how do i bead blast glass with vinyl stencils?

[Philip Hammerton]

A product called Ritec can be applied to sandblasted glass using a cloth – this will seal the sandblasted surface for up to 18 months depending on where glass is situated – generally Ritec coating is applied to glass that is used for architectural purposes such as a building canopy, staircase balustrades, non slip floor panels etc – as the glass will receive weathering, finger marks and water splash marks – sandblasted glass will require resealing over time though.

Have you thought about screen printing ceramic inks onto glass and firing the glass in a pottery type kiln – you can still use your vinyl masks – just coat the glass all over with ceramic inks – dry the ink using a heat gun – peel off your mask – then fire inks into the glass in the kiln – You will get a permanent design on glass that is water/stain resistant similar to a pottery glaze.

[owenbooth]

Thanks for your reply, that’s great. I actually work with Ceramic inks in a glass processing plant, and do large scale pieces all the time. The only reason I haven’t tried it on these is the minimum size limit to our furnace. However, I had not thought of using a pottery kiln. I suspect that the small pieces I plan to sandblast could be kept in good condition just by regular cleaning in the good-old dishwasher!
I’ll do more homework, thanks again!

[George Kern]

If you are making a vinyl mask stencil and going to bead blast it that vinyl will disappear in about 2 seconds. Won’t work unless your right on the money with it. If you had a stencil made from lets say CNC routed sheet metal however that would probably work well.

[owenbooth]

You have a point there, I wondered about that. The design is likely to be a repeat job for a small batch, so it might be worth investing in a laser cut steel stencil. I know that there is a sort of rubberised adhesive sheet material you can use, but don’t know how they cut it. Too thick for the old plotter I suspect. Thanks for your input.

[Russell Pavey]

quote owenbooth:

I know that there is a sort of rubberised adhesive sheet material you can use, but don’t know how they cut it. Too thick for the old plotter I suspect. Thanks for your input.

Yes there is and you can cut it on a plotter – just need to use a 65 degree knife. Can only be used once though.

Russ

[Dave Bruce]

Owen, I think you will find that the vinyl masks are fine for glass etching, especially if you are using suction blast cabinet. I produce these for a client and had no comeback, plus I am just setting up my own system for doing the same. Have used the rubber blast vinyl for doing pressure blasting outside.

Dave

[Steve Morgan]

I’ve done quite a lot of bead and sand blasting onto glassware using cut vinyl masks.
I use cast material if there is small text (3.5mm cap ht) and ordinary calendered for anything else. Make sure you keep the pressure down – for decorative work I find that 30 -40 psi is more than enough.
There is a company in Scotland who produce masks from photographs which are very fine but once again you need to keep the pressure doen to about 25 – 30psi.

Steve

[owenbooth]

That’s awesome guys, valuable feedback indeed. I think I’ll try it out with the vinyl mask first and see how it holds up. I’ll post back should I have any further questions. I’m glad I joined this forum, it’s already been very useful!

[owenbooth]

Well I got the sandblaster, and using stencils cut from Hexis brand stenciling vinyl I did up 20 coasters for a client. It was fast, and looked professional. The vinyl held up without any problems at all. I would call that a success! Thanks again for all your advice people!