The Protank 2 SS - possibly the shortest clearo ever

[Giraut]

"SS" stands for Super Short. This is a PT2 I've shortened: I chopped 15 mm off the tank, and 7 mm off the drip tip. It contains about 1 ml of juice, so it's not terribly useful. But it's small

Check it out, next to a regular PT2:

Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I haven't been able to cut the original pyrex tube. I tried for hours, and wasted 5 tubes, but they've all shattered. So I ended up making a steel tank instead. I'll try to source pre-cut glass tubes to replace it eventually.

 

[artt]

Well done! Some times "small" overrules usefulness. I own a Super-T P-10 which has lousy battery life but is very discreet. Not always but sometimes that's what fits the occasion.

 

[G and C]

I like it!

Have you ever seen that trick you can do with beer bottles to turn them into glasses, where you soak a string in lighter fluid, tie it tightly around the bottle where you want it cut off, and then light the lighter fluid so that the glass melts under the string? Is there a possibility that might work for your purposes of shortening a glass tube?

 

[dave51]

You need a glass cutting blade for your saw and a constant flow of fluid to keep the glass cool
The glass is heating up and crytalizing on you then it shatters

 

[Giraut]

Have you ever seen that trick you can do with beer bottles to turn them into glasses, where you soak a string in lighter fluid, tie it tightly around the bottle where you want it cut off, and then light the lighter fluid so that the glass melts under the string? Is there a possibility that might work for your purposes of shortening a glass tube?

The glass doesn't melt under the string. What happens is, the thermal shock stresses and breaks the glass locally. Usually you have to throw water on it for it to work.

And that's the problem with the PT2's tube: it's Pyrex glass. Pyrex is designed to withstand thermal shocks

You need a glass cutting blade for your saw and a constant flow of fluid to keep the glass cool
The glass is heating up and crytalizing on you then it shatters

I tried - it doesn't work. I have the tube on the lathe, held lightly on a fitting wooden dowel, with water flowing on it, and a Dremel diamond cutter wheel on the toolpost. I move the cutter ever-so-slowly into the glass, and it cuts almost all the way through. But right when the two half tubes are about to separate - *tick* - both halves shatter.