Is sandblasting worthwhile?

[Bob Davis]

Our shop uses several lasers and rotary engravers which are busy nearly all of the time.
About a year ago I came across a cheap sandblaster and decided to add it to our arsenal as I had heard that it could be useful.
Because we are so busy I've only had a few opportunities to play with it, but at this stage it has not earned a penny for us, and my experience with it has been quite frustrating. Everything about the procedure is fiddly and time consuming, and the supplies are expensive. With the exception of glass, other methods produce a better result in less time, and with a degree of certainty that I haven't yet achieved with the blaster. It seems that any minor problem with any part of the procedure results in a blown product; too much or too little exposure, too much or too little washout, accurate placement of the resist, too much or too little blasting time/pressure, stray particles hitting unmasked areas, laser print not dark enough....The problems seem to go on and on. I think I would have to put a lot of effort and time into the procedure before I'd be game to use it on an irreplaceable item.
Speaking to others in the business it appears that many have decided that the procedure is just too demanding and time-intensive to be usable. I've been told that there are a number of machines quietly gathering dust in a quiet corner because it's not easy to make them pay.
That brings me to my question. Do members of the forum make daily use of a sandblaster? Is it an essential and worthwhile part of your business? Does it pay its way in comparison to a laser, sublimater or rotary?

[Bill Cunningham]

I'm pretty much having the same experience. But I look at it from a different perspective.. I bought the cabinet cheap.. It's a floor model and it set me back $150.00 (big deal) I already had a small compressor, and was going to buy a bigger one anyway (costco $450.00 60 gal. tank 12cfm) and a bag of sand to start things off.. Total cost $625.00 and the compressor was needed anyway.. Not much to pay for any processing system today.. Does it make money? Nope not yet, But I'm reading and learning. Do I need it right now? Nope. but it's there if I do, and it was cheap.. But I know one thing for sure.. Last year I had to turn down a few hundred coated stainless flasks. Had I had the blaster then, I 'would' have made a good buck (You can't cermark through a coating it must be blasted off first) $150.00 is cheap insurance, fun to play with, a learning experience, and the next time I won't have to turn a job away that 'could' be processed in the blaster better! Just one more tool for the crib..

[Joe Pelonio]

The only blasting I have done is for wood signs, and most of those are too big for the small cabinet setups so I send them out.

[James Stokes]

I have a sandblaster and I use it a lot. I may not use it every day but I do use it quite often. I etch a lot of glass, some large jobs. I had one last year that was $28,000. I also do a lot of landscaping boulders. If you push it you can make a lot of money.

[Rags Alan Ragland]

I use my blaster on ALL glass that I laser. I do not use any wash out resist. Do I make money with it--you bet. I am doing 26 glass plaques and as many bottles right now. But I can understand why some do not like it.
Epilog legend 75W and Chroma craft with Rayzist blaster.

[Robert Rosensteel]

I started out sandblasting doing alot of Glassware and than tried stone. I have two cabinets one 36" and one 72" in the shop. the setup cost was not that bad. I use silicone carbide which can be used over and over and photoresist those two products do cost but are worth it. I do a lot of Garden markers,petmarker, tiles,address markers, and bricks for different fund raisers. I have had my laser just close to a year,(and I am still learning)and its been great for cutting rubber stencils, small signs, plexiglass, and wood. I have engraved well over 50 thousand glasses with sandblasting and do work for many trophy shops on high end crystal that the laser won't do.I feel that sandblasting has a better look and feel with glassware.There are jobs that I can do faster with sandblasting glassware than with the laser.With sandblasting you can get a better results with odd shape products. I really like the results that you get with stone when carving designs deep.I find that the laser keeps me from losing the customer that comes in and wants 500 gifts engraved with a logo for 2 dollars each which would take some time to tape off for sand blasting. Over all I am glad to have both and think they make a great team for engraving. Next I will look into CNC when my wife is in a great mood... Robert

[Hilton Lister]

Yes, I use a sandblasting system, but mostly on glass. I seldom use the wash out resist any more unless it's very detailed work. I have a cheap vinyl cutter (Roland Stika)and use low cost calendered vinyl for most of my masks. The secret is to apply the mask, then weed it out. It takes too long to do it the other way as invariably, some of the inside sections of lettering slide out of place and have to be repositioned. You can cut splits in the mask and overlap it to fit compound curves. A sheet of rubber is with the appropriate size hole cut in it is useful to wrap glasses in so as you don't have to tape so much.

The laser is only useful on glasses/tankards that are nearly straight sided.

[Mike Null]

I sold my system a couple of years ago and haven't regretted it. I know that blasting is much superior to the laser for glass but in my home based business I couldn't get paid enough. Besides it was dirty.

If I had a retail shop I'd probably have one but I'm glad it's gone.

[Nicole Hernandez]

I started out as a sandblaster and yes there is a learning curve, but the quality is great once you get the hang of it. I dumped my sandblaster right after we purchased the laser and there is not a day that goes by that I wish I didn't get rid of it. I too, moved towards using cheap vinyl as a stencil.. the real draw back.. .messy, messy, messy. Going forward, I would have to consider getting something like a crystalblast... would help with the mess.

[Rodne Gold]

I have a good sandblasting setup , used rarely but is sort of essential.
Heres what I use it for
1) flat glass blasting using low tack vinyl as masks, I cut the vinyl either on a vinyl cutter or kiss cut usuing my laser.
I also use paper based sign application tape as a resist (withstands a reasonable blast) which is app-lied to the substrate I want to blast and then lasered away fior very fine detail blasting. I use the shiny metal vinyls which are polyester for a far more robust resist , they are laserable and can give you hairline detial.
2)I use it for etching , we use the polyester vinyl as a acid/ferric resist , laser the fine detail away and then blast the plate to remove the glue residues and expose bare metal for the etch.
3) I often use it for decorative efects , like blasting perspex for large solid areas of frosting or just to change the surface finish of a material. Frosting clear prerpex one side and lasering the other gives some nice subtle effects. If yoju laser engrave glass and then blast it the same side as the engraving , the engraving "remains" and goes deeper then the blast even when blasted and also has a nice subtle effect.
I often use sandblsting to remove the ridges and inconsistencies lasering leaves when engraving deeply into woods or plastics etc. I have used it a few times to do marble/granite slab blasting or foundation stones for buildings but the times required to blast these real deep with our setup are long.
Where I have been able to make quite good money is 3d sandcarving using selective removal of resists , but these are mainly one offs and take a long time to develop the "plan" of what to remove when.

Combined with the laser , sandblasting works quite well , however I would hate to use it with a photo type resist , that sounds real fiddly.
Thing is , we run one of those real big 3 phase compressors for all our shop air , so adding a blasting cabinet and some other big filtration type unit with it wasnt a big expense . I can't say I have made money directly off it , but it has allowed me to do stuff which I wouldnt have to been able to without it ...like metal etching using our laser.
I have seen those sites that sort of say , make a million bucks in your spare time with our sandcarving/blasting setup....Im a sceptic.

[Gary Hair]

I started out with a laser and bought sandcarving equipment about 6 months later. It is my second highest seller with laser being the top. I have had jobs carving boulders that brought in over 250/hour and that's with the customer supplying the boulder. I do a lot of glasses, probably $15,000 in the last year.
I use my laser for some mask, vinyl plotter for others and am just starting to look into photoresist.

It's a money maker if you try, if not, it won't be - just like any other equipment.

Gary

edit: DON'T use sand! use aluminum oxide if possible. sand (silica) causes silicosis, very nasty stuff!

[Rodne Gold]

What do you blast on boulders , what they used for? Nothing like that in South Africa, perhaps I can start a trend?
Problem here is there are a ton of sandblasting companies around here , mostly home based , all scrabbling for a slice of the pie and undercutting each other , same as vinyl cutting , every tom dick and harry has one and a small stock of ABS or chromodek and they all "signmakers"

The hassle with any process is that you may be able to do it , and you may be good at it and do the best work , but without marketing it intensively , it's like winking at a woman in the dark , no one but you knows what you are doing.
I really need to do more marketing , but don't have the energy to do so myself or hire a REP (had a huge amount of trouble with reps)
So What I have JUST implemented is this:
I have 20 staff , I have printed business cards for ALL of them , from the tea lady upwards and have told them that any job they get over $100 , I will give them at least 5-10% commision on , andf they will get it on repeats too... So now , hopefully , I will have 20 reps who I dont have to train as to what we do or our capabilities , I will give em a lecture or 2 on sales technique , where opportunities lie etc.
Dunno how it will all turn out .....the card come on tuesday , tho the staff seem real keen to go out and sell and make some extra.

[Gary Hair]

What do you blast on boulders , what they used for?

I have blasted pet memorials, quotes, etc. You name it, I have probably blasted it in something. The biggest job was blasting company names in a "tribute" wall to recognize contributors on a large outdoor ampitheater. I kept my blaster busy for about 4 days and brought in $6,000 on that job. Oh, and they provided the stone, all I had for cost was laser mask and blast media - about $150 total.

Gary