midwaste 4 Posted March 5, 2009 Howdy, The cutting speed varies depending upon the material being cut. Example, wood is very hard to cut as the wood fibers absorb the impact from the abrasive and the material dents rather than cut. On the other end is glass which despite its appearance cuts very quickly. Slate stone is soft compared to marble, etc. The slate tiles I pictured in an earlier post in this thread took me about 30 min's to cut. Part of the issue has to due with pressure vs resist adhesion. Too much pressure will blow the resist loose and that is not good. Once loose it is as good as gone as bast grit is almost guaranteed to have gotten stuck to the loose piece and it will never stick well again. The issue of siphon vs pressure pot is partially dependant upon what you are attempting to do. It is very difficult to get good and consistent grit flow and consistent pressure from the siphon systems. I do not know of a carver that is still using a siphon system. Pressure pot is - in my opinion - the only way to go EXCEPT for the very low end work such as rust removal, etc. Siphon is easier as the pot never goes empty, but ...... John Thanks! Pressure vs. resist adhesion, indeed.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bigdaddy 0 Posted March 6, 2009 MIDWASTE: You asked about my abrasive. Don't laugh but I have been using straight silica sand as of late. I started out buying the good stuff (AO & SC) but at $2+ / lb it got expensive. Then I tried some 70 grit silica sand from a company up the road from me. Price? $4 / 100 pounds = .04 cents/lb. Yes, the stuff does not stand up but I figure that I can go thru a heck of a lot of sand for the same price as SC. I make DAMN sure that ALL of the dust produced is controlled. I have a 3 micron HEPA filter on my shop vac and the dust that goes thru the filter is exhausted directly outside the back of my shop building. Very little goes out but I don't want it in my shop! I have found that the sand cuts just fine. And if I do a job involving rust and crap I do not feel bad about dumping the used sand. If you want to see my blast cab, here it is:http://community.webshots.com/user/mmrxboss I have also posted photos of a really good working shop exhaust fan setup. John Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
midwaste 4 Posted March 6, 2009 :) That is a slick cabinet! Awesome info on the exhaust fan too, off to the hardware store.. I have been needing to build one of these for discharge screenprinting inks anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sandstormdesigns 2 Posted April 25, 2009 It is nice to see other people out there doing some of the same form of art. At least you can talk with individuals about issues, instead of trying to learn them on your own. Here is some of my work. www.myspace.com/frostedimages. I am always updating the site with new projects. Any question, please feel free to ask. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
