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Custom Glass Tubes - Fabricators?

mightylittle™

I know what you're thinking. But not that kind of tube.

I'm building a custom wine racking system based on a series of vertical glass tubes. Each tube has a stack of holes punched through where the bottles sit horizontally. The holes are alternating between typical wine bottle dimensions and magnum sized bottles.

At the top and bottom of each tube will be a stainless steel "cap" which will hold an mr-16, or possibly an LED if I can find the right one, lighting the whole affair from top and bottom.

All told, there are 5 of these tubes, and they follow a curved wall of glass which encloses the wineroom where these things will go.

Anyone know of a glass fabricator who might be able to pull this off? Preferably one in California, or the West Coast at least.

I've got a handful of sources looking into it...but it occurred to me just now to ask the 'nect.

-ml



 
May 18, 07 5:45 pm
mightylittle™

here's a quick image from the schematics...isometric at the top, elevation lower left and plan view lower right.

-ml

May 18, 07 5:46 pm  · 
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KEG

maybe try

Future Glass Co.
529 N Victory Blvd
Burbank, CA 91502
(818) 842-9629

they mostly do storefronts and residential, but might have an idea for you.

on a side note...
won't the MR-16 be too hot/ close to the bottles? Don't you have to use LED's or have the light source further away for appropriate wine storage temp? It's hard to see from the rendering. Just wondering…

May 18, 07 6:04 pm  · 
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mightylittle™

the pucks will be in the plenum above the top cap, and possibly below the floor in the bottom one. looking for some diffusion.

the tubes aren't sealed, so probably no worries on the temperature gain.

don't have to use LED's, but i think i'd prefer too actually, depends on the spec. the lights aren't really the concern at this point...

thanks for the tip though. i'll check them out.

if they do mostly storefronts they probably will not be able to this...but they might know someone. maybe a glass artist?


someone told me also that getting the interior space of the tubes tempered might not be possible. something about how the tempering only affects the outer surfaces...but i don't know enough about that process.

May 18, 07 6:09 pm  · 
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KEG

do you need the glass wall too...or just the tubes?

May 18, 07 6:22 pm  · 
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mightylittle™

just the tubes...the glass wall/enclosure is by someone else.

May 18, 07 6:23 pm  · 
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KEG

I just emailed you...

May 18, 07 6:29 pm  · 
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mightylittle™

here's a better rendering...the little pipsqueak above was from the schematic set. this was from the presentation set...



they'll need to go all the way to the ceiling though. otherwise, no way to get the power to the light in the top.

i don't know. we have a couple of alternatives that don't involve the tubes...but, no pun intended, we think the tubes are dope.

May 18, 07 6:52 pm  · 
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mightylittle™

this from the way in...no floor though...you get the idea. i'll stop posting now.



the tubes in question are on the left side of the door when you walk in.

May 18, 07 6:53 pm  · 
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KEG

ok...if it is round, it cannot be tempered and the holes that hold the bottle necks would have to have a grommet or gasket of some sort- or the glass will crack.

the only way to make this round is to make it out of acrylic (Lucite or something). Then it can be the right shape and have the clean holes w/out the need of a grommet. This might look 80's cheesy.

you can contact Plastic Depot to see if they will do it...
2907 N San Fernando Blvd
Burbank, CA 91504
(818) 843-3030

The best way to do it is to make the form square or rectangular so that single (tempered-flat) pieces of glass can be butt jointed (held by small brackets) and the holes will not have to have grommets (because it's tempered).



maybe someone has a better solution...that’s all I got!

May 18, 07 6:56 pm  · 
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treekiller

acrylic will be cheaper, quicker, and lighter. 2nd on plastic depot for a source.

if those are fabricated in glass, you'll need to temper them too.

May 18, 07 7:17 pm  · 
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mightylittle™

yeah, but acrylic/lucite just looks so, well, plastic! and in this case, we're not worried about the speed, weight or cost. the client's spending like, $100k on the wineroom(s) alone. there are 2 of them.

i don't know what the technical process is behind tempering - why can't they be tempered if they're round?

either way, we were prepared to tweak the design to match the fabrication limitations...so here we are.

thanks for the help though...if i get a chance i'll dig up the rendering of one of the alternates and see what y'all think.

-ml

May 18, 07 7:27 pm  · 
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treekiller

it's not that round tubes can't be tempered, but that adds significantly to the cost. my guess is that each tube will cost upwards of $5k each, maybe in the range of $10k each by the time they are installed. the limitations to tempering are the size of the ovens, they may not fit pieces that aren't flat.

if you don't mind a little funk, maybe you can find a dale chuhuli wanna be glass artist to fabricate them instead of a glass shop.

May 18, 07 7:36 pm  · 
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KEG

this is my understanding of why you can't temper it....

you can't cut the holes in it after it is tempered because it will crack. so, you would have to cut the holes in a flat piece of glass then heat it over a form and cool it immediately (thus tempering it). Sounds great, but with all the holes, the surface tension created by the form, coupled with the holes in the glass, will cause it to crack when cooled quickly (in said form).

acrylic would be perfect, but I think it will look cheap.

what I would do is use an aluminum channel, set into both the floor and the ceiling, and use a piece of 3/8" tempered glass (with holes) that runs the full span. Use two 8"wide (?) sheets that are set the aforementioned way, parallel to one-another, and about 6"(?) apart (whatever dim. needed to accommodate the wine bottle). Then float the wine bottle in the middle. Make sense?

Then you will have two floating floor-to-ceiling spans per vertical row of bottles. The channel can be set into the flooring finish and ceiling drywall- so it will really look like it's floating. for a square or rectangle, you can basically do the same thing, but butt joint the additional 2 sides. Look at CRL for a system.

Also, Crista Curva does curved glass...might want to contact them...
http://www.cristacurva.com

May 18, 07 7:58 pm  · 
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KEG

oh yeah...and when all else fails (or you don't understand something) go to Wikipedia...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toughened_glass

the great scholarly reference for all-lol

May 18, 07 8:01 pm  · 
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strlt_typ

the first thing that came to mind are those cylindrical glass aquariums...there are companies who are equipped to customize. might be worth looking in to.

for example... fishtank (ignore the shitty website look)...these guys can do custom sizes by emailing them details of the glass tube...

May 19, 07 1:43 am  · 
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mightylittle™

thanks dammson, that's an interesting idea. they actually (from my brief scan of their site) buid those tanks from two 1/2 cylinders with a sealed bottom.

i wonder if the 1/2 cylinders were cut to have matching half-circles would work out once they were lined up. especially if i used a stainless steel grommet at the connections.

hmmm...i wouldn't mind the look of the grommets at all actually...and the seam between the two halves might not be all that visible.

think they go to 8" diameter or so??




May 19, 07 2:13 am  · 
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KEG

you'll have to check if the grommets can be steel, aluminum, etc. (hard material) because they might have to be rubber for flexibility... and to absorb the glass (wine bottle) when it hits the rim of the tube.

May 19, 07 12:35 pm  · 
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