Graniteguy

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Everything posted by Graniteguy

  1. Graniteguy

    Sandblasting!

    Folks: I would like to start a thread about sandblasting in all of its glorious forms. I recycle excess granite and marble from counter top makers. Some of my products are pet memorials, pavers, garden stones, scripture plaques, trivets, signage and I just started making business card holders. I sandblast graphics on the stone using Anchor's Anchorblast lite t226, which I purchase from US Cutter. My sandblaster is a Harbor Freight cabinet siphon unit and I blast with silicon carbide grit. The plotter I use is an Ioline Super 88, driven by a Dell PC running XP. My graphics software is SignGo Lite. Soon I hope to upgrade to Imigaro Z Professional to process my graphics with. My graphics are obtained from various sources: Dover is a big one. Often I take an image off the internet and torture it with Paintshop Pro and InkScape to produce a vectorized image. Imigaro will eliminate many of the steps I have to take. I've doing this for about 3+ years now, and I have learned most of the sandblasting and graphics on my own. So. I would like to hear from other sandblasters: What do you make, what is your equipment, how long have you been doing it, what have you learned, what do you like, etc. JT
  2. Graniteguy

    Sandblasting!

    You should be ok with a compressor of that size. Glass usually doesn't need to be cut deep like stone. Eventually you'll probably want something a little bigger, but with the HF cabinet and such, your setup should give you plenty of satisfaction.
  3. Graniteguy

    Army Tribute

    From the album: graniteguy

    A tribute to an Army unit back from Afghanistan. I did two of these for Christmas.
  4. Graniteguy

    graniteguy

    Examples of sandblasting art on stone
  5. Graniteguy

    Sandblasting!

    More eyes, more solutions. We don't all see the same thing at the same time, but together we see everything. I hope everyone had a super Christmas and New Year. Another thing about the Rub n Buff: Harbor Freight has a nice little flexible shaft unit with a foot pedal speed control. I've had one for a couple of years now and wouldn't trade it for much of anything (yes, everything has a price) except maybe a name brand version of the same thing. JT
  6. I've met the owner personally and he's a straight up guy. He's taken the time to show me how the software works and I will be purchasing the package as soon as Uncle Sam gives me my tax refund. The on-board tutorials are great and will walk you through just about anything. Like all powerful software, there is a learning curve. For me the curve is steep and short, probably because I think like the guys who wrote the program. But. If you invest the time to learn, it will pay great dividends. JT
  7. Graniteguy

    Sandblasting!

    What little experience I have with rub n buff has not been on blasted glass. I did put on a good layer, wait awhile, then buff. It is a very interesting and versatile product.
  8. Graniteguy

    Barrick Memorial

    From the album: graniteguy

    Another pet memorial. My wife Doris does the line art from photos.
  9. Graniteguy

    Not your granddaddy's cough syrup :)

    Cool. Is that vinyl or is it blasted? JT
  10. Graniteguy

    Large Tiger

    From the album: graniteguy

    12X16 inch, 2 cm.
  11. Graniteguy

    Large Tiger

    Thank you. I kept that piece of granite for 2 years knowing a tiger had to go on it.
  12. Graniteguy

    Frozen

    Really good one. It finally warmed up to 34 degrees here today. Positively balmy. JT
  13. Graniteguy

    Sandblasting!

    lueman, check out dickblick.com. That's a glass art supply and they have glass paints there. The rub'n buff is a great idea too. JT
  14. Graniteguy

    Sandblasting!

    That looks nice. You might try a bolder font, but I do like the looks of what you have there. I use epoxy paint on the stone I blast. It's the stuff they use to paint brake calipers for cars. VHT is the brand. It heat cures in 20 minutes at 200 degrees F. If you strip the stencil off when the paint is just dry to the touch, you don't get much flash. You might also check out some of the glass art sites. Seems like I saw some dyes and other coloring agents. JT
  15. Graniteguy

    Sandblasting!

    Seems like the best compressor for a small cabinet like the HF is one that puts out about 20 cfm at 100 psi. The one I have now doesn't have that much muscle, so I have to wait for it to catch up. If you have access to 220 power, its much easier to find a compressor that will do the job. Even easier if you have 3-phase. I see used ones for around a grand that would do the job for me. A lot depends on your system. A siphon unit uses a lot more air than a pressure pot. I modified my gun so it only uses around 12 cfm. Since I'm only doing detail work and not cleaning large items, it works. Sort of. I plan to upgrade when the IRS smiles on me. JT
  16. Graniteguy

    Garden Stone

    From the album: graniteguy

    Another of my garden series. The oval is a cutout from a bathroom vanity.
  17. Graniteguy

    Sandblasting!

    OK, so it's too cold to stand out there at the sandblaster, so I took some pictures. I modified the HF cabinet a bit as mentioned in my previous post. These shots show the mods I made for lighting and air. I don't know who the old guy is, he just keeps showing up.
  18. Graniteguy

    Sandblasting!

    As for the grit, it just recycles. I don't screen it unless I start having problems with clogs. That sometimes happens when I'm blasting pieces that I've chipped along the edges. I usually smooth those down with a wire wheel if the piece is going to be handled. If it's a garden stone or a wall piece, I don't. Chunks of stone sometimes come off these rougher edges. For a mask I use a 3M mask with P100 filters. You can find that at a welding supply. It's the same one I use when I weld something. The mask is comfortable and the filters are easy to breath through and don't clog easily. My dust removal system consists of an old Kirby vacuum cleaner head with some a hose attached to the output that runs out into the blackberries. It draws well enough that I get very little if any, dust. For lighting, I removed the feeble florescent fixture in the light box and cut the top out of the cover. I attached 3 cheap 150- watt halogen work lights from Lowes. I removed the cover glasses from the lights to allow some cooling. The lamps last a lot longer that way. The lights are powered by an outlet strip I screwed to the back of the light box. My air compressor is a cheap HF compressor that I will replace when it dies. My drier is two HF filter/dryer units in series. That setup works pretty well, although sometimes I get a little moisture. I just have to remember to drain the collectors every so often when I'm working. Siphon blasters aren't particularly sensitive to water. Pressure pots are very sensitive. I'll try to get out and take some pictures. It's super cold here right now (18 deg F), so the blaster sits idle. JT
  19. Graniteguy

    Help me pick a logo

    Yeah, you can tell when their eyes glaze over that your explanation is more than what was wanted. However, being the geek that I am, I would like to know what sublimation Dawn is. JT
  20. Graniteguy

    Help me pick a logo

    I really like your logo. As for you describing what you do, develop your "elevator speech". Say who you are and what you do in 10 to 15 seconds. Write it down and practice it so you can sell it. Pick what you want to do and sell that. "My business is called 'Repurposed Stone'. I take excess marble and granite from counter top makers and upcycle it into useful items such as pet memorials, garden stones, pavers and home decor."-that's mine. You're off to a great start with that logo. JT JT JT
  21. Graniteguy

    Sandblasting!

    Take it slow, do your homework. Above all, enjoy yourself. JT
  22. Graniteguy

    Sandblasting!

    The ceramic nozzles that come with the HF blast cabinet will last a couple of hours. With silicon carbide, they will last minutes. You'll need to get a boron carbide nozzle for either the siphon gun or the pressure pot. Check out Big A's sandblasting supplies. I use a 1/8" nozzle. The gun I use now is a Clemco knockoff from BadBoy sandblasters. I modified the setup to use a foot pedal instead of the trigger gun that came with the HF cab. I used the trigger gun for a couple of years before I switched, so you can use that to find out what works for you. When you're doing glass, the blast time is short unless you're carving, so you can do a lot before things start to wear out. Plenty good to learn with. Go to a plastics supplier like TAP and get .010" poly carbonate sheet to protect your window. You can get a 2' x 4' sheet for about 5 bucks. That will make 4 protectors. I take my window out and duct tape the sheet all the way around, then put it back in. It lasts for about 6-7 hours of blasting. I periodically wipe the inside of the window with a wet paper towel to remove the dust that accumulates. Lately I've been thinking of getting some more glass windows at the local glass place, then tape up protectors on them to stand by, ready for rapid replacement. As I said, I'm still using a siphon gun. I'd like to try the pressure pot, though. Looking at cut rate that seems possible, it would cut my blast time a huge amount, even with stone. Check out the Rayzist site, look at the videos. I just need a better compressor and a drier. The great fun in all of this is the experimentation, trying new things, tweeking, fun, fun, fun. Trading ideas!
  23. Graniteguy

    Sandblasting!

    I use 70 grit silicon carbide, but I'm cutting stone. ALOX is good for glass. Seems like most glass blasters use finer stuff. I'm sure some of the more experienced art blasters will weigh in. The HF benchtop cabinet is a good start. Have fun, first and foremost. JT
  24. Graniteguy

    Sandblasting!

    Wow. Cheaper than buying the sockets alone, then. Looks like I'll be ordering one of those things. Thanks for a super idea. The other thing I like about the scanner is the weighted lid to hold everything flat. If you wanted a larger unit, there are surplus places where you can buy a dead copier. Standup operation, large work area, storage underneath, maybe even a power supply if you wanted to use UV LEDs instead of florescent bulbs. JT
  25. Graniteguy

    Sandblasting!

    Yes! Go-go-go! The paper is a great idea. You could control the intensity by adding or removing sheets of paper. You can also get some white sheet plastic at a place like TAP plastics. They'll even cut it for you. You could use some of that spray-on window frosting, too. I can tell you that a light box is a great addition to any graphics setup. I finally got one and it speeds up line drawing from photos about 10 times. I wish now I'd thought of the flatbed scanner trick. Great idea. JT