Seminar 1 - Wednesday, June 27, 8:00am - 4:00pm Location: Tioga
Michael Wheeler – “Vacuum Technology”
Seminar 2 - Wednesday, June 27, 8:00am - Noon Location: Cohocton
Dr. Matthew M. Hall - “Introduction to Glass Properties 1”
Seminar 3 - Wednesday, June 27, 1:00pm - 4:00pm Location: Chemung
Tracy Drier, Bob Ponton - “Glassblowing Demos for the Public”
Seminar 4 - Thursday, June 28, 8:00am - 4;00pm Location: Tioga
Bonnie Clark, Mary Doughery, Victor Mathews, Dan Wilt -“Glass Shop Maintenance Seminar”
Seminar 5 - Thursday, June 28, 8:00am - Noon Location: Hotel Front Lobby
Astrid van Giffen and Bill Gudenrath - “Corning Museum Tour 1”
Seminar 6 - Thursday, June 28, 8:00am - Noon Location: Chemung
Dr. Matthew M. Hall – “Introduction to Glass Properties 2”
Seminar 7 - Thursday, June 28, 1:00pm - 4:00pm Location: Chemung
Ron Schulmerich - “Optical Glass & Machining”
Seminar 8 - Thursday, June 28 Noon - 4:00pm Location: Hotel Front Loby
Bill Gudenrath & Tina Oldknow - “Corning Museum Tour 2”
Seminar 9 - Wednesday, June 27, 8:00am - 4:00pm Location: Carder
Jack Korfhage, George Kopp, Kevin Teaford & Neal Korfhage-“The Allan B. Brown Workshop”
Seminar 10 & 11 - Wednesday & Thursday, June 27 & 28, 8:00am - 4:00pm Location: Carder
Ron Bihler, Joeseph S. Gregar, James Hodgson, Robert Singer -
“The Joseph S. Gregar Junior Member Seminar Program”
Seminar 12 - Thursday, June 28, 8:00am - 4:00pm Location: Chemung
David Wilson & Sally Prasch - “Working with Neon”
Full day seminars include breakfast at 7:00am and lunch at noon and two refreshment breaks.
Morning Seminars include breakfast at 7:00am. and mid-morning coffee break.
Afternoon Seminars include lunch at noon and afternoon refreshment break.
Artistic Workshop
David Wilson & Sally Prasch
“Working with Neon”
Michael Wheeler, Arizona State University, Emeritus
Mike is the second of three generations of Wheeler scientific glassblowers. His father
Joe Wheeler and daughter Christine Roeger precede and follow him in the trade. He
retired in 2004 after 37 years of employment at the UW-Madison (7) and Arizona State
University (30) Departments of Chemistry. During his tenure, he trained 2 scientific
glassblower apprentices, taught a graduate level glassblowing course at ASU, and
conducted training sessions for new graduate students in glassblowing and vacuum
system technique.
In the early 1990’s, Mike developed a novel all glass diffusion pump that far exceeded
the performance of traditional glass diffusion pumps. The design was placed in public
domain through publication in the Proceedings of the American Scientific Glassblowers
Society, June, 1995. The release of this design has enabled scientific glassblowers to
incorporate the high speed pumping capabilities into research programs worldwide.
Seminar 2: Glass Fundamentals / Part 1
The first part of the Glass Fundamentals course will primarily cover glass structure. How is
it formed? Is glass a solid or a liquid? To answer these fundamental questions the course
will deal with the Thermodynamics of Glass. Specifically, glass viscosity and the
phenomena of phase transition.
Seminar 3: Glassblowing Demos for the Public
This will be a 4hr presentation discussing operations and demos that would demonstrate flame working
and scientific glassblowing, promoting its importance and providing topics and intriguing hands on
demos for lectures that will be informative and entertaining to the public.
Robert Ponton, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Retired
ASGS National Office Manager
Bob is a graduate of Salem Community College. After Salem he accepted a position at the
University of Notre Dame for 4 years before heading to the University of Wisconsin at
Milwaukee. After 25 years Bob took a position at the University of Akron before retiring to a
small lake in Western New York. Bob is currently working as the office manager for the
ASGS. Bob has presented papers, posters and workshop demonstrations at ASGS
Symposia.
Tracy Drier, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Chemistry
Following his studies in scientific glassblowing at Salem Community College, Tracy accepted a
position at Aldrich chemical Company in Milwaukee. Since 2000 he has been working for the
chemistry department at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He is an accomplished
presenter at ASGS Symposia, having presented papers, posters and workshop demonstrations.
Seminar 4: Glass Shop Maintenance, Lathe, Diamond Tooling, Furnaces & Fires
This Course will cover the maintenance required for all the major components of a lamp shop.
Industry experts will instruct each aspect of the course. Attendees will receive notebooks and
handout sheets as reference materials. We will cover four important features in a glass shop and
an industry leader in their respective fields of interest will teach each feature.
1.) Victor Matthews - Litton Engineering. Lathe Maintenance and accessories will be covered; as
well as suggested maintenance schedules cleanups and lubrication. Victor will also cover up to
date accessories such as computer programming, fuel savers, fixtures, vertical lathes and lathes
for specific operations
2.) Daniel Wilt - WIlt Industries - Dan will demonstrate and discuss items to look for and maintain
in reference to Annealing Ovens. Electrical connections that can loosen, corrode, and burn-out .
Thermocouple issues, timer and controller problems and solutions. Also, he will show some simple
repairs for firebrick cracks and voids.
3.) Bonnie Clark - North Jersey Diamond and Wheel will cover cold glass manufacturing: the
uses of diamond tools, diamond wheels and pads, proper dressing and diamond compounds.
4.) Mary Dougherty - Carlisle Machine the makers of the Carlisle Burner and fabricator of many
of the best torches in the industry, will be discussing torch maintenance, gas flows and the latest
products in flame working for both scientific and artistic flame workers.
Bonnie A. Clark: Bonnie A. Clark is Senior Vice President at North Jersey
Diamond Wheel, located in Cedar Grove, NJ. North Jersey Diamond Wheel
specializes in the manufacture of diamond cutoff wheels for the scientific
glassblowing and quartz industries and is a long time supporter of the ASGS.
Bonnie has worked in various management and technical positions within North
Jersey Diamond Wheel and has 27 years experience in the technical
application of superabrasive products. Bonnie is a national member of the
ASGS and belongs to both the Delaware Valley and Northeast Sections.
Currently she is Director of the Exhibitor Group. Bonnie has also served as
Treasurer of the Delaware Valley Section and is this years Finance Chair.
Bonnie is also a member of NJAWBO (New Jersey Association of Women
Business Owners), IDA (Industrial Diamond Association) and holds the position
of Treasurer on the board of WEFE (West Essex Foundation for Education) and
that of President on the West Essex Fencing Booster Club’s board.
Mary Doughery, Carlisle Machine Works
Victor Mathews, Litton Engineering Laboratories
Dan Wilt: Daniel Wilt, President of Wilt Industries, Inc. since 1976.
Dan has served the ASGS a number of times as Director of the
Hudson/Mohawk Section, Northeast Section, and the Exhibitor
section. Dan was Chairman of the 2004 Symposium held in Saratoga,
N.Y., and has been Exhibits chair six times, Co-Chair twice, and is
Exhibits Chair for the 2012 ASGS-ISGE Symposium, Dan also served
as National Secretary of the ASGS from 2007 – 2010. On a local level,
Dan is Chairman of the Board of Appeals for the Town of Arietta in
Upstate N.Y., is a Council Member of the New York State, North
Country Regional Economic Development Council., and is awaiting
confirmation from the Governor of New York State as Commissioner of
the Adirondack Park Agency representing Hamilton County, N.Y.. Dan
is also Treasurer of the Speculator Lions Club, located in Upstate N.Y.
Seminar 5: Corning Museum Tour 1
9:00am - 9:50am Library tour
10:00am-10:40am Lecture in Seminar Room
Speaker: Astrid van Giffen, [“The Blaschkas: Materials and Preservation”]
11:00am - Noon Corning’s artist in resident
Bill Gudenrath will demonstrate Historical Glassmaking Techniques
Seminar 6: Glass Fundamentals / Part 2
The second part of Professor Hall’s seminar concludes by covering shifts to other
important physical properties such as optical (refractive index, color, etc.), chemical
durability.
Seminar 7: Optical Glass and Machining
Optical Glass and Machining will be a practical discussion into the properties, fabrication and
polishing of optical glasses and materials. This talk will examine various materials such as optical
glass, filter glass, fused quartz, UV fused silica and IR materials. Refractive index, dispersion, glass
composition, stress birefringence and homogeneity will also be discussed. We will follow the
fabrication processes from the ingot through the selection process and ultimately the finished
component. The fabrication methods discussed will be “cold” machining including diamond tooling
selection, sawing, CNC machining, planetary grinding, pitch polishing, final coating and inspection of
the window or mirror. This talk will also include metrology concepts used in the verification of surface
flatness, transmission and surface roughness as well.
Ron Schulmerich is a principle and President of Angstrom
Precision Optics Inc. located in Rochester, NY. Ron started his
carrier in 1978 at Glass Fab Incorporated and spent 24 years as
a lead fabricator, QA/ Materials manager and eventually
Technical Sales Manager. His experience lies in the knowledge
and fabrication of optical materials and was an integral part of the
development and implementation of the industry’s first optical
fabrication processes and techniques in the Rochester NY area.
He received his AAS in Optical Technology from Monroe
Community College in 1994. In 2004 Ron joined APO and his
partner John O’Herron and began to form a leading edge optical
polishing and machining company. APO specializes in plano
optical components ranging from large commercial sight windows
to precision laser windows for defense applications to ultra flat
micro-mirrors used in biomedical applications. He is an active
member of APOMA, RRPC, OSA and SPIE. He has also
consulted for Advanced Glass Industries and Optimax Systems in
the Western NY region. Ron resides in Pittsford, NY with his wife
Diane.
Seminar 8: Museum Tour 2
Attendees will gather for lunch at the hotel and meet for the trolley to the museum afterwards
1:00pm - 2:00pm - Artist in residence, Bill Gudenrath will demonstrate: Historical Glassmaking Techniques
2:10pm - 2:50pm - Lecture in Seminar Room
Speaker: Tina Oldknow, “Sources of Inspiration: The Heineman Collection of Contemporary Studio Glass”
3:00pm - 3:50pm Library Tour
4:00- Return trip to hotel by trolley
Seminar 9: The Allan B. Brown Workshop
This will be an all day, hands on workshop. Each person will have their own torch and
work station and be instructed on a specific project that is deemed worthwhile for scientific
glassblowers with at least 5 years experience. This year the focus will be on constructing
advanced distillation glassware
Distillation is a widely used method of separating mixtures based on the differing
volatilities and the subsequent condensation of the components in a mixture. It is a
fundamental process used in chemistry dating back to 200 A.D. However, beyond simple
boiling flasks and condensers, more elaborate instruments are required for instance,
when sensitive compounds may decompose close to or at their boiling points.
This seminar will focus on the construction of two of the more elaborate pieces of
apparatus used in distillation systems.
1.)“A Magnetic Liquid Dividing Head” where a magnetic pivoting bucket is used to
deliver condensate to a choice of two drains in a closed system
2.)”Half Jacketed 1 liter Flask with a Flush Mounted Drain Valve” where low boiling
temperature starting materials can be added and mixed or collected and distilled. Or, can
be used to receive distilled materials that can be combined with other purified materials to
create compounds. In either case, the flush mounted drain is an important feature, as any
recess can create a pocket where heavier materials can be trapped before they can be
properly mixed. In the course of this full day seminar, attendees will learn to construct
these two pieces of apparatus and will become familiar with the critical design elements
required for advanced distillation systems.
Kevin Teaford: started his scientific glassblowing career in
1992 at the Westinghouse-Hanford Co. After three and half
years in Research & Development Kevin accepted a position
with Farlow¹s Scientific Glassblowing in northern California.
At Farlow's he learned of many new types of glassware found
in the medical and scientific production industry. In 1999, he
secured a position at Precision Glassblowing of Colorado.
While at Precision he was introduced to many new aspects of
production style glassblowing, which included fabrication of
large diameter Pyrex apparatus and the introduction of larger
Quartz fabrication. In 2002 Kevin accepted a position at
University of Utah. Kevin is a member of the American
Scientific Glassblowing Society, and has attended many
symposia since 1992.
Seminar 9: Junior Member Seminar
We will have our 4-station quartz and an 8-station borosilicate set up for bench work allowing each participant to
have his or her own torch and workstation. We will also have a glass lathe available for some of the projects.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
There will be an interactive Panel Discussion this first morning where instructors will discuss many
tips, tricks and tools of our craft. There will also be demonstrations of the glassblowing exercises listed below.
Topics:
Form borosilicate rectangular tubing by shrinking round tubing over a mandrel
Sealing fritted discs into tubes
Making quartz flanges
Making poly mouthpieces for blow hoses
Laminating quartz tubes together for heavier wall thicknesses (demonstration only)
Sapphire window sealing (demonstration only)
With time permitting we will continue with more glassblowing fundamentals to help improve
your skills using both borosilicate glass and quartz.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Topics:
Vacuum swivel with special graphite holders for making side seals and holding discs
Making ceramic and graphite plugs for stopcock barrels
Technique for aligning multiple concentric quartz tubes as found in plasma torches
MakingTungsten wire vacuum seals directly to borosilicate glass
With time permitting we will continue with more glassblowing fundamentals to help improve
your skills using both borosilicate glass and quartz.
Ron Bihler:
Ron joined the ASGS in 1992 and shared the honor of getting the Rocky Mountain Section re-
activated in 1996. He was the section chair from 1996-2001. In 2001 he was the symposium chair
for the 46th, ASGS Symposium held in Colorado Springs. Section director 2002-2004, Symposium
Coordinator 2003-2005, ASGS President Elect 2004 and ASGS President in 2005. Ron began his
glassblowing career in 1981 and worked for Rocky Mountain Scientific Glassblowing until 1992. In
1992 he established his own business, Technical Glass, Inc. located in Aurora, Colorado. Technical
Glass, Inc. specialized in custom Quartz and borosilicate products including optical quartz and
Suprasil cells and engineering. Ron has recently merged his company with Precision Glassblowing
of Colorado and is in charge of the Technical Glass Division located in Centennial, Colorado. Ron
has presented two technical posters, taught two technical seminars in 2001 and 2005 and the
Junior seminar program in 2006 and 2011. This is our third opportunity to have Ron share his skills
in the junior seminar program.
Joe Gregar is a fourth generation scientific glassblower who began learning the art of scientific
glassblowing 42 years ago in 1966 at his family-owned business, The Milwaukee Glass Works Inc.
In 1969 he became a scientific glassblower with Pope Scientific Inc., in Menomonee Falls, WI. In
1974 was promoted to Plant Superintendent and head of the custom glass shop. While supervising
all phases of production he was responsible for teaching production trainees, apprentices and
journeymen glassblowers. In 1980 Joe joined Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, IL. In 1985
Joe was promoted to the level of Scientific Associate specializing in apparatus design and in 1997
was promoted to Senior Scientific Associate. Joe has held every office in the Midwest Section and
was the National Secretary of the ASGS between 1984-88, ASGS National President-Elect in 1989-
90 and the ASGS President in 1990-91. Joe won the ASGS Helmut E. Drechsel Achievement Award
in 1989 and the J. Allen Alexander Award in 1993. He has presented several technical papers, a
technical poster, and has demonstrated many technical workshops at the National Symposia. He
was honored by receiving the first “William A. Wilt Award” in 1999 and again in 2003 for his
workshop demonstrations. Joe is currently the National Junior Liaison Committee Chair and has
organized and instructing the Joseph S. Gregar Junior Member Workshop Seminar programs since
1988.
James Hodgson:
Jim graduated from Kansas State University in 1982 with a BS degree in
Geophysics. While at Kansas State Jim captured two scholarships, the Putnam
Scholarship and the Seaton Scholarship. Jim was employed in the oil exploration
business from graduation to 1993 with Kerr-McGee Oil Company and Western
Geophysical. He then received an Associate Degree in Scientific Glassblowing from
Salem Community College, in 1995. Jim joined the ASGS as a junior member in
1994, and received the Delaware Valley Achievement Award in 1995. Jim received
the ASGS Memorial Award in 1997 and the Wale Award in 1998. Jim landed a
scientific glassblowing position with Aldrich Chemical Co. and then became Kansas
State University’s scientific glassblower in 1996. In 1997 Jim was awarded the ASGS
Memorial Award. Jim has presented several technical posters at national meetings.
Jim served as the ASGS National Treasurer, ASGS President-Elect in 2005, ASGS
National President in 2006 and has served on several Presidents standing
committee’s. As a junior member Jim had attended 4 junior seminars. This is Jim’s
seventh time as an instructor for the Joseph S. Gregar Junior Member Workshop
Seminar Program.
Robert Singer: A 1978 graduate of Salem Community College, Bob has
extensive quartz experience. Bob was employed at Quality Quartz and Behm
Quartz, both of Mentor, Ohio, for a total of six years. He then accepted a position
at Quartz Scientific of Fairport Harbor, Ohio for ten years. Bob has been Vice
President of Technical Glass Products, in Mentor, Ohio for ten years and now
heads the company’s Baton Rouge, Louisiana division. In addition, Bob has
taken artistic glassblowing courses at Kent State University and Cleveland State
University. Bob’s activities for the ASGS include; chair of the Outreach
Committee, director of the Pittsburgh Tri-State Section, director of the Southwest
Section, ASGS President-Elect in 2006 and ASGS National President in 2007.
Bob was the Technical Papers Chair for the 39th ASGS Symposium in Pittsburgh,
PA and co-chair for the 55th Annual Symposium in San Antonio, Texas. This is
Bob's nineteenth consecutive year participating in the Joseph S. Gregar Junior
Member Workshop Seminar program and we are certainly fortunate to have his
expertise in quartz fabrication.
Seminar 12: Working With Neon
In this class we will discuss the principles of filling hollow borosilicate vessels
with different gasses. We will also cover techniques of making single, double
and no electrode pieces and oven pumping. We will have torches available to
create lighted pieces but, you may want to bring finished pieces that we could
put electrode on. Time and space is limited.
David Wilson is and artist and glassblower living in western North Carolina. His
artwork illustrates a keen sense of aesthetic and a skill for crossing technical
barriers. Currently David is experimenting with blown glass forms that are
illuminated from within. His work utilizes both single electrode and wireless
techniques.
