Tara, I don’t know what material you’re sandblasting (metal, rock,
etc.?), but we’ve had good luck with thick coatings of nail polish
(multiple coats) and with epoxy glue. Basically, you mask it off
with the polish or epoxy, let it dry really thoroughly, then blast
away. When you’re done, soak in acetone to remove (the epoxy
approach may take up to a couple of days of soaking, depending on how
thickly you’ve done it).
The epoxy worked really well in a case where I had a fairly deep
solid bezel cup that was highly polished on the inside for a
transparent stone, but the outside needed to be blasted. Filled it
with epoxy, let it dry, blasted it, then soaked it for 2 days. At
the end of the 2nd day, the epoxy popped out in a chunk, leaving it
beautifully polished, just as I started with. Exactly the result I
wanted.
I’ve heard (anecdotally) that you can also use duct tape and
electrical tape, but I’ve never tried it. I wouldn’t think you could
get a precise enough edge with the duct tape, but it depends what
you’re trying to do.
Good luck!
Karen Goeller
@Karen_Goeller
Hi Tara,
Are there any suggested liquids ect. that you can paint on and
remove later to keep some areas high shine?
One liquid that can be used is rubber cement from the office supply
store. Depending on the thickness of it, you may have to paint on
several coats to get an adequate thickness. The dried rubber
remaining on the surface, absorbs the energy in the grains of media.
Dave
We often use a soft red wax to cover areas we don’t want blasted.
Daniel R. Spirer, GG
Hi Tara, Others have mentioned nail polish, epoxy, etc., which work
well, but when you need to tape something off I have found that the
thin, plastic tape like the post office uses with it’s priority mail
works very well. It is quite thin, so you it doesn’t interfere much
when you are working with an intricate, 3 dimensional surface, and
you can get very clean lines as well. It is a little bit finicky to
work with, as it will tear, but with can it can be a useful addtion
to your masking tool box (I will sometimes use 2 or more different
masks in one piece, so no one mask does it all). Good luck!
Best regards,
John
One can also use Scotch Magic Tape as a sandblast resist, burnish it
down for a better seal.
I was wondering what other techniques some of you may use other
than taping off areas. Are there any suggested liquids ect. that
you can paint on and remove later to keep some areas high shine?
Dear Tara, For one of a kind pieces, many of the suggestions that you
have received all work well. For production parts I tend to
recommend Jett Sett plastic as a reusable mask. Lay the piece with
the surface to be textured facing up on a board. Make a thin sheet
of Jett Sett fixturing compound and while the sheet is very warm,
press it over your part while paying attention to push the material
into the detail of your item. Once the Jett Sett has cooled to about
room temperature, you can pop your part out from the back side of
the plastic. Being very careful, use an exacto knife or scalpel to
trim the area of the plastic away from the inside that corresponds to
the area that you want to texture with the sandblaster. The Jett
Sett is quite durable and can make a mask that lasts for a long time.
The best part is that when it wears out, you can reheat it and then
use the same material to make a new one.
This technique is working well for some Chinese factories that use
Jett Sett for creating reusable sand blasting masks for things such
as watch bands and cases. It does not work well if there is
significant variations in the finished shape and size of your parts.
Best Regards,
J. Tyler Teague
JETT Research
(Jewelry Engineering, Training, & Technology)
Tara, Years ago I got some adhesive vinyl sheets from a friend who
worked in a sign shop. This is the material they use on vans, shop
signs, etc. It cuts beautifully with an exacto knife, lies flat on
the metal, sticks while blasting, and comes off very easily with no
residue. The great thing about this stuff is if you can get a
friendly relationship going with your local sign shop, they have
plotters they can use to cut artwork or patterns out for you from a
computer file right into the vinyl sheet and you just peel and
stick. They might also be willing to give you the scraps coming out
of their machine for free, as in between letters there is plenty of
material for a jeweler’s needs. happy blasting Julia Turner
I’m late coming in on this (been out of town), but I want to add to
the previous posts-- As you may have noticed, you can mask with
anything with a resilient surface. Ordinary white glue such as
Elmer’s works very well, as does latex masking fluid (frisket),
though one coat alone will not hold up with much pressure. You might
want to try Formaline tape, too. Even paint pen will work, for a
very light blast.
Noel
Note From Ganoksin Staff:
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