Rick Brower

Pretty sure you can have custom balloons made. I’ll look in to it, and maybe consider rubber coated rip stop nylon and make a bunch of mistakes making one that looks like an Anvil. Helium for lift is a different story, I am no expert on the subject by any means but if I extrapolate from all I have read is that the stuff you get at K Mart is not pure enough to lift a balloon of any weight. Welding supply shops sell H in a high grade form and I would assume (hate that word) that it could lift a well constructed balloon of ultralight Ripstop. nylon even sewn together? Their is a cool Tou Store close to me that has 99.? H for their balloons and would fill a small Ripstop balloon for me if I made one. just happen to have a few yards. Can you make me one of your Cool ACME Anvils? Pewter is the easiest to cast. Go to Goodwill and get old Pewter serving plate or Chalis Chespo. Sorry if I’m being repetitive. at least I’m not being critical and mean no offense, I appolige for any inappropriate actions, unknowingly or otherwise. Hope all is well, Just a dumb Geologist Phd. - Rick

Wow, Great response to the “Glass Anvil” project, I did think about it but when I saw an older Blog on it in iForge I had to Perdue it, I hope it is not construed as stealing another’s idea and leg work. so far I have made a couple of wax mini Anvils, ACME of course, and contacted a local glass artist briefly about casting some. Currently he is doing a large project and doesn’t have time. So, as is done on iForge, I will share what I know about doing it my self. White Clay can be used as a mold, it needs to be heated and cooled. The wax melts out, a funnel shape is made on top, incorporated mind you, of the mold to hold bits of glass proportional to the size of the Anvil cavity. I have a small Kiln well Capone of melting certain types of glass and I incorporated a Thermalcouple and a digital programmable thermostat to raise & lower the temp. Have gotten as far as melting glass. The Anvil size is going to be roughly 1.5” X 2.5 (small to start out). if it works I plan to make a few more. would I sell them, I would make some available, probably for a donation to support refining and producing more. already sunk $200. US in to the Kiln and all, need to get more Clay, only had 2lbs. love this Blog and love iForge for making it possibl. Rick open for positive, constructive comments. thanks

Ausfire, I am all for it, I made ice anvils once, still have the mold someplace, yours are much better! if Brasso can duplicate the Anvil in some detail, the letters ACME in one side and shape the horn, I can make a mold and cast it in Glass. i don’t, as yet, have access to a 3-D printer, South Lake Tahoe isn’t that Hi-Tex. Their may be some but I haven’t found them. drawings of Anvil “schematics have you will” are easy to find but only having a rudimentary understanding of how a 3-D printer works, well? let me know if I can help, I did locate locally an Artest that works in glsss. Not to much detail, after all, it’s an Anvil and not the Hope Diamond. LOL. Rick

It is hard to make something, even out of coated super thin Ripstop nylon, the weight of the material, the stitching & seam seal are to heavy to float with Helium, I made a box shape a couple of years ago with the idea of having it float over Area 51, bounced at first and as the solar heat made it more boiant it only got to about 6 feet up. So I made Hydrogen and filled it with a reverse vacuum pump, a battery powered mattress inflator, (at home) it flew pretty good, but the issue came down to 1. Explosive, 2. How to make Hydeogen in the middle of the desert in sufficient quantity. And without blowing my self up. it is the lightest element on the Periotic Chart. The Heleum you buy at Walmart for balloons is only around 80% so Mylar balloons don’t get sucked in to jet engines. If you want either gases in there purist form be willing to shell out a few $$ for them at your local welding supply outfit. so, to make a way to long story short, for my Snake Oil Show to get donations for the Museum, my alter identy, Professor Ersatz Faux got a fan from a wind dancer (like the guy who keeps flopping over on used car lots) and got some light weight Ripstop and seeed up a 8 ft high Snake,, rattled and all, I sold 15 bottles of Clark Stanley’s Snake Oil Liniment (honey) in about 90 min. TMI-Thanks for letting me intertane you, Rick

BYW, All except for the actual Kiln, not that large, I added on a high tech temp/thermostat and thermocouple my self, for under $40.00 new. I did my first three test on accuracy with pyro cones, got my $ worth!

Thank you for that great response, I do read verioud online articles on the subject but it’s nice to get input from folks like yourself. He is busy just now but there is a gentleman/artist/what have you locally who said he could show me the basics. i have a formula for melting the glass and had some success, due to my impatience, but as soon as I get a practice mold I will obide by the time it takes to go through each step. i am going to try Arizona White Clay first, Well after the Holidays kaos. honest, I can spell. rick

Aw, someone who thinks outside the box, good for you!

Just shootin in the dark, who knows, someone else or the original publisher may read this and have bunches of mini Glass anvils??? i knew this from the beginning but seams everyone just had to put their two ¢ in. now, I have sense learned that a 3D printer can make a mold, no, not for glass, I am considering clear casting resin. SCHAZAM now all I need is a 3D printer and suddenly my (possibly) $20,00 glass Anvil has shot up to an (inexpensive) $820.00 project. As W. E. Coyote would think, back to the drawing board. all in fun. Rick

Gabe, I have been looking for small glass transparent or translucent anvils for a couple of projects I am doing involving ACME Products. Can I buy 1 or two from you? I plan on making my own as I have a programmable temp controll Kiln good to 2,000° but don’t know or have never done glass casting let alone making a mold, I have made the model out of wax and I think I need to order a specific type of Clay?? until then, can you help me? thanks so much, Rick Brower So. Lake Tahoe, Ca.