote:

Ammonium Chloride (NH4CI), inorganic, colorless crystal component that is s oluble in water. It comes from the reaction of hydrochloric acid and ammoni a. The ammonium chloride is available in best quality and used in various m anufacturing industries. It is basically used in cleansing products, plywoo d glue, pyrotechnics, cough medicine, flavor food industries, shampoo, as e lectrolyte, as antispasmodic, as component in metalwork.