sandblast masks

[Dmitriy Kumets]

Sorry, I did some searching but couldn't find the straight answer...

I need to engrave 150 pint glasses and have a single 45w lasre with rotary but 12 people that can help prep.

Has anyone tried cutting the green or red laser tape from laserbits flat and then sticking it on as a stencil for sandblasting? If it did work, I could theoretically get the mask cut, have the helpers attach the glasses with masks and do quick sandblast.

Thanks in advance and sincere apologies if I overlooked the obvious post

[Dan Hintz]

Depends upon the design... something that's large may distort as you wrap it onto the glass. Something that's intricately detailed may require a lot of careful positioning to keep the details in the right place. I would use transfer tape for such a project (actually, I'd use the rotary, but barring that...).

[Bill W. White]

Why don't you attach a file with the design you are planning on doing and it will give us an idea as to the best way to proceed, Bill White in Melrose, Florida

[Gary Hair]

For 150 of anything I would use a photoresist instead of lasering. The time to laser them, apply transfer tape, cut and the apply to the glass, would more than make up for the marginal cost of the photo resist. If you don't have that capability, I would be happy to make them for you. Print to vellum, expose mask, washout, cut, apply, burnish, blast, wash off - done! Sounds like a lot of work but it's a pretty quick process, especially for that quantity.

Gary

[Dmitriy Kumets]

It's a company logo - all text/big letters.
Got my laser tape in the mail and will try it.

Quite curious about the photoresist mask though... reading up on it now and looks interesting

[Dmitriy Kumets]

As a follow up, optimizing the file (moving pieces closer, lower resolution + playing with raster settings) has made using the rotary attachment practical by dropping time per glass to 1:40.

I did try using the laser tape + transfer paper but that still took too long.

For future projects though....
Is there any technical limitation on the epilog rotary attachment as far as vector cutting speed? Would be neat to do some of the sandblast stuff for future work but running the rotary at 90% speed for vector was so noisy I was worried I would wear it out.