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In the UK there are two kinds of foilers that do this:
- Plastic bearings:
Glastar and Inland etc.,
- Metal Bearings: Diegel Foiler
The plastic bearing foilers retail at around £30.00 and the Diegel at
almost double that, at £50 odd.
Well, as far as I was concerned there was no contest, I bought a Glastar,
although I think the Inland foiler is nicer looking.
Many years later, when I owned Broadland Stained Glass, I was sent a
Diegel machine to try out. I screwed it to the bench and gave it
a go, and was hooked almost immediately. Here are the differences:
- Tension: The cheaper foilers set the tension by tightening
or loosening a screw. This is difficult to set, and later, as
the wheels turn, the tendency is to tighten or loosen the screw.
The tension requires constant tweaking. The Diegel on the other
hand, sets the tension by means of push on clamps. It remains
as set.
- Wheels: The Diegel wheels are a very hard plastic with a groove
the exact size of the copper tape. This means that the tape is
kept in exactly the same position at all times. You centre the
glass on the tape by eye. With the Glastar, the wheels apply and
crimp together, so there it is very difficult to keep the tape centred.
There are glass guides, but they do not guide the glass, only your eye.
I found them unusable. Further, if the wheels are not set right, the
tape will not run cleanly (no setting of the wheels required with the
Diegel).
- The wheels on the Diegel are much smaller than the other brands, allowing
machine foiling on a much tighter radius, and on smaller pieces of glass.
- Finish. Because the Diegel does not attempt to process the tape
as it passes through, it keeps the tape exactly flat on the wheels.
This allows the artist to accurately locate the glass edge on the tape.
When it is then hand crimped, it is found to be very even and neat:
unbeatable
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Just these three reasons alone were good enough for me to change forever.
Although the Glastar and Inland claim to crimp, they only part
crimp and it is necessary to finish off the job. The advantage of
the tape being flat and therefore being able to exactly centre the glass,
makes the Diegel result that bit better.
My recommendation:
- Diegel wins on manufacture quality (particularly the bearings)
- Diegel wins on quality of finish and speed
- Glastar and Inland win on price
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