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You
can read our current newsletter here
on-line each month, free of charge. We
hope you will take the opportunity to let
your stained glass artist friends know
about the newsletter and if you have
students, encourage them to read it.
If
you'd like a reminder when a new issue is
published simply send us your e-mail
address.
In
the meantime, we welcome your input and
support. Let us know if you have tips and
techniques or product information you'd
like to share. |
Last
month our friends at Window Monsters
replaced our front room glass window. This
window has been an embarrassment to us for
the entire ten years we've lived in this
home. Why didn't we do this sooner? It's
not only clean, it's quiet and warm.
If you
need replacement windows, go to http://www.bigmikesconstruction.com/Service.aspx?sid=9
and give them a call. If you're like me,
you'll be pleased and happy that you did.
They also do
construction and remodeling for very reasonable
rates.
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As they
replace our living room window, you can
see how ugly the center section was. It
had lost it's seal and was very cloudy.
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The
replacement glistens in the sunlight and
has a clarity that is brilliant. The
difference is huge. This view isn't as
dramatic as when the blinds are up, but
it's just stunning! |
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| Last
month we showed the sandblasted
transom. This month is the first of two
parts on how to set up a sandblast system
of your own.
I got my cabinets from Harbor Freight.
They sell inexpensive tools that are
imported and have very little in the way
of instructions. This month we show some
of the steps to setting up a sand blast
system. It can be daunting and unless you
pay for the high end equipment, you need
to have a good idea what you're doing to
set up your system. If you want to
create
your own system, you can follow these
steps as a guideline, but you'll still
need to make sure your system is
completely airtight and safe.
Next
month we'll complete the system by setting
up a pressure pot and adding it to the
cabinet. Then we're planning an article
which details all the steps in sand
carving a piece of glass.
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Setting
Up A Sandblast System Part 1
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Our first sandblast cabinet was set
up to use a siphon system to deliver the sand. This method uses much more
compressed air, so you need a bigger compressor, or you have to wait
while your air catches up with the blaster.
You can see that it has two
protective gloves in the front of the cabinet and a door on the side to
put the glass into the cabinet.
It works well and has served us for
many years.
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Air comes into the cabinet from the compressor
through an orange air hose and then shoots out the gun nozzle. As it
passes over the intake opening, it draws sand up through the gray hose,
the air and sand are mixed and they go together out the nozzle.
It takes more air to move the sand with this
method, so that's why we're swapping to a different system. The gray
hose has a pipe on the end of it that extends down into the cabinet in a
pile of sand.
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You've got to have a way that air can get out of
the cabinet, otherwise when you pull the trigger on the gun, a blast of
air would come out until pressure built up in the cabinet and
then it would slow down. It's like the difference between blowing into a
balloon or blowing through a straw.
We solve that problem by exhausting through a
filter hooked to the back of the cabinet. You can use a filter, a vacuum
system or cyclone system. Just make sure that it doesn't let sand
escape into where you might breath it.
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There were two modifications needed for this
cabinet. I needed a sealed outlet for the dust collection and one for
the air inlet.
I added a sealed flange for the air system and
I'll show how to do that a little later.
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Once the flange was in place, I put the hose to the
filter on and held it in place with a dryer vent hose clamp.
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To get air into the cabinet, I found that the
threaded end of the hose slipped through a pre-drilled hole in the cabinet. I also
found that a quick connect would thread right onto the hose end. But it
didn't tighten up enough, so I added washers to
the inside and outside of the cabinet, applied silicon on both sides of
the washers, tightened everything down and I had a perfect seal.
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Then I could add an in-line water removal device.
And sometimes I had a pressure regulator at this point as well. |
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And then quick connected the air line from the
compressor to the cabinet.
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Our new sandblast cabinet is larger and has a more detailed
setup. It only needs a sandblaster hose input (which will go where the
arrow is pointing) and a vent flange like the one on the other cabinet.
This cabinet has it's own legs, so it won't sit
on a table and the sand gets blown in from an outside pressurized
source. It has to be emptied occasionally from a chute that opens on the
bottom of the cabinet.
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I could have used a plumbers toilet flange to run
my vent hose.
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But I had an old plate from an old vacuum system
which I cut down.
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Then I drilled holes to attach the plate to the
cabinet. |
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I marked where the holes were onto the cabinet and
drilled pilot holes for self tapping screws.
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Then I removed the gasket that was inside the 4"
hole so
the flange would sit flush on the cabinet and I put clear silicone on it so it would have a good seal and bond well to the flange.
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Screws went in and the flange was in place.
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Next, the vent hose to the filter was attached using
a dryer vent hose clamp. This is a spot where you want a good seal to
avoid abrasive leaking out into the room.
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Next, we need to setup the pressurized sand pot,
which we'll show in the next article. |
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The cabinet is a great way to
protect you from sand and abrasives while creating beautiful art pieces.
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