darcshadow

If you have a compressor already you can get underway for around $75. I bought the Air Eraser from HF for $25, a clear tote, plexi glass, and some rubber gloves for about $30 from Lowes, and 5 pounds of Aluminium Oxide 120 grit for $14 from ebay. Probably should of got some actual blast gloves, $10 from ebay, but I didn't want to wait.

I think it was about 5 minutes.

Let us know how that works out as that stuff is easier to find and a little cheaper. However, Black Beauty has a hardness between 6-7 Mohs which is the same as glass. My guess is it will work, but will require longer blasting times and possibly higher pressures.

I relooked at the inkscape pattern on path. Took some tweaking of the settings and a little learning curve and I was able to get to work. Now that I know what I'm doing the next time it will be easier.

They are the same as the glove opening. It is a slightly tight fit for my hands. When the gloves wear out I'm going to look for a larger pair.

I forgot about that option. I played around with it once before but it would not do what I was wanting so I forgot about it. I'll have to take another look at it.

Anyone have the ability to do a print about 32" square on canvis or cloth of some sort?

Yeah, used that before but it only works for text. The is a tool that kind of works for graphics but it is a pain to use.

Sorry, wasn't clear in my question. Once I have the template, is there an easy way in either program to distort the text/graphic to match the template? The best way I've found so far in SignBlazer is to put the graphic on the template, then do an inline on the template so that the top curve touches the top of the graphic. Then do another inline of the template so that the bottom curve touches the bottom of the graphic. Then select the graphic and do a manipulate/distortion, choose the Arch option and adjust the nodes so that they line up with the inlines of the template. As for the math, it's not all that complicated and a simple spreadsheet can give you all the numbers you need to draw one yourself. And unless you are wanting to wrap all the way around, all you really need to calculate and draw are the two circles. Inverted Truncated Cone.zip

Is there an easy way to do this in SignBlazer or Inkscape? Best I see is in SignBlazer is the distortion and the Arch option. Is there a better option that I'm missing in either of the programs?

Compact the specs of the pump to the demand of the gun. Most of the air brush pumps are under 1 cfm. Most blast guns require 4 or more. The is some leeway with a compressor that has a tank. Assuming you are not doing a continuous long spray the tank will usually give you enough air for small stuff and then you can just wait for the tank to refill.

I too made the jump to etching. I was never quite happy with the cream. Here is my first attempt at a mug. And here is my home made blast tub. Although I just realized after taking the photo I still need to add a hole for the air hose. When I made the mug I didn't have the gloves attached and so I ran the air hose in through the arm holes and just wrapped some towels around my arms to block up the holes. It did a really nice job of containing the dust so I'm hopeful my improvements will make it that much better. I the lid had support cross moldings that I left for the added support but I might rethink that. They create shadows at just the wrong spot. I'm going to try different lighting options first but will likely remove the cross to get better lighting as well as visibility. I used a HF air eraser with 120grit AO at 45PSI with a small 8 gallon 2HP air compressor, worked great.

My brother-in-law had a board game, Eclipse, that requires you to lay out tiles and he asked about making a mat with a space image and the location of the tiles. Banner material might work but I figure a cloth of some kind that could be folded up and stored with the game would be better than a rolled up banner, would probably lay flatter as well. Attached is a low res version of the image.

At the very least you want the water mark on top of your image, not behind it.

That is really cool.

Folkart Acrylic paint once baked on is supose to be dishwasher safe. I played around with it a little but it wasn't the look I was wanting. I etched a glass with the Armor etch cream and then without removing the stencil did the paint. I also tried painting a section of the glass with out etching. Both looked the same so the etching was kind of pointless. A deaper etch that you can get from a sandblaster might give better results. Small bottles are only like $1.50 at Hobby Lobby so it doesn't cost much to try different things. I found a couple of web pages talking about different techniques and ways to achive translucent effects.

I don't have SB with me right now but I could of swore there was something like that. If someone else doesn't chime in, I'll double check when I get home tonight.

I forget where it is exaclty but there should be something along the lines of put text on path. Just draw your wavy line, select your text and the wavy line and do the put text on path option. If SB doesn't have that option, I know Inkscape does.

Also, oilless or oil? Since you want dry air I'm assuming oilless would work better for this but it looks like oil compressors are quiter, larger capabilities, and have a longer life span. So if one were to go with an oil compressor will a oil/water inline filter do a good enough job to dry the air?

You should water mark it and it probably wouldn't hurt to keep it at a low resolution. High res images are easier to steal.

You should see the idiots in Texas. Half of them can't even drive in heavy rain, let alone ice.

For just practice, Goodwill usually has a nice selection of glass. Some of it would even be nice enough to resell after cleaning it up and etching.

What sort of spec. on a compressor do you recommend?

In SB you could make four copies of your logo. Then make 3 boxes and possition them over the logo so they block out all but one quadrant. Weld the 3 boxes, then punch the welded boxes and the logo. This will leave one quadrant of the logo. Repeat the process for the other 3 quadrants on the other 3 copies. Not the most eligant option but quick and easy.

What I did in inkscape was to duplicate the image and slide it over to the side. I then node edited it and removed the leaves and first two berries. I then went back to the original and node edited it to remove the berries that needed editing. Next I duplicated the berries and set it aside. I then node edited and removed all but the one berry I was working on. Adjusted the vectors to get the berry to looking the way I wanted and slide it into place with the leaves. I then went back to the berry bunch, duplicated it again slide it to the side and then started node editing the next berry. Repeat as necessary.