VGT1 6.5m Casting

VGT1 6.5m Mirror Casting Web Index

Latest Oven Temperature Plots
(These plots are what the oven pilot watches. They will continue into June 2019.)
Latest Flash Video Images
(Click on the individual images for a fullsize version.)
Latest Flash Video Images as a Slideshow
(We have 6 digital video cameras that look at the glass inside the furnace.
They take flash images in blue light for contrast against the blackbody radiation every few minutes.)
Before & After Flash Video Images
Timelapse Movie of Glass Melting
(Timelapse movies by GregG)
(Movies and images have stopped updating.)
Movie of Spinning Furnace

Approximate schedule of glass melting:

Thursday, April 25, 2019
  15:00 MST  Furnace starts turning  (750 C)
  17:00 MST  Furnace rotating at 7.3 RPM (762 C)
  19:00 MST  Noticeable glass softening (810 C)
  21:30 MST  Glass blocks slumping (850 C)
  23:50 MST  Glass melting        (900 C)
Friday, April 26, 2019
  04:40 MST  Smoothing of glass surface (980 C)
  09:40 MST  Glass clear          (1070 C)
  13:40 MST  Maximum Temeperature (1165 C)
  17:00 MST  Start cooling        (1165 C)

Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab public web page