Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Quartz Tubes on Ebay

Eclectic - 9-5-2007 at 08:47

Look good for DIY tube furnace:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=22010...

Magpie - 9-5-2007 at 09:40

That's not a bad price. Do you happen to know the upper temperature limit for quartz?

Eclectic - 9-5-2007 at 09:53

1200 C

vulture - 9-5-2007 at 13:12

You need a working temperature, though. Doesn't quarz become soft at 1200C?

Eclectic - 9-5-2007 at 13:45

That's what Quartztech gives as the maximum USE temperature.

So as long as you use Nichrome or Kanthal heating elements, you probably don't have to worry about the tube deforming.

You might need to use oxy-acetylene and graphite formers to work the ends though...

Fleaker - 9-5-2007 at 16:37

I know it doesn't fuse till 1700C. I bet it can be used higher than 1200C too. I'd check to make sure it's really quartz, not some other high temp glass spin-off, like Vycor.

Waffles - 13-5-2007 at 17:04

Quote:
Originally posted by Eclectic
That's what Quartztech gives as the maximum USE temperature.

So as long as you use Nichrome or Kanthal heating elements, you probably don't have to worry about the tube deforming.

You might need to use oxy-acetylene and graphite formers to work the ends though...


Graphite certainly helps forming, but you CAN work quartz with any oxyflame. I prefere oxy-MAPP because you get a lot more BTUs in a more diffuse flame than oxyacetylene, which is good for quartz. Also, oxyacetylene is dirtier, all sorts of hydrocarbons and crap spewing out of there- just about any application where oxyacetylene is preferable to oxy-MAPP, oxyhydrogen is preferable to oxyacetylene, if that makes sense.
Oxyhydrogen is great, you feel like the god of flame when you can suddenly melt anything (and I really mean just about anything)...

alancj - 16-6-2007 at 18:21

I got one.

23.5 inches, the wall has a kind of wavy shape to it. The tube itself is straight, but if you draw your hand across it you can definitely feel "rings" of a wider narrower wider narrower pattern. I don’t think it would be a problem.

Not sure what I'll do with it yet, but they are cheap...

A few scuff marks and needs a good cleaning with a long brush and soap. I got it pretty quick and in one piece, so I'm happy with the purchase!

-Alan

Quartz tube 23.5 inch.jpg - 172kB

alancj - 16-6-2007 at 18:28

You can sort of see the wavy diameter in this picture.

Quartz tube waves.jpg - 173kB

Organikum - 17-6-2007 at 07:23

I had tubes from an electric radiation heaters liberated from a trashbin and they were for free and worked just fine. The nice thing was they came with the heating wire which I just pulled from the inside and wrapped around the the outside. Shortening them a bit and employing a dimmer made them hotter and covering them with some homemade furnace cement (mainly consisting of magnesium oxide IIRC, recipe pulled from some ancient inorganic chemistry textbook) made them resistant against excessive oxidation by the oxygen in the air. Never had one burn out.

Just as an idea how to make this cheap in special if you live somewhere where a lot of useful things get thrown away. As in Germany. Now I am living in an east european country where the people historically are professional dumpster divers. How I miss the german trash, sigh... ;)