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Users/Zreyas/GlassBlowing
Thermos
This is how I do thermos, but before you read any further, I'm declaring I'm a glassblowing newbie - there is almost certainly a better method than this (please put it here if you know it).
I lost about 5 thermos until I hit on this technique, then I did 3 in a row without failures (~5k quality) and have subsequently made several more, so I think it's got some aspects of rightness to it.
I've managed to take a few screenies of the way I do it, so hopefully that'll help make it clearer what's happening. Unfortunately, the process it pretty quick moving and taking screenies causes enough lag and distraction to have knocked some quality off (ie. you should do better). Oh well, hopefully it gets the idea over :) If I get more quicksilver, I'll try to improve these a bit.
minor update: I've subsequently done a bunch more thermos and have it in the 90%+ success range. I made one tweak to the technique previously described here (heating the tip of the pipe rather than one click in), so need to update the pictures sometime.
--FaceAnkh
My more or less proven method is very much alike yours, but has been tuned to the necessary key strokes :)
Starting as you do by rushing the glas pipe in the Golry Hole. Spin the pipe constantly.
Get it back out by exactly 7 times pressing the "s"-Key. Spin the pipe constantly.
Blow 3-4 times while spinning the rod.
Check quality and unload.
Success >90%.
-- Neutron
Better quality can probably achieved by just moving the pipe in to the necessary position heat it shortly and push the pipe all the way in to let it cool before blowing. (Problem is the 60 secs timer for my described method.)
Note: You lose your quicksilver if you try and fail!
1. Begin the thermometer, then immediately push it almost all the way into the glory hole chamber, spinning it constantly.
2. Align it so the end part of the thermo is being heated (one push out so the very end tip isn't heated), with the centre of the heat roughly where the middle of the bowl will be. It's in the right place if you push it out 6 or 7 times.
- amendment: I'm getting better results when I heat exactly at the tip, not one push out (need to redo pics)
Glassblowing/Thermo_Guide$preblow_cooling-small.jpg
3. Keep spinning and wait until the long part of the thermo is cool (it will get heated to a dull red as you push the pipe in) - ideally until it's black-red - if you don't wait, it will expand when you blow and you'll lose a lot of quality. By this time the bowl end of the thermo should be yellow-hot. It's fine to take your time here - 10-15-20secs still leaves plenty of time.
Glassblowing/Thermo_Guide$preblow_ready-small.jpg
4. Blow 3 times to expand the hot part of the glass to approximately the right size, and keep spinning.
Glassblowing/Thermo_Guide$postblow-small.jpg (quality reads 200)
5. You should now have a thermo of approximately 5k quality, depending on how much it's drooped while you're spinning it. Push the thermo back out of the heat (probably all the way inside is easiest), and spin it with an eye to pausing at the right moment to let the bowl part droop into the correct (central) position. Try to keep the thermo bowl as close to central/symmetrical as you can, spinning until it cools (or if you're quick, yank it out at a high quality - though I find this to be risky if you have less than 4K quality).
Glassblowing/Thermo_Guide$cooling-small.jpg (quality reads 200, 3983, 3000 - 3983->3000 is the effect of a single droop when taking a screenie)
Final output
Final quality was 3609 - a bit too close..
Glassblowing/Thermo_Guide$final-small.jpgGlassblowing/Thermo_Guide$goal-outside-small.jpg
Comparing the result to the goal, it's clear that some improvements could be made, though reassuring that a mess will still get through ;) The heat was probably allowed to spread a little too far along the pipe (in part due to the screenie taking time) - one tick less might have given a better bulb shape. It may be possible to achieve that by blowing earlier (a touch after picture 1). I also pulled the thermo out of the glory hole (so the screenies were clearer) rather than pushing it further in, which wouldn't have re-heated it again.
Glassbrowing
Introduction This guide is very much a work in progress. For further glassblowing information, see the T2 glassblowing guide. Set your heater to Standard to mimic the T2 glory hole.
WARNING: The Push and Pull hotkeys are reversed on the menu from the way they actually operate. A is push (into the GH), S is pull (out of the GH). Also, like all buildings with hotkeys, your mouse cursor must be touching the actual building in order for the hotkeys to register.
Basic Concepts
Glassblowing is a timed craft, giving you approximately one minute from the time you start a project to heat and work the glass. To become a decent glassblower, plan on spending a great deal of time and glass familiarizing yourself with the glory hole and its quirks. A gloryhole in a low-lag area and a fast, stable connection to the game are highly recommended, if not outright required. Additionally, it's vital to learn and use the hotkeys. Menu-based glassblowing projects will give extremely poor results in almost every situation.
Every 'tick' of the process, several things happen automatically.
- Any part of the project that is within the heating plane (varies based on heat settings) will heat up
- Any part of the project that is outside of the heating plane will cool down
- Any part of the project that is heated will sag towards the ground
Similarly, every 'tick' the user has a few options that affect the project
- Move the project further into or out of the glory hole
- Rotate the project, typically to counter the sagging effect
- Blow the glass, which widens the project based on its heat level. Unheated glass will be unaffected.
Finally, there are several things a user can do that won't directly affect the project
- Check the goal display to get a reference point for what needs to be done
- Discard the project, destroying any materials in use
- Unload the project, receiving a finished item of whatever quality level you've currently acheived
- Check the quality level for feedback on how well the project is going
o Note: quality varies wildly based on the rotation orientation and changes every tick, fast fingers help
Hotkeys
* G - Goal Display * A - Moves the project into the glory hole * S - Moves the project out of the glory hole * Q - Check the current quality * N - Rotate counterclockwise * M - Rotate clockwise * U - Unload (complete) the project * D - Discard the project, destroying the materials * B - Blow into the tube
Basic Projects Wine Glass Requires: 1 fine glass rods
Hookah Bowl Requires: 1 fine glass rods
Guide from EldradUlthran's hopefully roughly accurate memory:
- This guide is for using Pin point heat
- Constantly spin to keep entire piece centered (there is a correct rhythm to spin it's not just spinning as fast as you can)
- Start the bowl shape at the bottom
- Move the glass in 2 times - Move the glass in 3 times pausing between each - blow 4 times - Move the glass all the way inside the glory hole
- Make the mouth of the bowl
- Move the glass out 5 times - blow 2 times - Move the glass out 2 and then in 2 (turning the section just under the mouth brown/orange not yellow) - blow 4 to 6 times
- Make the ridged middle body of the bowl
- Move the glass out 2 times - Move the glass out 3 times (very quickly) (pause tell this section is orange) - Move the glass out 1 time (pause tell orange) - Move the glass out 3 times slowly pausing such that each segment just barely turns yellow (you want these 3 segments to heat up at the same time, so as you get better you can go back and forth over this area) - Repeat over the next 3 segments - Blow 2-3 times
Disclaimer this guide is based off my notes I haven't actually tried making a hookah in a long time though I was quite good at it a while ago. Parts of this guide might just be completely wrong
Thermometers Requires: 1 glass pipe, 1 quicksilver
Methods:
* oicurtis
o Standard heating, rush the pipe in, pull it out seven times, rotate while it heats. Blow three to four times while rotating, unload when the quality rises above 3500. Four blows should ensure this, while five will risk a ruined project.
* Quizzical
o While making a thermometer (or anything else in a glory hole, for that matter), you want to spin constantly to keep the glass rotationally symmetric, rather than letting it droop off in some direction. I prefer to stand just behind the Glory Hole, and zoom in close enough to get a good look at what I'm doing. Set the heater control to Pinpoint. Don't operate a glory hole near peak times, as it is very sensitive to lag.
o For purposes of making thermometers, let us define a "tick" as a unit of time equivalent to about 2/3 of a second real time. A "step" is a how far the pipe moves when you push or pull it once.
o After starting a thermometer, start rotating, and then quickly push the thermometer all the way in. You don't want to heat any part of the pipe very much while pushing it in. You can tell that it's all the way in if you try to push it further in and it doesn't move. Once the pipe is all the way in, quickly pull it back out by 6 steps. If the pipe stays all the way in for several seconds, that's fine, but once you start pulling it back out, you need to get it out by 6 steps pretty fast.
o Pause with the pipe 6 steps out, then pull it out one step per tick until it is 9 steps out. Pause there, and then push it back in at one step per tick until it is again only 6 steps out. Pause there as well, and then pull it back at one step per tick until it is 8 steps out. Once it gets to there, blow four times. Just to recap, at consecutive ticks, the number of steps out that you want the thermometer to be is 0, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 8, 7, 6, 6, 7, 8 (blow 4x).
o If the thermometer has visibly in one direction, rotate it so that the bulb is as high as possible, and let it fall back toward the center for a couple seconds before taking it. You don't have to pull it out of the heat to do this.
o I broke the first thermometer I attempted, but the other 30-40 I've done have all worked. This method typically gives one of quality around 7k, and I've gotten over 8k several times. You only need 3500, of course, but it's better to try for 8k and end up with 5k than to try for 4k, mess up, and get a 2k that doesn't work. -Quizzical
* Matk
o Use front heavy heating. Ram the thermo into the hole as fast as you can (hammering down the "a" key). Once it's all the way in, withdraw the pipe 7 steps "sssssss". At this point rotate half a turn - I wait until the pipe sags and then hit "n" 7 times fast to straighten the pipe out. Wait several ticks, the section of the pipe just shy of the end will get yellow, I usually rotate a half turn 2 more times while waiting to keep the pipe reaonably straight (7x "n"). Blow 4 times "bbbb". Rotate a half turn if necessary to center the bulb. Hit "q" to verify quality then unload. If quality isn't high enough, the worst you will have to do is rotate the pipe and let the bulb sag into place. 95 thermos and counting. - Matk
Distillation Coil
Making a Barometric Sphere
Goal display:
Requires 1 glass rod to make. You must be signed up for Test of Life to get the option.
Push the rod in about 4 clicks to heat the spot where the middle of the first bulb will be. Leave it for a few seconds until the middle of the bulb location is yellow, then quickly push the rod in to heat the centre of the second bulb. As soon as it's yellow, blow 5-10 times (not counted yet) to get two rough bulbs. It seems to help to leave the first bulb to heat slightly longer than the second to counter the cool down time while you're heating the second. I got spheres of 5-6k with this method.
You need 3 Barometric Spheres to make a Barometer. The ideal case is for the 3 spheres to be perfectly matched in quality (otherwise you lose quality on the barometer - see barometer page for the reason) and the easiest way to achieve that is to make lots of spheres, then pick the closest matched ones.
Chemistry Test Tube
Requires: 1 glass rod
* FaceAnkh
o Similar to a beaker (see oicurtis' comments below)
o heat evenly, but ideally let the tip (the end nearest the glory hole) be the coolest part and heat the lip (the far end) last
o rotate constantly, trying to keep the heating even so there are as few sags as possible
o blow only a couple of times (maybe 3), then check to see how close you are
o don't focus on the size of the lip - get the majority of the body correct first
Florence Flask
Requires: 1 glass pipe
Methods:
* oicurtis
o Set heat to gradual
o Constantly rotating, move the piece in eleven steps.
o Once the heat radiates out close to the "front" of the piece, blow 12-14 times and check the quality. I average 6-7k at this point and simply unload.
Beaker
Requires: 1 glass pipe
Methods:
* oicurtis
o Beakers are short, so use whichever heating method you prefer. I get good results (7kish) with front heavy.
o Rotating the piece to keep it as even and level as possible, heat the entire project. You'll need to move it back and forth through the heating plane repeatedly.
o Keeping the entire project as hot as possible, begin blowing. Go ahead and blow 9-10 times, you need to make the beaker wide.
o Check the quality at this point and blow as many more times as needed to raise the quality to appropriate levels. Rotate the project while checking the quality to find the "best" position, then unload.
o I ignore the "lip" as the time and effort required to try and nail it gives minimal payback.
Thistle Tube
Requires: 1 glass pipe
Methods:
oicurtis
* Set heat to pinpoint for this one
* Rotating constantly, move the project in once and allow the tip to heat up, then blow once
* Move the project in one more time, allow it to heat again and blow twice
* Move the project in so that the base can cool down to a deep red and heat up a few sections beyond that. When they're heated to yellow, blow a few times. Never stop spinning the project, and check the project.
* Forming just the two chambers as described, mid to high-end 7k quality is acheived in 10-20 seconds
