BLUE T4

BEER MUGS

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Guest Schramm

knucklehead,

Great suggestion on the paasche unit, good price (normally on ebay) low CFM and very low psi.  Thanks for that link as well, they sell a lot on ebay and I really think that some day soon I am going to buy the big cabinet they have.  Down in Florida I had a pass through unit from Glastar but had to sell most of that stuff when I moved to Illinois.  I just bought about $4K worth of stuff from Harbor Freight and on ebay and the money just keeps bleeding out!  There is always something else that you can use and soon you have 1000's into this without thinking.  Fortunatly a simple door job can land you $350-500 so it doesnt take much to make it back.  Cabinet door panels and full size door panels and mirror is what I am doing so for larger items I have a vacuum recovery blaster, very cool unit and works great.

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Rob, how do you work on those bigger pieces?

Out in the open ? On site? Or some sort of improvised canopy ? Maybe a dedicated blast room?

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Guest Schramm

Watch this video, I have a simular set up which blasts and recovers through a vacuum at the same time you are blasting.  It is called an on-site blaster and it is a pretty much 99% dust free unit.  Requires 6-22 CFM at 90PSI, I use 8.5 CFM and it works great!  With this you can work on as big a piece as you want and it takes only about 20 minutes to etch a front door and a sidelight once they are ready for blasting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX8pdlqr8MI

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Who would of thought my $300 compressor wouldnt be what I needed.  Runs my air tools in the shop just perfect.  Guess I need to look at another option.

You guys have been great!!

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another option that most don't think about is tank size. Pick up an old 100lb propane tank and hook it to your little 20 gal compressor and you just doubled your capacity. your CFM is limited not only by the amount of air you have to push but also your outlet port and line size. what the extra tank capacity will do is give you more time before your compressor has to kick on. Also take more time to completely pump back up but your cycle window will be smaller. But if you have a 1/4" ID outlet on your compressor your are going to be limited to the same 5-6 CFM. you have to bump up to 3/8 or 1/2" to get the better flow rates.

Kevin

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JUST USED REG VINYL AND ARMOUR ETCH CREAM

Regular vinyl as in Oracal 651 ?

 

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Yep. I went and bought me some of the cream today and that's what I'm using. While at Michaels, I also bought several small old looking bottles with corks in them. Etched one with a picture of a molecule and the words "Dehydrated Dihydrogen Monoxide" (dehydrated H2O - just add water) on it.

Charlie

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Guest Schramm

I use spray mask - aka paint mask or Hartco sand mask.  Some use buttercut but I just find that a costly alternative.  I have 10 rolls of vinyl that I got for free that works well and it is 3M.  I use it for reverse coverups when working on the back side of mirror so nothing happens to the glass side.  It is fine for blasting to.  Spray mask it a good price and much better then 651 but there is no harm using what you have as long as it works.

Rob

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Yep. I went and bought me some of the cream today and that's what I'm using. While at Michaels, I also bought several small old looking bottles with corks in them. Etched one with a picture of a molecule and the words "Dehydrated Dihydrogen Monoxide" (dehydrated H2O - just add water) on it.

Charlie

no pic = no project  ;D

C'mon Charlie, let's see it!  ;D

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I did my first mug this evening. Using the Cream. It turned out real well.

I bought a small 3oz bottle of cream to make sure it would do what I wanted. It did. Im going back tomorrow with my 40% off coupon to pick up the 22oz bottle.

I will post pictures tomorrow of the mug I did.

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Thanks for the reply/answer  . I got interested at the Rayzist.com booth @ the NBM show . I was thinking instead of the film they use & the light sensitive vinyl , I could get set up much cheaper than their set-up since I have a cutter . I blasted a small crystal plate & think I am hooked  ;D

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WELL I HAVE TO INVEST IN THE SAND ETCHING EQUIPMENT. MY LOCALE CRAFTS STORES  AC MOORE AND MICHEALS ARE NO LONGER CARRY THE ETCHING CREAM.SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE CHEMICALS

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when i found uscutter i was only buying the cutter to make my own stencils and found out from several people on the forum that it is used for vinyl and i did some vinyl but i like doing the sandblasting more i think it looks nicer on mirrors and mugs and other things also so many people are doing vinyl around here none are doing sandblasting but once you have tried sandblasting i think you will like it also

i got my sandblast cabinet and pressure pot and air compressor from harbor freight

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Guest Schramm

repodon,

I'm with you, I used my plotter for mirrors and decorative furniture finishes mostly.  I have done some walls and ceilings but mostly just furniture, mirrors and glass.  I honestly dont know how anyone can make a good living making signs out of a small sign company but I guess that is only because I am not doing it.  I am one of the only locatable people in about a 80 mile radius from me.  My town has 4900 people but I am an hour outside Chicago, Peoria and the Quad Cities.  I try not to go out to do anything because there is just no money in traveling IMO.  I spend 90% of my business week at the house and maybe 1 out of 5 on the road for a couple hours.  Sand Etching is very very profitable but takes some time to get really good at it.  Surface etching and frosting are only about 5% of what can be done.  I do a lot of backpainted glass as well as really high end designer stuff.

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Guest Schramm

Yeah, if I was doing that full time I would be all over it but I like my laid back life where I can start a project and then watch tv while it is going through its stages.  Bad thing about working from home is you never stop working!

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Hi Schram, just saw your attachment regarding the on site blaster, just wondering where can I get one & for how much? thanks.

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yea that vacuum system was very nice. I'd love to have one but its probably out of my budget for a while.

If the pre-orders for mugs come though I may be able to get one soon. I have a possible 100-200 mugs coming soon. 2 different people want me to do up a bunch for their webstore.

Is it possible to color the glass after you etch it? Like red, blue etc?? I had someone ask me that today.

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I just checked harbor freight and I can probably get a starter blasting system for about $300. Using their 20% off one item coupons I get frequently.

They have a store here locally so I may jump into the sand etching side soon.

Once i get my first good size order of mugs sold to pay for it I will be grabbing the equipment

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  Is that a sand blasting cabinet or more ? I am interested in getting something that has a strong vacuum in order to do stuff outside ( vehicle windows ) . :)

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Thats a cabinet. I'd love to have the equipment in the video posted earlier but I bet that is a nice chunk of change

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I'm going to look into getting a cabinet also . I want to be able to do vehicle windows eventually . I think the personalizing would go over good just about anywhere .  :)

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I've been sandblasting items for the past few years, which is what brought me to this forum and ultimately purchasing a vinyl cutter from one of your members. I used to have a friend cut me the masks (stencils) until he moved away. I've been giving them away as gifts at car meets, race tracks and other events. But people will pay $12 for a beer mug easy and I've had literally hundreds of people asking me to blast them quantities of mugs, shot glasses or paperweights, but I simply don't have the time to accommodate them. I stay pretty busy.

I use a Cyclone blasting cabinet (cheapest they have) and can fit 5 to 6 mugs in at a time. Here's a link to one pictured.

http://www.equipmentland.com/products/cyclone/index.shtml

They're not very expensive. You'll also need an air compressor which you can get for different prices. A used one would be perfect. I use brown aluminum oxide at between 75 and 100 psi. I purchased a 50 lb bag several years ago and still have a quarter of a bag left and have done a LOT of blasting.

The car clubs go NUTS over these, especially if you sold a shot-glass~beermug combination (boiler maker). Race car drivers also love sets of these for themselves and pit crews....  I'm sure if you used your imaginations, you could thinks of gazillions of groups that would go bonkers for their own personalized, sand-blasted mugs. Bowling teams, softball, child care centers (wait...scratch that), FRATERNITIES, and even local pubs with their own bar logo on it. They make GREAT GIFTS, Trophies and even....um......bribes [ahem]. I get my beer mugs at Dollar Tree for $1 each. These are REALLY NICE beer mugs! Heavy and relatively flawless.

Below are some of the results....

bm2.jpg

blast2.jpg

blast.jpg

Hope this helps.

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