Has Anyone Done THIS Before?

[Sambo]

My neighbor told me that while he was in the military one of the welders welded a "coke bottle" to a piece of scrap metal !!!

Is this a wives tail or can it be done?

I thought one of the old timers around here would know.

I attempted to weld a glass baby food bottle to some scrap metal and just as soon as it started to cool the glass started to crack (however, the glass was melted and somewhat bonded to the metal). I also attempted a single very small spot weld and the glass cracked too.

The best I can determine is that the glass expands and contracts at a lot different rate than the metal.

If no one can answer this, I'll follow up with a nagging question about putting a square peg in a round hole.

Any help will be appreciated... as all of us may need a coke bottle welded to a piece of metal at some point in our lives

[Paychk]

I would surmise that this is a distortion of the old "weld 2 coke cans together" trick. A test of a weldor’s ability with aluminum is to weld the cans together with out any burn through. A further test is welded without any filler, I've been told.

[Big Nate]

like here

[Sambo]

The guy kept saying "glass to metal." The only way I can see doing it is to use a torch on the glass and keep it almost moltent until the metal cools. But I know nothing about this stuff and not sure if the expansion/contraction is the problem.

I got the impression it was a stick welder and that was all... unless the thick lower part of the coke bottle is so thick or made out of such a glass material that it doesn't crack.

As far as doing a search on the Internet... the only thing that I found was some sort of "inductive" way to heat up both... not actually a weld but bonding glass to metal.

And then there are some type of 'washers' (I think that is what they called them) that would bond the two together... I assume similar to a light bulb connected to the metal screw part.... but in that case, it looks like glue to me... however, the wires that go through the glass must be bonded to the glass in such a way that it prevents escaping glass.

Maybe someone will come across this post and say, "Heck, I've been doing that for years."

I wish you could zoom out on the cans picture... I have a hard time understanding what is what.

[Thomas Harris]

some brazes will fuse glass to metal.

[Mike Sherman]

Two years ago I went to the weld show in Cleveland Ohio and one of the Universities had a display and a test, you could win a tee shirt. One of the test samples was a glass beaker fused to a piece of steel. Neither my brother in law (BOS weld engineering OSU) or myself had ever seen anything quite like it before. It was not brazed, it was a very sophisticated welding process. I personally would like to meet the person who can SMAW a coke bottle to carbon steel. Because he is a better man than I am. I would guess your leg was being pulled. At any given moment, the old men in my shop are pulling some stunt like this on one of the youngsters. And when they are not pulling a stunt, they are thinking of one to pull.

[Franz]

I've never welded a coke bottle to steel, and it seems like every coke bottle I see these days is a collectable antique, so I ain't gonna try.
My hunch is this is a trick, not a true weld.
Since the flux on a rod essentially becomes glass that is chipped off, and there are some rods that are a pure ******* to chip, running a bead around the bottle, close in might do the trick.
Putting a supply of Borax near and under the bottle might do a lot for the job too.

[Sambo]

Since you mentioned glass "beaker" that caused me to think that "Pyrex" glass has different properties than normal glass.

>> I would guess your leg was being pulled. <<

Yeah, sounds like a good "military" story that floats around in the service.

When I was in high school, I worked for a small chain of theaters. Since all of us 16 year olds loved to have any excuse to drive, when the projectionist asked if anyone would drive across town to the other theater and borrow a "film stretcher" for him, I was the first to volunteer.

Needless to say, the next time he asked someone to volunteer to go across town and borrow a "curtain crank" for him, I kept quite and let the new kid they hired go get it.

Of course this was when gas was 35 cents a gallon and you wouldn't go broke driving across town

[dsergison]

if you use pyrex you might stand a chance. Pyrex has a very low coefficient of expansion and so doesn't crack when heated and cooled unevenly.

but I doube coke bottles are pyrex

[INTP]

The idea of welding a coke bottle is unacceptably dangerous. A joke is one thing, but a mini-glass explosion wouldn't be even a little bit funny.

[Roger]

Maybe I don't understand meaning of weld.

Sure you can weld glass with a torch and glass rod or without the rod. Can weld plastic with special torch and plastic rod. Weld metal with without filler rod or using filler rod of compatable alloy with base metal.

I don't see how joining 2 pieces of steel with glass could be called welding. Could call it bonding or maybe braising but not welding.

[ChadRat]

they must be pulling your leg. Everyone knows coke bottles are plastic.

Welcome Sambo! Good to see another Okie on the board.

[Sambo]

Originally posted by ChadRat
they must be pulling your leg. Everyone knows coke bottles are plastic.

Welcome Sambo! Good to see another Okie on the board.

Hey to you there in Piedmont. Any ideas on a good welding school in the OKC area. Moore/Norman, Francis Tuttle, etc... looking for a night class, but maybe not for another year.

Well, believe it or not, I remember when the milkman use to deliver milk to our house with glass milk bottles.

I was ready to teach my grandson about the best "show n tell" thing around. That's a boiled egg inside a glass milk bottle. However, haven't seen a glass milk bottle around here and suspect none of the kids could even relate to a glass milk bottle.

Anyway, you light some newspaper and stuff it inside the milk bottle. Quickly place a pealed boiled egg on top and the vacuum sucks the egg inside. Then you blow the remainder ashes and newspaper out of the bottle.

Roger - I think it was used as a general term... the "weldor" was so good he welded a coke bottle to a piece of metal... was the idea. I assume you end up with molten glass with some metal overlapping to make it sort of feel like it was welded. I think the goal wasn't really bonding but making glass stick to metal without breaking somehow. Not a textbook thing but more of an Army story.

[Sambo]

BTW, Chad, you do some nice work.

This thing might be in about every department store in the world, but my wife brought home a metal dog (we use as a door stop) that is pretty interesting to me. From a quick glance in the dark, it looks real and every so often our real dog gives it a double take.

One of those things where they use nuts, bolts, bearings for parts. Tomorrow when there is some light, I take a photo and upload it for you to take a look at. Might not be to your tastes, but there is enough welding, bending, and unique scraps that I think it will peak your interest.

I almost bought a metal brake the other day too, but really didn't have a need for it... I took my 16 gage sheet to a place off Broadway Ext (about 111th), and had them bend it in 3 places for $10.

Where's a good place to buy metal around here?

I bought my last stuff at Metal Supermarket which seemed expensive, but all metal seems expensive to me.

I'm now looking for a pipe/tube with an O.D. of 3 3/4" but only about 10 inches long and not too thick... maybe about 1/16" thick or less. I don't want galvanized as I am using it as a sleeve inside the smokestack of a smoker.

[p.dow]

wow... 35 cents a gallon

1954 ????

paul