rlvied

New etching for my shop

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Just finished a new piece for my work shop. 3/8" thick cut and polished the edges. Mahogany base with red led lights

post-6565-0-06998600-1391700403_thumb.jp

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El most of the time I buy my leds from my vinyl supplier but that piece I bought some from auto zone.

They have different colors and sizes. For the power supply I use old 12 volt adapters for charging cell phones. I find them at yard sales and flea markets for about a buck apiece.

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rlvied, any chance you'd give us a tutorial on how you make your bases.  They look really nice.

 

Thanks

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Very nice. I like how the crown gives the base a nice look, instead of just a boxy base. What material/grit are you blasting and masking with? I havent been able to cut that deep yet. Would you mind linking to which LED's you use. Those seem brighter then most Ive looked at.

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About how deep of an etch would you say you have to do in order to get the light effect to work well?

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Monkey I use paint mask with 180 ao at about 20psi because that give me more time to carve the area with out tearing up the mask. I try to blast about

1/32 to 1/16 so the light can catch the edge a light it up a little better. I almost always blast on the 2nd surface. The lights I use are these http://www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/Lighting/LED-Lighting/_/N-261j

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Thank you very much for the info. Going to have to give that a try. Im using extra fine black diamond currently and works really well on most surfaces, just doesnt cut glass as deep as Id like...like yours

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Another question, what sort of gun are you using? I have a cheap harbor frieght gun a guy gave me for free that I tried out last night for the first time. It's clearly not ment for this type of work, although a new nozzle on it would probably help. I played around with the air erasor I have and while I was able to get a deep etch it wasn't very uniform and took WAY to long. Doesn't look like carving is in my future with my current equipement. :(

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darcshadow - don't get too discouraged yet!  What was going on with the H.F. gun?  Tell us what you have for compressor and related equipment.  What pressure were you trying to use?

Cal

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The compressor is a small 2hp, 8gal 125psi compressor. I tried 20, 40, and 60psi with the HF gun. 60 did get me a little etching but nothing great. The more I think about it the more I think the nozzle maybe the main problem. It's a pretty large nozzle, probably 3/8" and worn pretty good. This is not the exact gun I have, but pretty close, http://www.harborfreight.com/21-oz-hopper-gravity-feed-spot-blaster-gun-95793.html

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Darcshadow I use a pressure pot. I just put a 1/4 valve on the end and put a 1/16' rotec nozzle on that. The only time I use a siphon gun is if I am doing a large piece that is frosted all over and not deep etched.

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