Etching gun ? Paasche VS. Harbor Freight

[jchatman 0]

I want to start etching beer mugs etc. I haven't decided witch one to get. Paasche or Harbor Freight? What are your thoughts? What do you use. I would like what you think. Thanks

[userjon 1]

I started doing the same thing and after much thought put into it I went with HF.  For the cost you can't go wrong.  I love it.  Hope this helps.  Good Luck.

[Rodger 527]

  Hi ,

I bought 2 sandblast guns ( $20 type ) from Harbor Freight last week , but have not gotten a chance to try them out yet . I did read another thread here a few days ago where the member said they threw the Harbor freight stuff in the lake & use the Pasche . I think it was said the Pasche was $40 I need to find out what a Pasche is & where they sell them . It sounds like the money difference is well worth it ( reading the thread I'm talking about . )

[mikerob2334 2]

http://www.paascheairbrush.com/store/search.html

[Paradox 0]

I think the comment about tossing the HF gun was about a air eraser. More like a airbrush. They tossed the harbor freight version of the air eraser and used the Passche version.

If you are talking about the gun sized versions it sounds like the HF versions work fairly well.

[Booper 2]

Here's my dumb question for the day, the OP was asking about etching beer mugs which I assume he's talking about sandblasting or beadblasting equipment. This Pasche thingy is an airbrush.  Can you use and airbrush to sandblast? 

Ben

[bigbrad 0]

If he is talking about blasting, I don't use a gun, I use a foot pedal-much more convenient than a pistol grip

[Guest crshirts]

The air earser uses a fine fine sand almost like flower.

Pasche is the way to go if you want to use one of these

but they are not cheap more along the $60 and up price.

Carl

[jchatman 0]

I worked in a shop years ago where my boss had a paasche airbrush that would shoot fine sand.  I don't want to buy the paasche if I'm only buying the name. So I didn't know if the HF airbrush was just as good.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

own a craftsman portable sandblaster, harbour freight cabinet - both work great -just picked up a clarke pressure pot blaster for 35 off ebay close by to add a little punch and make things quicker

[Rodger 527]

I gathered what Paradox & Booper said also from the thread & assume the air chisel/eraser etc can be used to sandblast/etch mugs ( from reading both threads ) . Do all these items have nozzles that can be replaced ? & are there different sized nozzles to experiement with ?  

[UncleCrack 0]

Realistically as long as you have your airpressure set correct and you use the correct media just about anything will work. I used a textur gun befor and just bumped the airpressure up and used a smaller nozzle.

[midwaste 4]

From my experience doing mugs, you are going to want an actual sandblast gun that you can use heavier grit with, or it's going to take you a looong time.  Most of the "air erasers" use very, very fine media, you will not get a very defined etch without a lot of time and media.

[userjon 1]

I got a blasting cabnet from HF with 40 lbs of 70 grit Black Oxide media, already had a compresser, and spent $270.  It takes me about 20 - 25 seconds to do one mug.  Great investment.

[Rodger 527]

Which cabinet did you get & would you buy that model again ? Did you buy the dust collector from HF also ?

Thanks , Rodger

[mikerob2334 2]

From my experience doing mugs, you are going to want an actual sandblast gun that you can use heavier grit with, or it's going to take you a looong time.  Most of the "air erasers" use very, very fine media, you will not get a very defined etch without a lot of time and media.

Do you say this because of larger areas taking longer? I'm thinking about getting both a gun and an air eraser. My thought on this is that if I have something that has fine lines and not large areas the eraser would be good for this. What do you think?

[Aaron636r 0]

I picked up one of the cheapy Harbor Freight guns with some glass media.  I cant seem to get it to etch anything.  Throws a few knicks on the glass but thats about it.

[userjon 1]

Which cabinet did you get & would you buy that model again ? Did you buy the dust collector from HF also ?

Thanks , Rodger

I got the bigger cabnet which has the stand with it.  As far as the dust collector, no, simply because all it is, is a vacuum not a reclaimer, and for an extra $119 it wasn't worth it.  I use my little Craftsman shop vac and it does the exact same job as the "reclaimer".  They get you with that reclaimer word because you think you get to reuse what it sucks up, but in reality you discard what it vacuums anyways.  Hopes this helps.  CHEERS

[bigbrad 0]

I used to use a crystal blast cabinet until I built a blast room. It has a window so you do the blasting on the outside. I did this because I blast alot of different stuff and a blast cabinet is too small for any real production.

[Rodger 527]

Which cabinet did you get & would you buy that model again ? Did you buy the dust collector from HF also ?

Thanks , Rodger

I got the bigger cabnet which has the stand with it.  As far as the dust collector, no, simply because all it is, is a vacuum not a reclaimer, and for an extra $119 it wasn't worth it.  I use my little Craftsman shop vac and it does the exact same job as the "reclaimer".  They get you with that reclaimer word because you think you get to reuse what it sucks up, but in reality you discard what it vacuums anyways.  Hopes this helps.  CHEERS

Yes it does . Thank you for the reply  Is there any difference other than size in the HF cabinets ? They have 1 with a side door for $119 on sale now .

[lueman 19]

Update: I added a Silica-Gel filter and the HF a eraser seems to be putting out dry air , will put pics soon. So far total cost $60.00 & compressor.

[midwaste 4]

From my experience doing mugs, you are going to want an actual sandblast gun that you can use heavier grit with, or it's going to take you a looong time.  Most of the "air erasers" use very, very fine media, you will not get a very defined etch without a lot of time and media.

Do you say this because of larger areas taking longer? I'm thinking about getting both a gun and an air eraser. My thought on this is that if I have something that has fine lines and not large areas the eraser would be good for this. What do you think?

Larger areas are going to take longer, as well as the very fine media that can be used with the eraser is going to take much longer as well, regardless of the area.  A regular blaster will do the fine lines just fine, providing the vinyl sticks well, which it should.  The difference is that you can use 70 grit vs whatever grit the talcum powder the erasers blast may be (at least 220, probably higher).

I picked up one of the cheapy Harbor Freight guns with some glass media.  I cant seem to get it to etch anything.  Throws a few knicks on the glass but thats about it.

How well do you expect glass bead to etch glass?  Try the aluminum oxide media instead.

[userjon 1]

Which cabinet did you get & would you buy that model again ? Did you buy the dust collector from HF also ?

Thanks , Rodger

I got the bigger cabnet which has the stand with it.  As far as the dust collector, no, simply because all it is, is a vacuum not a reclaimer, and for an extra $119 it wasn't worth it.  I use my little Craftsman shop vac and it does the exact same job as the "reclaimer".  They get you with that reclaimer word because you think you get to reuse what it sucks up, but in reality you discard what it vacuums anyways.  Hopes this helps.  CHEERS

Yes it does . Thank you for the reply  Is there any difference other than size in the HF cabinets ? They have 1 with a side door for $119 on sale now .

If it's the one with the stand, go for it, unless you have a table to set the standless one on.  I'm telling you, this was a very good investment for me.  My very first mug, I took it to a local restraunt they liked it so much they ordered 200 of them.  So what I'm saying, is go for it you can't beat that price and you can make your money back on the first job.  CHEERS.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

floor standing cabinet is really handy for us -now we are going to add a hole so we can use the pressure pot with the cabinet also - fives us options

[Rodger 527]

Thanks All . good info  . What does adding the pressure pot to the cabinet do ? I am somewhat familiar with big pressure pots used to sandblast equipment etc , but have not had much experience sandblasting with a cabinet or pressure pot .