Home made glass crusher?

I don't know what is a "large amount", I guess that's all in the eye of the beholder.

When I needed frit, I fired up the gas BBQ and got a bucket of cold water. I laid the glass on the grill and heated it for a few minutes, then using a pair of tongs, dropped it into the bucket of cold water. Wah-la, frit. All different sizes.

Ha! Used to make cracked marbles sorta that way...heat them up in a pan of boiling water then pour them into ice water. We kids sure had fun back then and to think...we didn't have video games or watch much TV!!

Andy

You can make frit several different ways. In all cases, be sure to wear proper protective eye wear and take all necessary precautions such as using a dust mask and gloves.

1) Heat up glass in a torch or kiln and plunge it into water. The hotter the glass the smaller the frit. You will have to gently crush it to separate the fractured glass.

2) Cut small pieces of glass and break them up in a hand held coffee grinder. Gently shake up and down. The longer you grind, the finer the frit.

3) Wrap the glass in cloth and crush it with a hammer.

4) Place the glass in a metal cylinder that has a bottom and crush it with a metal plunger that fits the cylinder tightly.

5) Run glass through an old garbage disposal that has been removed from the sink and secured to a stout table.

6) Use a ball mill. This is the most expensive tool and least easiest to find, but it gives the finest grind - all the way down to a very fine powder if so desired.

7) Use a mortar and pestle. This tool is best used to make large frit into smaller frit.

Any time you break up glass, the surface of the tool that comes in contact with the glass can abrade and then be mixed in with the frit. A large magnet can remove most of the iron containing contaminants. You do not necessarily need to worry about the small amount of contaminants, as some applications with frit won't show them anyway.

Some of the described methods will produce a variety of frit sizes simultaneously while others tend to produce the same size frit. You can sift the finished frit through different size screens.

Once the coffee grinder or garbage disposal are used on glass they are worthless for their original design, but will last for many hours of frit making. TexGEOas

Thanks all for your comments and suggestions.

Scott

Wah-la, frit.

Voila...... It's French, and I know how much you like to be correct Moon...

I'm boycotting France these days.

Dude, I'm gonna save you from the rebuttal, by giving you a definition.

If you say/write it in Georgia, its got to show the accent, hence, Wah-la. and it's not french anymore, it's been acquired into a southern dialect.

Aren't we all? .......those bastards.

What did they ever do to you?

A better question would be what did France ever do for me? For a country that had their sorry asses bailed out not once, but twice, by our GI's, they have amazingly short memories.

Pastry and Fries....