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Ask HN: Separating Two Glass Containers

by armcat on 11/7/24, 7:32 PM with 8 comments

Hi HN community! My friend has an interesting problem and I am hoping some engineering / hacking ingenuity can help. She has two glass containers stuck together, one inside the other, see here: https://ibb.co/5hwDR8P.

She has tried all kinds of things including: trying to separate them inside a water bath, greasing them, creating a temperature differential (ice on top, warm bath on the bottom), and even using WD-40. Nothing helped.

Any suggestions?

  • by rehto21 on 11/8/24, 10:51 AM

    Surprised to see a reddit like question being asked here on hackernews.

    Water, soap, oil, compressed air etc will not work. Ask your friend to gently tap around the edges of the container that is stuck with either a wooden spatula or the back of a wooden ladle. Gentle taps in the direction of getting unstuck all around the edge of the stuck container. May require few minutes of tapping.

    Source: This has happened to me many times.

  • by ActorNightly on 11/8/24, 1:46 AM

    Those things are pretty strong, so using force shouldnt be an issue. You just 2 need reverse action pliers with rubber tips, stick one on either end under the lips and pry them apart.

  • by doormatt on 11/7/24, 8:02 PM

    Compressed air - shoot it down between the two containers.

  • by solardev on 11/8/24, 9:18 AM

    Put them both in the freezer overnight?

  • by mikewarot on 11/8/24, 12:19 AM

    Since you can get water between them, dump the water out of the top one, wrap the whole thing in a towel, and chuck it in the microwave, either they come apart, or not.