trying to save a buck on glass tubes

[FRIENDinDEED]

ok my DIY mind is working feverishly and i want to take one of those large straight tube vases ive seen at target and micheal, to see whether or not i could cut the bottom off of one of em and rig it as a cool tube. the cool tube i have now is oneof those hurricane style glass tubes from micheal.

the vases i am taking about are pretty thick though, if memmory serves me correctly about 2/8' or 1/2" thick glass, about $25 if you happen by , you can take a peek.

i knwo it can be done but fact of the matter is how to do it? what tools would i need? should i take it to some place special to have it cut? what buisnesses have that tyoe of eqiupment to cut a glass tube, who can i talk to about it?

i wanna go to the next level with my grow, as far as size and quality, and this would help greatly

 

[ackuric]

whats wrong with a pyrex back-a-round? 15-20$ on ebay with shipping, is 4 inches in diameter and about 15 inches long. I think this is ultimately the best approach, its even tempered glass, the glass you're looking at probably isnt.

 

[la resistance]

1/2 inch thick glass is going to make a considerable dent in the amount of light making it out of that cool tube, i'd stick with the hurricane glass or a bake-a-round

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

biggest problem is i cant find the bake-a-rounds anywhere. everytime i call a company about them, no one ever knows what im talking about. i went toa county fair a while qgo, and one guy did tell me that they dont make them anymore.

it must be specific to a certin region, cause they arent anywhere up north near the tri state, thats for damned sure. what company makes them?

la resistance - i understand what your sayin about the hurricanes, but i want to try and move away from that concave shaped glass (you are talking about the hurricanes glass vase from MICHEALS right?)

bondjamesbond- i gues it would be, but i want to do it DIY b4 i get to that step. i have made countless things DIY, that can stand the test of time, so for me i can stay away from the $99 +ship/handl. by doing my best to get it done myself

ackuric- dont wanna be bothered with setting up the acct. and all that. i am very leery about ordering things online because at some point you have to give some part of your identity online, and i honeslty never liked the whole "shopping online" thing anyway, so you can just imagine how its been ever since i started growing. when i shop its all cash and very minimal conversation with anyone, in and out. i did the math and the only problem i would ever have while growing is security (plant care/ seeds ive got taken care of already)

if anything i think there were thinner glass vases at micheals, but would it be more along the lines of cutting glass? is it any different than cutting regular sheets of glass, maybe just gotta be more careful? is there a guide i can use to steady the cut?

 

[terrapin]

yo dude. chill- they're all over ebay: http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=pyrex+bake+a+round&category0=

as for the tube design look in the DIY lik-o-rama, there's a few designs for them there

good luck with whatever you're planning...I'm gonna be building one of these eventually also...let us know how it goes!

 

[-ShutterBug-]

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[ackuric]

check out your local flea market

 

[PharmaCan]

A glass shop would be the place to go to get the vase cut. You can find them in the yellow pages. You might even check at some glass shops and see if they can get you glass tubing. Tell them you are making a prototype light for a band or some kind of computer application (anything that you are sure will bore the hell out of the old fart behind the counter so s/he doesn't ask too many questions.) Glass tubing is not all that uncommon; someone has to make it.

It sounds like you already have one DIY cool tube. Is there any particular reason you want to change the design? What do you hope to accomplish?

PC

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

A glass shop would be the place to go to get the vase cut. You can find them in the yellow pages. You might even check at some glass shops and see if they can get you glass tubing. Tell them you are making a prototype light for a band or some kind of computer application (anything that you are sure will bore the hell out of the old fart behind the counter so s/he doesn't ask too many questions.) Glass tubing is not all that uncommon; someone has to make it.

It sounds like you already have one DIY cool tube. Is there any particular reason you want to change the design? What do you hope to accomplish?

PC

i do have a cool tube allready made, but its the hurricane that its more concave or shapely. i have found that its really a pain inteh ass to have to get the ducting parts to fit, and then you end up using more tape than anything. i wanted something with a more "flush" or "smooth" surface if you will.

all of the parts used to put it together (the tape, the pipe clamps), after a while, ended up either drooping or hanging off slightly and that ends up causing gaps/fan inefficiency. bulb begins to get hot, temps fluctuate when they arent supposed to.

since im building another closet, and need to do things better this time, the cooltube was an area i needed to work/ improve on. i know everyone wants the ease of "just ordering it" but i am defiant in many ways and my gear is one of them. i have found the truth in my thougth process which is - "if they made it you can make it too". it ends up costing alot less and i learn how to make aas many of a thing as i want to for practicaly 1/3-1/4 the asking price of some of the gear one needs to set up a closet or a room to grow in.
i would rather my improvements come from my own hands/knowledge (and for me DIY is part of the whole hobby aspect of it) than ending up throwing loot to someone else and not gaining anything.

i want to be able to set a grow room up anywhere at any time without having to involve anyone else in the process. as i mentioned earlier if there is one problem that i know will kinda make things a little hairy for my grow woudl be security, and so far i have yet to need noething more than the local grow shop, and i am even wanting to negate that, since "they" are starting to watch those areas aswell.

sorry response so long but i know the IC community and the age old "why not just. . ." question is ever present, so others need to understand how serious security is for some. i mean im not running from teh law or anything, jsut want to negate suspicion or that aspect of my growing so i can keep it up for as long as i want. and besides knowledge is power