Creating A Glass Bong, Need Advice

[Bryan_J]

Hello, A person has been really interested in making himself a bong recently. He has a 2 foot pyrex that is extremely awesome, but is simply too big and too valuable to transport. It sees little use time, and hardly anyone else smokes out of it because it stays stuck in his room. A person also collects empty bottles of different styles and brands, and he ran across his empty 26oz of Smirnoff Watermelon Twist Vodka, you know the bottles that have the slight glass twist near the bottom. This bottle had epic memories between a few of his friends and he decided to make this the donor bottle for the bong.

Step one: He peeled all the labeling off, leaving just the ring label at the neck, than sanded all the glass EXCEPT where it tapers at the top, and the spiral indents, to give the user view of the brew. This gave the glass a very nice frosted look.

Step two: He marked off a marijuana leaf stencil where the bottle label would normally be and taped it off as not to get sanded. After smoothing out the glass with a dremel and cleaning up the frosted look the bottle is ready to be drilled.

This is where he needs help from users. He has a 1/2" rubber grommet and a glass female down tube that he plans on using, however, the bottle has no real curves, and any straight drilling won't leave the down tube on an angle. He was thinking of drilling a small pilot hole straight in, than with the dremal, taper the hole to be offset, than just adhere the down tube to that hole on the 45 degree angle. He wonders if this would be a simpler solution to getting the angle he needs for the down tube and bowl? Also, what type of epoxy should he use, and what kind of heat do you expect that down tube to hit?

Once the drilling matter gets sorted out a person will post photos of the piece before/during/after and in action.

[Richi]

Those seem to be some pretty difficult procedures you speak of. Unfortunately I can't help there, but I'm interested in how this piece is coming about. If you could post some pictures, it'd be really cool.

[flowin]

Sounds like it'll pretty cool. I'm not sure on the epoxy but the dremel idea seems like it could work. I would sugest practicing first so you know the right amount of pressure to use as to not crack the glass.

[Fango]

Have you considered not using the grommet and drilling/carving the hole for the down tube at an angle, and sticking the glass together, and putting in a rush hole in? I doubt you have the means to kiln fire the glass pieces together, so maybe that is why you have gone for a grommet, as sticking glass to glass via adhesive isnt the easiest task.

If you drilled the hole at an angle, you could find a tapered rubber grommet with an inside diameter the same as your down tube, then slip that onto the down tube. The down tube would fit at the same angle as the hole, or use something like a stepped grommet in the hole for the down tube. you could cut it so it sits quite flush, and it would preserve the angle.

[Bryan_J]

Have you considered not using the grommet and drilling/carving the hole for the down tube at an angle, and sticking the glass together, and putting in a rush hole in? I doubt you have the means to kiln fire the glass pieces together, so maybe that is why you have gone for a grommet, as sticking glass to glass via adhesive isnt the easiest task.

Yes, that was what I was getting at. I'm wondering if I would be able to drill a tapered hole to allow the down tube to slide in snugly on an angle. The glass isn't overly thick, but I believe it may work. I practiced with the dremol on some panned glass, and some blown glass, it does a nice job of slowly sanding glass away.

As it stands, the only problem I will be faced with is securing the downtube into the bottle. I'm not sure how hot it will get, and how long epoxies or silicons would last. I would heat the glass and melt it together, however that risks warping the downtube or making the piece structurally weak