Project 2 Etched Glasses

Hi

Finally finished the mugs, 11 so far and I have only managed to damage the paint on one of them which I shall repair, typically it was the red spray that got a scratch through it but once the Rub n Buff arrives I shall try that on it.

Got to thinking about what I wrote about the difficulty in wrapping a resist around a curved object, not just the curve around a cup or glass but a 3 dimensional curve both around and up and down and thought it can't be that difficult and as I have had a request for a glass for one of the lads on my ship I thought I'd give it a go.

I used the curviest glass I could find.

Doesn't look that curved but its enough for me.
I wanted to put lettering all the way around so I scribed a line both above and below at 30mm depth where the lettering will go between.

I then needed the circumference of the glass at both lines.

Then using C=2πr I was able to work out the circumference at both level, I could then have drawn out the curve on paper to make the template but that's what the computers for.

I tried to measure the depth of the curve required and put a square to the glass and measured across but only got a couple of mil measurement so in the end I winged it, it took the second attempt to get the correct curve, I wrapped the first cut and it twisted a bit so tried again.

Once happy I typed in the text using the curved text tool so that it followed the shape of the curve.

Then I sent it to the cutter and weeded.

I double checked it on the glass before sticking then lined it up and very carefully applied it.

Not a bad fit, the first one I tried had a lot of wrinkles in but this one fit great, the gap at the back was caused by not taking into consideration the curve when I measured out, I should have added a few mil.

Once I had this in place I thought I would do a second one a little deeper and shorter on the glass and as its my 22nd wedding anniversary today I thought it would be nice surprise to make one for Lynne.

As an experiment I thought I would make one as if the glass had just the one curve and see how much it went out of shape when applying.

So a bit deeper at 50 mm and 90mm wide.

This did not work at all, I even tried a hair drier but no joy.

The next attempt was the same as the first with a deep curve, although this was total guess work to get enough depth.

I kept the same design and cut.

On a loose try it seemed ok at least better than the first attempt.

I still had a few problems and needed to make a few cuts in areas where the vinyl was starting to bunch but all in all it went around quite well.

I fully masked off and into the cabinet.

I didn't really want any depth just a light etch but still went a little deeper than what I was after.

It was after I blasted that I realised I hadn't put any lovy dovy message on Lynne's glass so back on the computer.

I used the same curve as on the front and stuck this on the back of the glass.

The end results where quite good, I had been etching and carving for a lot of years and never done anything like this before so making something usable makes quite a change.

Very pleased with results, the rub n buff didn't arrive even though I paid extra for quick delivery, I was going to use the gold buff on the Ross glass, may still do.

Paul

Project 1 Etched Mugs

Hi

As with most things I get into these days it seems to get out of hand and everyone wants one, now it's etched mugs and its gone from the couple I was going to make to 11 and knowing how these things work it will only get more out of hand.

These are for the guy's at work and its pretty good practice in design layout, tracking down images, vectorizing, etching and painting so a good start.

I have been searching for mugs to use and its pretty straight forward in that the mugs need to be straight, I am using a vinyl resist and conforming to the shape of a curved mug as I tried doesn't quite work without distorting the pattern. Obviously this only applies if your design covers the mug top to bottom as mine do, if its just a name then no problem a nice curved porcelain would be great.

I have found eBay full of mugs for sale in batches from 24 to 72 or as many as required but after a search around the shops I have picked up a dozen for 75p each and as there are going to be enhanced by me then they don't require to be fancy.

I have mixed up the designs a little by using silhouettes and line art with the idea of a humorous theme to each one, apart from the Senior Chief, I'm not mad enough to incur his wraith but the rest of the guy's are fair game.

Once the image was downloaded I then converted it to a vector format and because the quality of a downloaded image has a DPI of around 72 which is very rough they all required a little straightening up and in some cases the smaller elements within the design required enlarging a little or they where to small to either cut or weed.
I made a box around the image the size of the mug then sent to the cutting machine.

I trimmed each template to size and weeded before applying the transfer tape.
I positioned the mug before removing the backing paper and centering the resist to the mug and squeegeed it on.

I had a lot to do so got busy.

Because I didn't want any damage to the glaze either from overblasting or overspray I had to fully mask the whole of the mug.

Only 9 here and received a request for 2 more after blasting these.

I used the suction gun to blast these at a pressure of around 40 psi, I could have used the pressure pot but wanted to see how my new Hydrovane compressor worked with the 6 mm nozzle in the gun and very pleased to say it supplied more than enough air. I didn't etch to deeply into the mug as I intended to use a spray paint to colour and I know from experience that the spray thickness is measured in microns so even with 3 coats of paint on just a little depth is sufficient.

It only took a few minutes each to blast then a good blow with air and a tack rag to ensure that there was no grit hiding in the corners then a first very light spray of black gloss to key in on each mug then giving ten minutes or so before the next coat and so on until happy with the coverage.

It would be nice to say that everything worked out great after the spraying but I was a little overzealous in the removal of the resist, as its been such a long time since I have done this sort of work that I tried to remove the resist to early. I waited till that evening to remove the first one and it pulled some of the paint out, so that mug went in the bin. I then waited till the morning and removed another resist which pulled a little less paint off, in the bin then waited till the afternoon and pulled even less paint off, in the bin but this afternoon after 2 days drying the resist pulled of perfect.

So after buying more mugs I have been back in the cabinet and re-blasted the thrown ones.

These have come out great, very crisp lines, I did take more care removing the resist after 2 days and once removed I used a new razor to trim any paint around the edges of the etch.
The 2 colour mug with the hearts required the black paint masking before applying the red. When applying the mask it is best not to place the glue from the mask onto the paint as it will impress the pattern of the mask weave onto the fresh paint as I found out, it will take a couple of days to harden. To prevent leaving an impression I covered the fresh paint with the vinyl backing, this has a smooth silicone surface that will not damage the paint or stick to it then masked on top. The second colour to the Scotty dog was painted on by hand.
I have ordered  a selection of Rub n Buff to try out as it may be safer to use in the future, I'm also not sure about the durability of the gloss paint as it will have to contend with boiling water then being washed after each use with possibly a scouring pad thrown into the mix. Not sure Rub n Buff will be any good for that either, we'll see.

Paul

My Setup

Hi

I have done quite a bit of research on cabinets from size, accessibility, lighting and of course prices and the outcome is as mostly always, design and do it myself.
this cabinet had a couple of designs, the first was a home made pressure pot suspended from the bottom of the cabinet that didn't work 100%, mostly due to the filling of the pot which was through a 1" ball valve, I never new at what level it was at.

It did work and held around 10kg of media.

But I kept getting blockages in the outlet tee.

So it had to go, fortunately I had made provision for it not working and had made an extension to the hopper where the pickup could sit with the drain valve screwed in. This is an old oil filter with the core removed and the same pcd flange welded on.

Another change was in my old pressure pot, this was made around 9 - 10 years ago and has worked perfect every time, it had been stripped down for fittings so I cleaned it all up and re-fitted with new parts and got it working again.

I have also made it easier to fill by cutting a large hole in the top flange and welding on a 11/2" thread, I made up a cap to accept a tee with a relief valve and pressure bleed cock, before this I had to remove all of the nuts and lift the heavy flange cover to fill.

The red pressure pot did not go to waste as I needed a funnel to fill the pot, so a bit of fabrication and it turned into a funnel/sieve.

Difficult to see inside but there is a course sieve to catch any bits as I pour in.

The cap screws off and the funnel screws on.
I cleaned all of my ally oxide before filling the pot and was surprised at how much rubbish had accumulated in it, from bits of wood to lots of small bits of resist. I also weighed it all before replacing and it came to around 90 kg, 40 went into the pot and the rest into the hopper, the hopper could still do with another 25kg to fully fill.

The air system for the guns is operated via electrically operated solenoid valves, I have an electric switch box fitted to the side of the cabinet.

This electric switch system was made by my electrician friend and he made a nice job.

One of the switches operates the extraction system, the middle switch open the air to the pressure pot and the last operates 2 of the other solenoids.

The solenoid on the right is a 1/2" valve and gives a larger volume of air supply to the syphon gun, the only 1/2" valve I could find was a 12v model so have had to wire in a small 12v transformer from a printer.

The middle 1/4" solenoid supplies the pressure pot and the valve to the left is not connected yet but will probably supply air to another gun when I set it up. Each solenoid has its own pressure regulator and I have a blow gun for clearing the dust. 

I built the carcass of the cabinet in my garage before moving to the shed for finishing off.

The cabinet has had a lick of paint and is looking great.

The extraction system is plumbed into 2 points at the back using 11/4" plastic pipe.

The suction inlets are protected by metal shields so the heavier particles drop before getting sucked in.

I am using a cyclonic dust catcher to prevent the dust entering the vacuum this model is called the I.C.E  (Internal Cyclonic Enhancer) which is purported to collect 99.9% of the dust as opposed to only 99% of the original model.

I have it bolted to a 30ltr sealed drum with sealant between the joints to make it air tight, if it draws air then its efficiency is reduced considerably.

The vacuum was picked up on ebay and is a larger industrial unit, required a huge amount of cleaning bit now works great.

Because the cabinet is made of plywood I have glued a sheet of rubber jointing to the back, this is to protect the wood from being blasted, not that the blast will reach that far back as the cabinet is over 500mm wide.

I have 3 different accesses to the cabinet, the main one being the side door, I have over a meter of depth inside so I can easily do longer work without a pass through hole.

The glass front lifts and this is what I will be using mostly.

I have not gone with the gloves approach but have instead fitted a postbox entrance with brushes top and bottom, two sets, one set inside and a set outside, the use of 4 brushes give great sealing and very little if no dust escapes.

A lot more expensive than gloves at £50 for the 2 sets but give me more scope for holding smaller pieces.

For lighting I have cut a hole in the top and covered in glass so as a LED light can shine through.

I also have a halogen flood light at the back and 2 smaller sealed lights, one fitted and the other on a trailing lead so as to shine through what I am working on. I have also bought a small easel to rest any flat work on.

For the base I have a small hole mess grill fitted on top of a more solid diamond mesh,

The cabinet works very well and I am very pleased with it but always looking to and constantly improving the design.

Paul