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This page is devoted to technical information regarding the physical qualities of the mobile hotshop which we call The Phoenix.

The Mobile Hotshop is a flat bed trailer which has been modified to house three specific pieces of equipment; a glass furnace, glory hole and annealing oven.

  

Drawings, Diagrams and Statistics

Equipment:

Furnace – Propane powered, 80 pound freestanding crucible furnace with a 10” port. Our Burner is a Joppa Glassworks 255 Head with a Ransome 1.5” Venturi mixer attached to it. Thermocouple is an “S type”.

Glory Hole – Propane powered, 13” x 19” interior, fiber frax lined hole with a castable floor.  Our retention ring has a 12” opening and the doors are actuated by a single manual lever.  The burner system is a Joppa Glassworks 250s Head with a Ransome 1.5” Venturi mixer attached to it.

Annealing Oven – Electrically powered, 4 kilowatts, and computer controlled.  Internal dimensions are 20” x 26” x 20”.  We run on two separate 120VAC circuits with 20 amp service.  One line runs a single Duralite element plus our GB4 controller and safety solenoids.  The other line is dedicated to running two Duralite elements. The Thermocouple is a "K type".

GB4 by Digitry – computer controller operates our annealing oven as well as our furnace.we can program up to fifteen steps per unit. (see their web site for details on programming the computer - digitry.com)

 

 

  

Pipe Warmer – A small, stand-alone unit powered by a 5 gallon propane tank.  This is where we pre heat our pipes before use.  

Marver Table – 30” x 24” steel table with 3/4” steel plate top.  The marver is on wheels and has extra storage space below it.

Gaffer’s Bench – A typical glassblower’s bench with a lot of real estate.

Trailer – The Highway Hotshop is built onto a 7’ x 14’ single-axle trailer.  The height of our studio is 85”.  We require a space roughly 25’ by 20’ in which to set up the studio.

Miscellaneous tools such as jacks, tweezers, shears and optic molds are also available.

Propane Gas – The Highway Hotshop runs on propane (LP gas).  There are several options for fuel delivery and storage.  Short duration events will most likely require several 100-pound tanks.  For longer duration events, a larger propane tank is preferred to due to better gas pressure during operation as well as potentially better cost through efficiency.  Please contact us to talk further about arranging delivery of propane to your event site.

(Photo to left) Front end of the Phoenix. The Glory hole has an interior dimensions of approximately 13 inches diameter and 20 inches in depth.

    
(photo to right) Adam Frus Gathering out of Furnace. Our furnace holds 80 pounds of molten glass and takes approximately 18 hours to reach operating temperatures from a cold start. This does not guaranty glass quality. Type and quality of glass being melted will ultimately determine glass quality. In test firings thus far using Seattle Batch Glass Cuelet, a nightly charge with a one hour hold time at 2100 degrees Ferrite resulted in a relative clean bubble free melt. Furnace behaves extremely well and holds temperature with out fluctuating especially when single source propane tank is available. Propane use amounts may change due to various conditions currently we are estimating 80 gallons of propane a day. We both find it easy to gather out of furnace and no pipe cooler is needed. Because the Dudley Gibbons burner head is positioned below the crucible rim there is little over heating or blow out of the furnace door.  
 
Image below is of the gas line structure. Both the Furnace and Glory Hole run off of Propane and use venturi type apparatus to achieve target temperatures. The furnace is operated by a pre-set low fire point and a high fire point controlled by our GB4 computer controller and a Red Hat solenoid valve switch. We currently have an override safety system if furnace gets too hot, that will shut down the gas line as well. There are two gas lines to accommodate different propane tank configuration. We can isolate the glory hole from the furnace or run both off of one source.    
 
     
     
     
     
     
     

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Joshua Dopp : 602-320-6071 / Adam Frus : 480-516-6691