Ceramic radius platen?

T

Tenebr0s

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Jun 3, 2012
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Has this ever been done? It seems it would be simple enough to have a plate of pyroceram molded to a radius shape.

I grind wet, and this invariably gouges my steel radius platen as grit gunk gets trapped under the belt. It would be great if there were some kind of a replaceable ceramic liner that could go between platen and belt.
 
Consider "slumping" a cut glass platen liner in a programmable electric oven. I considered this a year or so back, but never got around to it. If you try it let us know. Fred
 
That's a really interesting idea. If I made a duplicate of my radius platen in castable refractory, and placed that under the glass liner in the kiln, it might conform to its shape.
 
If you are going use a glass platen, just shape a radiused platen in mild steel and set the glass on it in the oven. Let it slump to fit. The steel platen won't need to be hard, because the belt will not run on it. It would be good to weld a small lip on the bottom to retain the glass f the resin fails.

Before doing this, it would be best to talk with someone in the glass business about what the heat treatment would do to the brittleness/tempering of the pyro-ceramic glass.
 
Thanks, Stacy. I will definitely look into the annealing protocol for the pyroceram. I've made my own steel radius platen before, but I was never really happy with the evenness of the curve I got, and so I finally bought one about a year ago. Definitely don't want to ruin its heat treatment in my kiln...
 
have thought about it a few years but my nate platen jsut keeps working only upside i see so far woudul be lower heat and static maybe one of these days ill look back into it let us all know how you make out
 
I think we have all thought about curving a ceremic platten at one time or another. The problem I see is the reasion this glass is so strong has to do wil how it’s made. And especially how it’s cooled. I would think if you brought it up to slumping temps which would be rather high it might loose the property’s that we love.
 
I have a contact in the trade I'll ask if this can be done.
I'm sure you could slump the glass over a form. It's the temper that will be tricky to get the properties you want.
I expect to hear back it's secret proprietary information but we'll see.

update: The answer is the ceramic glass version can not be heat slumped. I did not ask about borate silicate glass. Maybe someone else has insight for that type.

nuther update: I should have also mentioned, curved glass can be manufactured but it would be so expensive no one would be interested for this application.
 
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so is there any other options?? maybe a castable type of ceramic that once cured would hold up to use?? just curious as i'm sure others are..
 
I'm betting that a higher end outfit that does custom glass work, could make this for you, properly HT'd pyroceram glass. Maybe not slumped, but manufacturered with a radius. Curved glass of all kinds isn't uncommon. However, I'm guessing the investment, would probably pay for enough of Nathan's radius platens to last a lifetime.

I'd personally want it over an aluminum radius block "chiller" though. You're still gonna have to deal with the friction/heat issues as you would with a steel one, and if you get enough heat, any adhesive or anything you've got it fixed with, could fail.



Honestly though, I'm not sure I see the advantage here. Nathan's HT on his platens are just exceptional, and they really hold up. They can always be cleaned up if necessary, just get two so you have a backup.
 
Looking online, I've found a number of manufactures who can do curved/radiused ceramic glass. But I imagine it would be monumentally expensive for even a minimum order. I'll look into it.

As for the advantages I see from this kind of platen, it may not apply to most makers. I like to grind with water spray on my belts, and this leads to serious gouging of the platen due to gunk buildup. This was a problem on my steel flat platen too, but switching to pyroceram solved it. I've been using my glass platen for two years now, and it's still going strong. It's also quite easy to switch out glass platens when they finally do go out of flat.
 
All right, so after more research, I am strongly tempted to try the slumping technique with borosilicate glass, which apparently can be heat shaped. It will, however, require controlled cooling to properly anneal it. It isn't as heat-resistant as ceramic glass, but it is still stronger and more resistant to thermal shock than regular glass. Has anyone tried this type of glass for flat platens? Am I crazy?
 
I have slumped that glass befor on axadent in my oven. I was testing to see how hot I could take it. But I have never used it as a platten
 
Glass is amorphous, but the slump range is 1000°F to 1450°F.

I would program the cold oven with the glass in place on the curved metal base to rise at 1000°/hr to 1000F and hold for 15 minutes. Then ramp at 1000°/hr to 1200 and hold for 15 minute, then 1300, then 1400. Somewhere around 1300 or 1400 it should overcome gravity and slumped. If neded give it another jump to 1450F. Once it slumps, cool at 100 °/hr to 200F.
 
I can’t remember off the top of my head. I can go look in my records and see if I can find the kiln schedule I used.
 
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