# How it's made : Marbles



## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)




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## Quercusuber (Nov 10, 2011)

Fantastic!!!!

My favorite ammo on "How it's Made"!!! Great posting 

Well, after seeing this, I'll begin to think twice in wasting fine glass craftsmanship in the woods, when I'm targeting cans.

My usual marbles are 16mm and weight 5 grams...I think they are the standard ones.

Cheers ...Q


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## e~shot (Jun 3, 2010)

Guys, are these marbles and what we buy from dollar stores same?


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## tnflipper52 (Jan 26, 2012)

Those babies are for collecting, but shooting high class ammo might impress the guys.


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

e~shot said:


> Guys, are these marbles and what we buy from dollar stores same?


I would assume they are the same as the first lot you see in the video going down the rollers. I presume they would extrude the glass with the coloured core before chopping and rolling to get the coloured center No way would they all be hand made at the prices they sell for.


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## stej (Jan 16, 2013)

Cool video. I have thought that all the marbles are made by machines, no hand made. If I'm bored I'll try to make one at home


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

stej said:


> Cool video. I have thought that all the marbles are made by machines, no hand made. If I'm bored I'll try to make one at home


I'm quite sure that the standard, green tinge ones are. It wouldn't be to hard to extrude those basic swirls into the middle and most certainly not hand made at 1c each.


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## orcrender (Sep 11, 2010)

Actually the common marbles are not extruded. They open the bottom of the oven allowing the glass to ooze out. Then a knife cuts the melted glass. It then falls onto the center a couple of rotating auger (not sure of the correct term) assemblies that shape the marble, cooling it as it moves to the end and drops into a collector.


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

orcrender said:


> Actually the common marbles are not extruded. They open the bottom of the oven allowing the glass to ooze out. Then a knife cuts the melted glass. It then falls onto the center a couple of rotating auger (not sure of the correct term) assemblies that shape the marble, cooling it as it moves to the end and drops into a collector.


Yes I know, I watched the video before posting it.

I'm talking about the mass produced, cheap marbles that do have the coloured swirl in the middle. With the correct nozzle setup it would be easy to produce these using the above setup if combined with a rotating extrusion nozzle injecting into the gravity pour.


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## All Buns Glazing (Apr 22, 2012)

All I heard was "he forms a knob".

I love watching marbles and glass stuff be made. I saw another marble making video too, but this the better of the two.


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## ash (Apr 23, 2013)

I've seen a longer version of the first half of that clip where they show the making of normal coloured, swirly centred marbles. All they do is put a fine strand of coloured glass into the stream of molten clear glass as it falls out of the furnace towards the chopper. They then roll down the spiral mechanism where they get that twist in the coloured centre as they are shaped and cooled.


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## orcrender (Sep 11, 2010)

Yes that was how it was done at Virtro Agate(Jabo now). I worked there for a summer. Hot work.


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## The Warrior (Jan 30, 2012)

Cool video. I love those how it's made vids.


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